'We Can't Figure Out What You're Doing': Marsha Blackburn Chides Witness Over Answers

uh we appreciate you all being here uh Dr King I want to come back come to you first and uh Senator Booker was asking about the China produced products that are coming into our supply chain and the lack of verification around those and you kind of skirted that issue a little bit so I'm going to give you the opportunity to submit in writing to us what is that pre-market Paradigm what is that thirdparty verification that you all are using to make certain that tainted products and illegal products are not in this stream because you've not wanted to answer that question fully also when you saw Senator durban's chart that Senator Tillis held up you couldn't say if there things were being being safe harbored so let's get some clarification around that so that we understand the extent of the problem that we're dealing with and you can just submit that in writing for the record that would be helpful I also want to ask you Dr King about the role that social media is playing in this epidemic and see what you are doing to address that we know that Tik Tok Instagram are being used to Market these illegal fruit and dessert flavored ecigarettes to children and any of us can go into any Market or any of these vape stores that are in our states and we see what is happening there so I would think that one of the central tenants and activities of the task force work should be looking at how social media is being used to promote and to leverage these products into the marketplace to children are you focused on social media's role so I'll say that we have authority over manufacturing marketing and sale we do not have authority to take action against individuals but if that influencer is connected to a manufacturer we can take action we have issued warning letters in the past and I will note that Federal Trade Commission will be on this um uh inter agency task force and they have um uh key authorities in that space that will be useful as part of a coordinated approach okay so you issue warning letters so then are you turning those entities over to doj so that they can they can be a part of this are you turning them over to FTC so that they can go after penalties and enforcement so we regularly engage with all of those agencies even before the task force but it depends on the merits of the case and so if the case warrants it after the morning have turned over and how many have been penalized so are you speaking with regard to influencers specifically or any enforcement action against any entity influencers social media is what we're discussing yes so depending on the action that would be more appropriate through the Federal Trade Commission not the FDA I said doj or the FTC how many have been shut down see this is a part of the problem it is if you're talking in circles and we can't figure out uh what you're doing to actually stem the flow of these products and to bring people to account and to hold them responsible for what they are doing and if you're issuing warning letters and somebody gets that but they know that doj and FTC is not going to execute any type of accountability on them then they're going to delete that email warning or they're going to crumple that letter and throw it in the trash I I will reinforce that a majority of those who receive warning letters do heat and correct the violative actions and we have escalated our actions in the past two years alone we've issued the first injunctions against manufacturers the first civil money penalties against manufacturers the first civil money penalties against retailers we definitely need more I completely agree but we need an allg government approach and I'm hopeful the task force will get us there but we've set a solid foundation to move forward further okay and Doc uh Mr Ral coming to you um what about the new task force uh are you planning to use civil and criminal penalties we are exploring all tools Senator both civil and criminal um one aspect okay so my time is running out so you're exploring but this is an issue that's kind of gotten away from you all and uh you've been slow to respond and I think it's disappointing to hear you kind of talk in circles about what you are planning to do but you haven't established a plan and you're not certain what your way forward is going to be thank you Mr chairman thanks Senator Blackburn Senator Lee thank you Mr chairman and thanks uh to you for joining us today

Channel: Forbes Breaking News

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Length: 5min 34sec (334 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 24 2024