The US Food and Drug Administration has given JUUL Labs 2 months to prove they can keep their products away from minors, or else be pulled from the market, with the potential of criminal or civil charges.
In addition to JUUL, 4 other vape companies face the FDA’s ultimatum: Vuse, Blue, Markten XL, and Logic (who collectively make up 97% of the US e-cig market).
The FDA warns that teenage use of e-cigs has reached “epidemic proportions” (2m middle and high school students reportedly used e-cigarettes regularly last year).
The agency also sent letters warning 1k online and brick-and-mortar retailers and issued 131 fines during a nationwide investigation into whether JUUL was purposely targeting youths.
In April, JUUL sent thousands of pages of records to be reviewed by the FDA — but apparently, it didn’t bode well for the nicotine king.
A JUUL spokeswoman told the NYT: “We are committed to preventing underage use of our product, and we want to be part of the solution in keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of young people.”
But, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb believes JUUL has long treated the issues of teen nicotine addiction like a “public relations challenge” rather than seriously considering their legal obligations and public health mandate that these products bring.