The teen vaping epidemic is in full swing, and as one of the biggest names in the industry, Juul has quite a few fingers pointed its way.
The popular e-cigarette company is currently under a congressional investigation into Juul’s role in fueling the teen vaping trend, which included youth programming initiatives led and funded by the company. According to CNN, Juul poured hundreds of thousands into programs targeted at teens and children, which have been compared to similar efforts sponsored by big tobacco.
The company “deployed a sophisticated program to enter schools and convey its messaging directly to teenage children,” according to one democratic member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, which is currently leading the investigation into Juul’s youth-focused practices.
The company’s questionable youth programming initiatives included a Juul-sponsored “holistic health education” camp, which hosted children and teens as young as elementary schoolers. Juul reportedly paid $134,000 to sponsor the summer camp, through which the company sought to collect data on participating students, including test scores from assessments of “general health knowledge” and “risky behaviors,” according to a draft of the agreement.
Juul’s plans also included a “Juul-sponsored curriculum” to be incorporated into high school classrooms. While Juul claims that the controversial programming was part of “a short-lived Education and Youth Prevention Program which was ended in September 2018 after its purpose — to educate youth on the dangers of nicotine addiction — was clearly misconstrued,” teens have recently testified that company reps who entered 9th-grade classrooms assured students the product was “absolutely safe.”
According to the FDA,”nicotine exposure during adolescence can disrupt normal brain development and may have long-lasting effects, such as increased impulsivity and mood disorders.”
“You’re nothing but a marketer of a poison,” said Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, addressing Juul co-founder James Monsees at Thursday’s hearing. “Your target has been young people.”
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