Betrayal

Public Officials as Merchants Beholden to Addictive industries UNCONCERNED about public health, who sells, who buys

 

T

he same game big tobacco played against the young decades ago on school campuses (even worse so today) —not only because public officials are deeply in the pockets of addicting industries (e.g., war, oil, legal-illegal- coming-legal drugs, non-profit profit makers, NGOs, law,  medicine, surround-sound commerce and corporate media) — but because, in their developing years, young people in the United States are —

• used, misused and abused: 
• poorly educated 
• poorly counseled 
• poorly parented; in general 
• poorly cared for in the sense of being consistently guided into and through healthy development with proper teaching, reinforcement, and practice of self-discipline, self-reflection, and critically reflective discernment.

Thus an addicting industry promoting the addiction of America’s 7 to 10+ year-olds comes as no surprise.

Philly Voice reports

J

uul reportedly “paid $134,000 to a Baltimore-based charter school to establish a five-week summer camp for 80 children in grades 3 through 12.”

• Juul operated a Youth Prevention and Education program that paid schools at least $10,000 to access students during school hours, summer classes or special Saturday programs, according to the subcommittee.
• Juul (allegedly) launched a social media-influencer campaign to market its products to youth…, one Juul tour of an estimated “12,500 influencers” charged with introducing “e-cigarettes to 1.5 million people.”

With the gutting, privatizing, and disestablishment of federal regulatory agencies by one after another U.S. administration—whether Food and Drug or Disease Control or Environmental Protection or Interior — agencies are all gums and no teeth: no standard and permanent checking, prevention, monitoring, and correction functions for the public health and well-being.
 

A

fter conditions become crises, obviously created by agency and congressional neglect, government officials make a show of resolving a crisis they have created.

Thus, ridiculously:

• “The FDA has ATTEMPTED (caps added) to crack down on underage vaping, which it (long after the fact) considers a health epidemic.”
• FDA reportedly “has limited e-cigarette sales to brick-and-mortar stores that do not permit access to people under-18 (so the over-18s buy and pass on to the under-18s!), effectively banning convenience stores and gas stations from selling them.”
• FDA also reportedly increased age-verification requirements for online purchases (More NONSENSE! You can’t verify what you can’t verify; IDs are easily bought and sold, and government agencies know this!

Furthermore, a merchant intent on selling something (legal, illegal or marginal, harmful or not) is not concerned with who or what purchases his/her product.

 

Between 2017 and 2018, the number of U.S. youth using e-cigarettes increased by “some 1.5 million.” Despite public officials’ show of concern (after a crisis sets in), the Philly Voice reports “E-cigarettes continue to be the most popular tobacco product among American youth.”

Center for Responsive Politics reports

“

E-cigarettes first went on the market in 2007 without undergoing a review of their health impact.

• The Obama administration had originally set a 2018 deadline for e-cigarette companies’ to submit applications to the FDA, which would be reviewed for health and safety so that the companies could continue to market their products.
• The Trump administration pushed the deadline to 2022 (before a court ruling chance).

Most of the companies that created e-cigarettes (vapes) that gained popularity since introduced to the U.S. market are now owned by Big Tobacco.

Betrayal of Public Trust

L

obbyist, Lobbied, Public Officials on the Take

•  “A number of companies and advocacy groups opposed legislation to regulate and tax e-cigarettes — including big tobacco companies like Altria Group, Ballantyne Brands, Hay Island Holding, Reynolds American and Swedish Match AB, which all have opposed legislation to regulate and tax e-cigarettes.
• “Public health groups like the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids have been on the other side, favoring greater regulation and taxation.”
• Lobbying spending: $23 million (2018)
• Altria Group: $10 million+ (2018)
• Juul: $1.6 million (2018)
• Plus Altria’s PAC: $2.3 million (2018 midterms)
• Political contributions: $5.6 million (2018 midterm cycle)
• Top taker: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.): nearly $64,000 in contributions.

Wikipedia article excerpt

Made in USA/China

Juul Market, Marketing, Youth

J

uul Labs, Inc. (private corporation, previously Pax Labs)

• Revenue: $2 billion (2018)
• 35 percent owner: Altria (formerly Philip Morris cigarette Companies) acquired December 20, 2018, “for $12.8 billion”
• Product: electronic cigarettes
• Headquartered in San Francisco, California (USA)
• Market share: 72% (September 2018)
• Principals: James Monsees and Adam Bowen (founders May 22, 2015 - ); Kevin Burns, CEO, James Monsees, CPO, Adam Bowen, CTO

P

olicymakers,  Law enforcers’ Endorsement

• The United States Patent office in 2015 approved Juul’s patent “for its nicotine salt preparation”
• Former Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (April 2018 -) in conflicting positions and messaging works in Juul’s “government affairs team” coordinating “lobbying on the benefits of the product” all the while “advocating against underage usage.”

Made in USA/People’s Republic of China

•  Juul e-cigarette manufactured in Shenzhen, China
• Pods are made in the United States (July 2018 - )
• Juul product made and marketed mainly in the United States, Canada, Russia, South Korea, Southeast Asia

J

uul vaporizer

• Juul e-cigarettes use nicotine salts (protonated nicotine) from leaf-based tobacco for its key ingredient, rather than free-base nicotine.
•  “‘Protonated nicotine formulations are problematic because they seemingly allow users to inhale much higher nicotine concentrations than they would otherwise be able to’” (Tory Spindle of Johns Hopkins University)
• Juul attempts to deliver a nicotine peak in five minutes, similar to a traditional cigarette.
• The amount of nicotine in each cartridge – 59 mg/ml in the United States… is substantially more than the majority of e-cigarettes on the market.
• Each cartridge (called a ‘Juul pod’) contains about the same amount of nicotine as one pack of cigarettes and delivers approximately 200 puffs.

Packed with addictive material

• “One Juul pod contains the same amount of nicotine as one to two packs of cigarettes.
• Juul’s nicotine content “is higher than other e-cigarette brands with its volume of e-liquid containing 5% nicotine — almost double the amount of other brands.
• “Juul pods also contain a greater amount of benzoic acid, 44.8 mg/mL, as compared to other brands, which contain around 0.2 to 2 mg/mL.
• “Constant exposure to benzoic acid can lead to coughing, sore throat, and abdominal pain.”
• Juul’s high nicotine content highly addictive and contributive to “impaired lung and brain development, especially of the prefrontal cortex, which affects judgment and impulse control properties”

Y

outh 

• News reports (late 2018) found increasing rates of Juul addiction among teenagers.
• In youth negatively affects “brain development and relationships”
• Youth “use of e-cigarettes among… exposes them to the risk of developing a nicotine dependency and increases the risk of them transitioning to smoking conventional cigarettes
• Using e-cigarettes increases the chance of smoking conventional cigarettes.
•  

U

nverifiable Verify [Truth Initiative survey May 2018]

• 74% of Juul users ages 12–17 obtained their Juul device from a brick and mortar store
• 52% from a friend or family member, and
• 6% online (respondents could select multiple answers).
• 89% of youth attempts to buy a Juul online succeeded.

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Sources and news peg

• The Philly Voice “Juul allegedly marketed e-cigarettes to children during school programs: Lawmakers claim Juul paid public schools to access students during school hours” John Kopp Philly Voice Staff July 26, 2019 https://www.phillyvoice.com/juul-e-cigarettes-schools-summer-camps-programs-congress/

• Center for Responsive Politics Open Secrets “E-Cigarettes) Updated July 2019 “Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. info@crp.orghttps://www.opensecrets.org/news/issues/e-cigarettes

• Wikipedia “Juul” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juul

 

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