From: The Weekly Standard
By JERYL BIER
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently solicited quotes from contractors to recruit minors ages sixteen and seventeen to purchase “regulated tobacco products” on the Internet. The purchase attempts must be made from a facility located in Virginia and shipped to a P.O. Box provided by the FDA for purposes of this probe. The FDA is careful to note that the contractor must “debrief minors on the dangers of tobacco use” and that the minors “[agree] NOT to attempt to purchase tobacco products” outside of the FDA investigation.
All minors recruited as part of this program must have written approval from their parents or legal guardians. Once the contractor has obtained immunity for the jurisdiction in which the purchase is to be made, the minor is to make the purchase over the Internet under the supervision of the contractor. Generally, a debit card or prepaid credit card designated for the project is to be used to establish the date, amount and location of the purchase. Although the identities of the minors are to be kept confidential, the documents warn that “[i]n the event of possible enforcement or judicial action, however, the minor’s identity may be revealed, and the minor may need to provide a declaration and/or give oral testimony in a hearing.”
