Bill to raise tobacco age has unlikely allies: Altria, Juul
Congress is moving to pass the biggest new sales restrictions on tobacco products in more than a decade, with support from two unlikely backers: Marlboro-cigarette maker Altria and vaping giant Juul Labs. The legislation would raise the minimum age to purchase all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, from 18 to 21 nationwide, a step long-sought by health advocates. But in the past year Juul and Altria have emerged as the biggest supporters of the measure, blanketing Capitol Hill with lobbyists and advertisements touting their support for a national “Tobacco 21” law. Tobacco critics contend the companies’ support is calculated to head off even harder-hitting government action: a ban on all flavored tobacco products, including fruit and dessert e-cigarettes. Their stance puts them in the unusual position of criticizing a move they long supported, arguing that the sales restriction isn’t enough. “Altria and Juul clearly support this in order to argue that no other action is necessary,” said Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “If you don’t eliminate the flavors that the industry has used to fuel the epidemic, you won’t solve the youth e-cigarette crisis.” The bipartisan legislation, supported by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has been attached to a package of must-pass spending bills that will keep the government running into next year. Juul and Altria — the vaping company’s biggest investor — threw their support behind the bill earlier this year amid a backlash against e-cigarettes at the local, state and national levels. E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that typically heat a flavored nicotine solution into an inhalable aerosol. Current federal law prohibits sales of e-cigarettes and all other tobacco products to those under 18. But more than one in four high school students report vaping regularly, according to the latest government figures. And health officials have called the vaping trend an “epidemic.” Until September, Juul argued that its sweet flavors — including mango, mint and fruit — could help adult smokers switch from traditional cigarettes to vaping. But the company dropped that message as President Donald Trump announced plans to remove virtually all vaping flavors from the market, due to their appeal to children. The Silicon Valley company has halted sales of all but two of its flavors, menthol and tobacco, and pledged not to oppose Trump’s plan. But momentum for the nationwide ban has faded amid push-back from vaping advocates and some conservative groups. And Trump has voiced support for alternative approaches to keep e-cigarettes away from kids, including raising the purchase age to 21. The age hike is expected to limit the supply of all vaping and tobacco products in high schools by putting them out of reach to 12th graders. Myers’ group and other health advocates say Congress should both raise the age limit and ban all “kid-friendly” flavors. Even with most of Juul’s flavors off the market, smaller companies continue to market an array of flavored products, including “grape slushie,” “strawberry cotton candy” and “sea salt blueberry.” And the industry’s main trade association is suing to keep e-cigarettes, including flavors, widely available. Altria, the nation’s largest tobacco company, said it supports a “clean” Tobacco 21 bill — focused exclusively on raising the age limit — because it is the “quickest and most effective” way to address the recent surge in teen vaping. For decades previously, Altria and other tobacco companies aggressively defended the 18-year-old minimum purchase age. Juul has similarly supported legislation that raises the purchase age without touching flavors. And while the companies say they lobby separately, both quickly backed the Tobacco 21 bill introduced in May by McConnell and Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine. The companies’ support sapped attention away from other proposals that would have gone much further. For example, a bill from New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone would have raised the purchase age to 21 and banned flavors from all vaping and tobacco products — including menthol cigarettes — and prohibited online sales. The bill was endorsed by a dozen health groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association. “Flavors attract kids and kids are the tobacco industry — including the e-cigarette industry’s — future,” said Erika Sward, a vice president with the American Lung Association. But efforts to advance flavor restrictions in the Senate fell flat, including a bill sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican-Alaska, and Sen. Dick Durbin, Democrat-Illnois, that was withdrawn from committee consideration at the last minute. “Because I wasn’t certain that I had the votes at the time,” Murkowski told The Associated Press. “You don’t want to lose.” The logic for hiking the purchase age for cigarettes is clear: most underage teens who use tobacco get it from older friends. An estimated 90 percent of smokers start before age 18. Delaying access to cigarettes is expected to produce major downstream health benefits, with one government-funded report estimating nearly 250,000 fewer deaths due to tobacco over several decades. Still, anti-tobacco experts say age restrictions are only effective when they are vigorously enforced, and tobacco sales can fall through the cracks amid a patchwork of local, state and federal law enforcement. They point to underage drinking as an example of the limited impact of age-based restrictions. State laws banning tobacco sales to those under 18 evolved over several decades and were reinforced by a federal law in 2009. The same law banned all flavors from traditional cigarettes except menthol, which received a special exception at the behest of tobacco lobbyists. More than a third of U.S. states — including California, Illinois, New York and Texas — and the District of Columbia have already raised their minimum purchase age to 21. Anti-smoking groups have tracked the trend with measured support, noting the role of Juul and Altria lobbyists behind many of the efforts. In several cases, anti-tobacco advocates have flagged provisions that they say undercut the state laws’ effectiveness. These provisions, known as pre-emption, can stop city and county officials from imposing stricter tobacco
E-cigarette giant’s campaign donations favor democrats
