"On March 4, 2019, the FDA identified the companies listed below as the most egregious offenders selling ecigs to children.
More than 35% of all Marathon’s, Exxon’s, Sunoco’s, BP’s, Citgo’s and Mobil’s in America have been selling to children.
More than 25% of all Shell’s, Chevron’s, Casey’s and 7 Eleven’s in America have been selling to children.
More than 15% of all Wal-Mart’s, Walgreens’, Family Dollars’, Krogers’ and Circle K’s in America have been selling to children.
The FDA also stated on September 11, 2018, exactly one year before President Trump announced his intention to prohibit all flavored vapor, that the
5 brands comprising the “vast majority” of illegal sales were:
JUUL owned by Altria formerly Phillip Morris;
Vuse owned by RJ Reynolds Tobacco;
Blu owned by Imperial Brands formerly Imperial Tobacco;
Markten owned by Altria who was Phillip Morris;
Logic owned by Japan Tobacco.
This can’t be said enough.
The vapor products actually targeting our children are all owned by tobacco companies and sold in all ages retail businesses.
Note that these are all closed system vapor products, not open system flavored vapor like what is sold in my small business adult vapor store or the roughly 10,000 other small businesses just like mine.
The guilty companies and retailers, as identified through far-reaching and thorough enforcement actions by the FDA, are not the ones being put out of business.
Also please note that no adult vapor stores or chains made the list. None the less, the small businesses that have dedicated their professional lives to battling the tobacco companies are being put out of business.
In the same statement from March 2019, the FDA stated, “...if these trends of youth e-cigarette use persist, we’ll be forced to consider regulatory steps that could constrain or even foreclose some of the opportunities for currently addicted adult smokers to have the same level of access to these products in order to protect youth.”
Phillip Morris and the rest of these tobacco companies read this warning from the FDA and said, “Bet. Watch us now.”
Fast forward to September 9, 2019. The
FDA states, “JUUL products continue to represent a significant proportion of the overall use of ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery system)
products by children. Some of this youth use appears to have been a direct result of JUUL’s product design and promotional activities and outreach efforts.”
The FDA goes on to state that a JUUL representative went into a high school and stated that a student “...should mention JUUL to his [nicotine addicted] friend... because that’s a safer alternative than smoking cigarettes, and it would be safer for the kid to use.”
The FDA laid out, I am sure unintentionally, the guide book for Altria who once was Phillip Morris to eliminate an alternative to Marlboro chosen by 13 million Americans. They created this surge in youth vaping on purpose because the FDA told them they would go after Vapor if they did.
And just to make sure their message was heard,
Altria who was Phillip Morris spent $2,450,000.00 lobbying in the first quarter of 2019 alone. To gain additional access and perhaps to orchestrate their nefarious plan, JUUL employs or has employed as recently as October 2018:
-Spencer Morrison -
30 year FDA veteran as Director of Risk Mitigation and Compliance;
-Jerry Masoudi - former
chief counsel for FDA as Chief Legal Officer;
- Ted McCann -
top policy aide to Paul Ryan as a lobbyist;
- Jim Esquea -
Obama’s Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services as top in-house lobbyist;
- Josh Raffel -
former Trump communications aide;
- Johnny DeStefano -
former counsel to President Trump
Employment facts obtained from the Wall Street Journal and ABC.
Now their plan is working. New York just instituted Prohibition against flavored vapor without due process. Michigan is trying to do the same. The President has threatened to do the same federally. Not against JUUL who is happy to only offer tobacco and menthol flavors. Not against Marlboro. Not against Camel who is, I kid you not, now putting coloring sheets on the covers of their cigarette packs.
It may not have required all that much effort to convince some of our political leaders to pursue a purported youth vaping policy remedy that actually benefits the purveyors of cancer to our children.
The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, among other measures, requires these and other Tobacco companies to pay tremendous sums to the States each year ostensibly as recompense for State funds spent on the health consequences of cigarette smoking by State citizens.
Between 1998 and 2017, States received over $126 billion in MSA payments. They spent less than 1% on tobacco prevention programs.
In 2017, States received MSA payments that were 242% of CDC recommended spending levels on youth tobacco prevention. They actually spent 26% of the recommended level.
Multiple states effectively borrowed against projected MSA and tobacco tax revenue in the form of tobacco bonds. As of 2018 and as a partial result of the success of open system small business vapor stores converting 13 million citizens off of their cancer causing products, multiple states face either defaulting on those bonds or raising taxes. And... The levels of MSA payments maxed out by law in 2018. 2019 is the first year wherein the payments will not statutorily increase.
A local reporter asked me a few days ago, regarding the hysterical push to prohibit adult flavored vapor products, “Why now?” I answered, “Because they can.” That answer was given before uncovering the 2019 statutory cap on MSA payments. There seems to be a more clear explanation for the timing.
Anecdotally but relevantly, regarding the two States that have moved the fastest to institute Prohibition without due process:
New York has spent $700,000.00 of Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement Funds on golf carts and a sprinkler system at a public golf course rather than on youth tobacco prevention efforts.
Between 1999 and 2003, Michigan spent 75% of MSA payments on college and high school scholarships and 0% on tobacco cessation or prevention efforts."
Sources for the MSA information above are:
Public Health Law Center
Tobacco Free Kids
United States CDC
The New York Times.
