{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-blumenthal-durbin-krishnamoorthi-and-degette-question-tobacco-companies-exploitative-e-cigarette-advertisements-during-the-covid-19-pandemic", "Warren, Blumenthal, Durbin, Krishnamoorthi and DeGette Question Tobacco Companies Exploitative e-Cigarette Advertisements During the COVID-19 Pandemic", "2020-12-22", "2020", "2020-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 22, 2020\n\t\t\t Warren, Blumenthal, Durbin, Krishnamoorthi and DeGette Question Tobacco Companies Exploitative e-Cigarette Advertisements During the COVID-19 Pandemic \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Extensive Use of Social Media Indicates Abusive Promotions Are Aimed at Youth\r\n\"Exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic of a respiratory disease to promote a product that increases risk for the very same disease is unconscionable\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t Letter\r\nto BAT (PDF) | Letter\r\nto PMI (PDF) | Letter\r\nto FDA & FTC (PDF) Washington, DC - After a recent\r\nstudy by public health experts at Stanford University revealed that\r\nnumerous tobacco companies - including several subsidiaries of British American\r\nTobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI) - have \"chosen to\r\nexploit a global pandemic for marketing purposes,\" United States Senators\r\nElizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and\r\nPensions Committee, Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) along\r\nwith Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Chair of the House Committee on\r\nOversight and Reform's Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, and\r\nCongresswoman Dianna DeGette (D-Colo.), Chair of the House Energy & Commerce\r\nCommittee's Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee, sent letters to BAT,\r\nPMI, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Federal Trade Commission\r\n(FTC) questioning the tobacco companies' exploitation of the COVID-19\r\npandemic to market their e-cigarette products using abusive and misleading\r\ntactics aimed at youths and adolescents, and seeking information on the\r\nenforcement actions taken by the agencies to regulate these\r\nadvertisements. Since the beginning of the pandemic, several subsidiaries of tobacco and\r\ne-cigarette companies BAT and PMI have taken advantage of the ongoing public\r\nhealth emergency to promote the sale of their products. The research conducted\r\nby a group of public health experts at Stanford found that in over 300\r\nCOVID-themed e-cigarette advertisements, several companies offered essential\r\nsupplies such as hand sanitizer, face masks, toilet paper, and other materials\r\nin short supply as free gifts with the purchase of a vaping product to increase\r\nrevenue. Some even falsely claimed that vaping is not associated with an\r\nincreased risk of contracting COVID-19. Moreover, these companies appear to\r\nhave specifically targeted underage users, placing the vast majority of\r\nadvertisements on Instagram and Twitter, a potential violation of federal\r\nlaw. This is particularly concerning given individuals with a history of\r\nchronic respiratory illness such as asthma, as well as individuals that smoke\r\nor use e-cigarettes, are at greater risk for suffering more severe symptoms of\r\nCOVID-19. \"These advertisements are a blatant exploitation of a pandemic that has\r\nkilled nearly two million people across the world and devastated the lives of\r\ncountless more. They are reckless and endanger millions, especially as\r\ncountries around the globe are experiencing yet another surge in cases,\"\r\nthe lawmakers wrote in their letters. \"This attempt to profit off the back of a global health crisis,\r\nreminiscent of decades of false and misleading advertising about cigarettes by\r\ntobacco companies, represents a callous indifference to the lives and\r\nwell-being of millions of people across the world,\" the lawmakers\r\ncontinue. In order to better understand BAT and PMI's abusive promotional activities,\r\nthe lawmakers requested copies of the company's advertisements, a list of\r\nsubsidiaries that distribute their products, internal documents discussing the\r\ncompany's COVID-19 advertisement practices, and any communications with federal\r\npublic health officials regarding the content of these advertisements. Together, the FDA and the FTC are responsible for the oversight and\r\nregulation of unfair, deceptive, and potentially harmful advertisements. In the\r\nletter to FTC and FDA, the lawmakers request a staff-level briefing as well as\r\ninformation regarding the agencies' enforcement authority related to\r\ne-cigarette advertisement and promotional activities, whether the agencies have\r\nreceived complaints regarding of e-cigarette or vaping products during the\r\nCOVID-19 pandemic, and to what extent the agencies have communicated with\r\ne-cigarette manufacturers regarding their promotional activities during the\r\npandemic. Senator Warren has worked with her colleagues in Congress to urge federal\r\nregulators and electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) companies, like JUUL Labs, to\r\ncombat the growing public health crisis of vaping-related illnesses and the\r\nepidemic of youth tobacco use and to hold regulators and e-cigarette companies\r\naccountable. Her ongoing oversight work includes: \r\n Urging\r\n     the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to move immediately and\r\n     aggressively to review e-cigarette products and take action to protect children\r\n     and the public's health.\r\n Writing to the CEO of JUUL raising\r\n     concerns about the company's partnership with Big Tobacco giant\r\n     Altria, and questioning its marketing tactics to hook children on nicotine\r\n     with kid-appealing flavors.\r\n Writing\r\n     to the FDA regarding reports that e-cigarette use may be correlated to the\r\n     occurrence of seizures, and urging the agency to swiftly conduct a public\r\n     health review of e-cigarettes.\r\n Sending\r\n     a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Norman Sharpless recognizing the\r\n     ten-year anniversary of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control\r\n     Act -- legislation that gave FDA sweeping authority to regulate the\r\n     manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of all tobacco products -- and\r\n     urging the FDA to act quickly and decisively to protect kids from\r\n     dangerous tobacco products.\r\n Calling on companies such as eBay,\r\n     Alibaba,\r\n     and Craigslist\r\n     to crack down on listings for e-cigarettes and vaping products on their\r\n     marketplace that provide youth an avenue to purchase these items without\r\n     any age verification.\r\n Demanding\r\n     answers from the heads of the FDA, U.S. Department of Health and Human\r\n     Services (HHS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)\r\n     on their actions to address the health impacts of e-cigarette products, as\r\n     illnesses and even deaths are increasingly linked to vaping.\r\n Requesting\r\n     that Senate Appropriators include a $100 million investment in the final,\r\n     bipartisan appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2020 to boost public health\r\n     data infrastructure as the nation's public health system struggles to\r\n     adequately monitor and address the ongoing outbreak of\r\n     vaping-related illnesses.\r\n Urging\r\n     HHS to take long-overdue steps to stop the youth e-cigarette epidemic.\r\n Writing to JUUL\r\n     Labs and Altria\r\n     regarding their companies' role in fueling the youth vaping epidemic and\r\n     probing the recent corporate marriage of JUUL--the most popular\r\n     e-cigarette product among children-- with Altria, a large manufacturer of\r\n     traditional tobacco products, including Marlboro cigarettes and Black\r\n     & Mild cigars.\r\n ###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-blumenthal-durbin-krishnamoorthi-and-degette-question-tobacco-companies-exploitative-e-cigarette-advertisements-during-the-covid-19-pandemic"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7219440303742886, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}