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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. (Lardner and Perrone, 8/1)

Juul’s potent but palatable vapors lend themselves better to getting new tobacco users hooked than helping others quit, former FDA Commissioner David Kessler wrote in a letter to Illinois Democrat and longtime vaping critic Dick Durbin this week. The e-cigarette product’s unique design helps mask the harsh taste of nicotine that might otherwise make tobacco unappealing to new users such as the millions of teens vaping today, wrote Kessler, who led the FDA when it probed tobacco companies on nicotine addiction 25 years ago. (Owermohle, 8/1)

Nearly three-quarters of respondents in a new poll said they support raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21. Gallup found that 73 percent of Americans said they backed raising the minimum tobacco purchase age to 21. Support for the move was higher among older respondents, the survey giant added. (Klar, 8/1)

Iowa is not doing enough to deter kids from using tobacco, according to a report by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. The annual report ranks how well states are implementing policies to reduce cancer rates. (Krebs, 8/1)