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Pay to Play - Juul
At the time of its resource sharing announcement with Americans for Prosperity in October 2003, IWF stated that "we had come through a difficult transition a few years ago and were really hitting our stride after getting a major, million-dollar grant."<ref name="Partnership"/>
===Pay to Play===
====Tobacco Industry====
Over the years IWF has received funding from [[Altria]], [[Phillip Morris International]], and vaping giant [[Juul]]. Without disclosing its its tobacco funding, IWF has defended the vaping industry using Juul's own talking points.
As Evan Vorpahl and Lisa Graves documented in May 2019, "The Independent Women’s Forum has published more than a dozen posts advocating for deregulation of e-cigarettes and promoting the benefits of vaping since 2018. Those pieces downplay the adverse health effects of nicotine, an addictive substance derived from tobacco plants which has been linked to heart disease... Some of IWF’s claims backing e-cigs and attacking their regulation have appeared in USA Today, the Hill, and The Washington Examiner. Its representatives have also made such claims in media appearances on local radio stations and on the National Rifle Association’s video arm, NRATV. But in all of these outlets IWF has failed to disclose that it has been funded by tobacco and vaping companies determined to re-normalize the use of tobacco."<ref name="juul"> Evan Vorpahl and Lisa Graves, [http://independentwomensforum.org/news/pay-to-play-iwf-defends-juul-without-disclosing-juul-funding Pay-to-Play: IWF Defends e-Cigs without Disclosing Funding from e-Cig Industry], May 2019.</ref>
Julie Gunlock, the director of IWF's "Center for Progress and Innovation" has written extensively, echoing the corporate line in pushback to commonsense regulation of chemicals in products women, men, and children put on their skin, toxic pesticides sprayed on food, and e-cigs. "Earlier this year, while fighting off regulatory efforts to curb teen abuse of e-cigs, Gunlock wrote that 'teen vaping should also be kept in perspective, rather than positioned as a dire public health emergency' and claimed public health officials were misleading the public by calling the surge an epidemic. She did not disclose IWF’s funding from Altria. Gunlock has also echoed Juul’s exact talking points, such as the line that its products have 'helped millions switch from cigarettes.' What Gunlock does not mention is the number of teens who have become addicted to nicotine because of Juul, and the consequences that may have on their long-term health."
In addition to framing the teenage vaping epidemic as alarmist, Gunlock also downplayed health consequences of nicotine, comparing it to a cup of coffee, and IWF president Carrie Lukas compared vaping regulations to sex ed, writing in ''The Hill'' that "abstinence-only" was the wrong approach.
IWF has lobbied repeatedly against tobacco regulation. In February the group lobbied the FDA against banning e-cigarette flavors, which are widely popular among underage users and in 2017 IWF even claimed that regulating e-cigarettes would discriminate against women.
===$2.6 Million in Federal Grants===
