Durbin, Senators Request Answers From FDA Regarding Dangerous Decision Allowing JUUL E-Cigarettes To Stay On The Market, Addict Children
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today led a group of eight Senators in sending a letter to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Makary sounding the alarm and demanding answers over FDA’s senseless decision to authorize JUUL’s e-cigarettes, including its menthol-flavored vaping pods. JUUL is the e-cigarette brand that ignited the youth vaping “epidemic”—as it was characterized by Dr. Scott Gottlieb, FDA’s Commissioner in the first Trump Administration—and is responsible for addicting millions of children to nicotine, many of whom would have never picked up a cigarette. In addition to Durbin, the letter is signed by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
“The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA) sets a high bar for authorizing a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) for a new tobacco product, by placing the burden on manufacturers to demonstrate that the product is ‘appropriate for the protection of public health.’ This statutory standard precludes FDA from authorizing a PMTA for a new tobacco product unless the manufacturer can prove such product will help current tobacco users to quit and that those benefits exceed the risks of youth initiation and harm,” the Senators wrote.
“For years, on a bipartisan basis, United States Senators have urged FDA to consider in its PMTA review: a tobacco product’s history of addicting children, use of flavors to appeal to youth,perceptions among youth, and the role of nicotine in increasing risk of addiction. JUUL’s shameful history and evidence of its appeal to youth over the past decade should have been disqualifying.Perhaps you are unaware of JUUL’s history of targeting children with deceptive marketing to addict them on vaping products, but families across America know the harms,” the Senators continued.
The Senators noted that JUUL has a documented history of lying about the addictiveness of their e-cigarette products and targeting children, including through outrageous programs under which JUUL paid local schools to offer so-called vaping education programs—with no teachers present—and falsely telling students that e-cigarettes were “totally safe.” JUUL has reached settlement agreements with 48 states and territories totaling more than $1.1 billion over these misleading promotions.
FDA denied JUUL’s PMTA in 2022, before staying that denial and placing it back into scientific review in June 2024. All that time, JUUL continued to unlawfully sell its product to children. As a result, JUUL remains among the top five most popular e-cigarette products among children.
The Senators continued, “Related to this reversal, we are deeply troubled by the appearance of conflicts of interest between the Trump Administration and the e-cigarette industry in the United States. For example, President Trump’s former counselor for public health and science now leads JUUL’s federal lobbying operation. Beyond JUUL, tobacco companies Swisher International and Reynolds American—the nation’s second-largest tobacco company—were both clients of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ lobbying firm. The Washington Post ran a headline in September 2024 stating, ‘Trump vows to save vaping after private meeting with vaping lobbyist.’ After the meeting, Trump issued a statement claiming that he, ‘saved flavored vaping in 2019…[and] I’ll save vaping again.’”
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kennedy recently testified that, “U.S. vaping companies, in my view, are acting very responsibly… putting chips in their vapes that make sure young people could not use them.” JUUL submitted an application in December 2023 to FDA for a product with similar such age-related technology. There is no FDA-validated evidence of the effectiveness of JUUL’s age-related technology, which remains pending in a separate application.
Citing JUUL’s troubling history and the risk to public health from FDA’s decision, Durbin and the Senators concluded the letter by requesting responses to a list of questions by August 22, 2025.
The full text of the letter is available here.
Durbin has repeatedly called on FDA and the Justice Department to better enforce federal laws against the unlawful sale of unauthorized e-cigarette products. Durbin has slammed FDA for its continued lack of urgency as millions of children have begun using addictive e-cigarettes. For years, FDA has failed to regulate e-cigarettes—currently falling more than two and a half years past a court-ordered deadline to review applications from vaping companies, and refusing to enforce the law and take action against companies marketing illegal vaping products to children. Under the Tobacco Control Act (TCA), e-cigarette companies are required to obtain authorization from FDA prior to entering the market, which the agency has neglected to properly enforce.
Durbin has been a vocal leader in the fight against Big Tobacco, particularly since he lost his father to lung cancer when Durbin was 14. Durbin went after Big Tobacco when he served in the House of Representatives and led the charge to ban smoking on airplanes, which eventually led to restaurants, office buildings, trains, and much more. Durbin has also led efforts to grant FDA jurisdiction over tobacco, raise tobacco taxes to prevent youth initiation, and enhance support for tobacco cessation tools.
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