Update: On June 23rd, the FDA has issued an order to remove Juul vaping devices from the market, barring the company from selling or distributing either the devices or the eliquid pods.
“After reviewing the company’s premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs), the FDA determined that the applications lacked sufficient evidence regarding the toxicological profile of the products to demonstrate that marketing of the products would be appropriate for the protection of the public health. In particular, some of the company’s study findings raised concerns due to insufficient and conflicting data – including regarding genotoxicity and potentially harmful chemicals leaching from the company’s proprietary e-liquid pods – that have not been adequately addressed and precluded the FDA from completing a full toxicological risk assessment of the products named in the company’s applications,” says the announcement.
FDA notes that individuals currently owning Juul devices are not barred from doing so. It does not restrict individual consumer possession or use of JUUL products or any other tobacco products, as the FDA cannot and will not enforce against individual consumer possession or use of JUUL products or any other tobacco products.
If you’re a current JUUL user and wonder what available products are to switch to, the FDA provided a list of approved vaping devices and other ecigarettes called. You can take a look here.
Original report below:
Juul, the e-cigarette company with a peak valuation of $38 billion, might go up in smoke as soon as today.
A new report from WSJ says that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) could announce as early as today that Juul will no longer be allowed to sell its products anywhere in the United States.
If Juul gets forbidden from selling its products in the US, it would certainly be the end of the company, as it has struggled to gain a foothold in Europe thanks to regulations – and China shut them down after only a week in that market.
According to WSJ, the FDA could issue a “marketing denial order” after reviewing data provided by Juul for the past two years.
In 2019, struggling to please regulators and survive public opinion, which accused the company of marketing to minors and getting them hooked on sweets-flavored nicotine, Juul stopped all of its print, digital and broadcasting advertising in the US.
It was a huge blow to the company, only a year after it had sold a 35% stake in its business to tobacco giant Altria for a whopping $12.8 billion.
It has spent the time since lobbying to be allowed to continue selling flavored vaping products in the US. After having been denied the ability to sell sweets-flavored pods like mango, creme and fruit, their pods were only tobacco and menthol flavored.
Juul was also facing thousands of lawsuits from parents accusing them of hooking children on nicotine products by unethically marketing to teenagers and lying about the addictive potential of nicotine salts. When those lawsuits were combined into a multidistrict litigation, Juul paid $22.5 million to settle without admitting wrongdoing or liability.
While $22.5 sounds like a hefty fine, Juul reported revenue of $1 billion yearly and, by its third year in business, controlled 75% of the US e-cigarette market.
Now, if the FDA bans Juul from selling any product, it will be interesting to see what becomes of that e-cigarette market.
*Image by Ethan Parsa from Pixabay
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