E-cigarette giant Juul Labs gave nearly $100,000 to members of Congress during the first half of 2019 as the company faced the bulk of the blame for a surge of underage vaping and calls for tighter government regulation of the industry. The donations from Juul’s political action committee represent a sharp increase over last year’s total, according to a Federal Election Commission report released Thursday that shows most of the money went to Democrats. The boost in contributions is the latest sign of the company’s expanding influence operation in Washington and around the country. An explosion of underage vaping has put Juul in the crosshairs of a number of Democrats, who have accused the company’s early advertising and marketing of leading to the current wave of vaping by American teens. Juul is ramping up its political giving as Congress considers legislation to raise the minimum age to purchase all tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21. Juul and cigarette maker Altria — which controls 35% of the vaping company — have backed a Senate bill that raises the age nationally. The bill does not include additional measures that anti-tobacco groups say are needed to curb youth use, such as banning flavored products and online sales. Ted Kwong, a spokesman for Juul, said in a statement the company strongly prefers to support bills to raise the purchase age that are free of additional provisions, “as we believe it is one of the most effective ways to prevent underage use.” The new FEC figures show that Democrats, who won control of the House during last year’s elections, received $74,000 from Juul’s PAC between Jan. 1 and June 30 while Republicans received $22,500. Kwong said the company “strives to support candidates on both sides of the aisle” as part of its mission to “improve the lives” of smokers and “combat underage use.” Juul contributed $2,500 to Rep. Sanford Bishop, Democrat-Georgia Bishop has co-sponsored legislation to exempt most e-cigarettes on the market from health reviews by the Food and Drug Administration. Rep. Cedric Richmond, Democrat-Louisana, received $7,500, the largest donation to a single lawmaker. Richmond is co-chairman of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign and a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. The company gave $5,000 each to the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ political action committees. The company also gave $2,500 to the ASPIRE political action committee that raises money for Asian American candidates for Congress.Juul donated $5,000 each to Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat-Arizona, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat-New Hampshire Shaheen has called e-cigarette companies the “culprits of this epidemic” of underage vaping. Legislation introduced by Shaheen would force manufacturers to fund anti-vaping education and prevention efforts for teenagers through federal user fees. The company reported giving $2,500 to a left-leaning group called VoteVets. But Jon Soltz, chair of VoteVets, said the organization didn’t accept the money. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Democrat-Nevada, also didn’t want Juul’s donation. Ryan King, the senator’s spokesman, said Friday her campaign did not accept the $5,000 contribution “and has promptly returned the check.” Juul executives have said the company never intended its e-cigarettes to be adopted by underage teenagers. During a congressional hearing last week, Juul co-founder James Monsees testified that Juul developed its blockbuster vaping device and flavor pods for adult smokers who want to stop. “Combating underage use” is the company’s highest priority, Monsees added. Most health experts say that e-cigarettes are probably less harmful than traditional paper-and-tobacco cigarettes, which can cause cancer, lung disease and strokes. But neither Juul nor any other e-cigarette has yet been approved by the FDA to help smokers quit.Juul has assembled an extensive network of lobbyists amid mounting concern over e-cigarettes and warnings from the FDA that regulatory steps may be inevitable to combat what public health officials and anti-smoking groups have described as an epidemic of youth vaping. The company also has become a generous political donor, giving tens of thousands of dollars over the last 18 months to candidates for state and national offices as well as political organizations, according to the FEC data and state campaign finance records.During the first half of 2019, Juul spent $1.9 million on lobbying Congress, the White House and the FDA as the company expanded its pool of Washington insiders with ties to Republicans and Democrats in positions of authority. Among those lobbying on Juul’s behalf are Jim Esquea, who worked during the Obama administration as an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, and Ted McCann, who was a top policy aide to former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Juul hired Fulcrum Public Affairs in January, adding to its lobbying ranks former aides to Obama-era Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Rep. Maxine Waters, the California Democrat who chairs the House Financial Services Committee. In California, where Juul is headquartered, the company has donated close to $99,000 since early last year to members of the state legislature, political action committees and committees set up to influence the outcome of ballot measures. About a third of the money went to Assemblymember Adam Gray, a Democrat from Merced who chairs the powerful Governmental Organization Committee. Gray’s reelection campaign received $8,800 from Juul, and the company gave $25,000 to Valley Solutions, Gray’s ballot measure committee. Legislation introduced by Gray and other assemblymembers earlier this month to curb youth use of vaping products was criticized by the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network as an industry-friendly measure that should be called the “Juul Market Share Protection Act.” Gray said in a statement sent by his spokesman that the financial support he receives “plays zero role in how I represent my district or how I make decisions on public policy.”Despite Juul’s public commitment to keeping its products out of teens’ hands, the company has fought in California and other states against legislation that anti-tobacco groups have argued would help to move toward that goal. Juul and the Vapor Technology Association, a trade group that lists Juul as a platinum member,
