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Topics: US News
Anish Vij
All vape products made by Juul have officially been banned in America.
Four years ago the company was accused of fuelling a surge of underage vaping after an enormous spike in youth e-cig use in that period.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been reviewing the company for almost two years and today, 23 June, made an announcement on the ban.
FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. said: "Today’s action is further progress on the FDA’s commitment to ensuring that all e-cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery system products currently being marketed to consumers meet our public health standards.
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"The agency has dedicated significant resources to review products from the companies that account for most of the U.S. market.
"We recognise these make up a significant part of the available products and many have played a disproportionate role in the rise in youth vaping."
In the press release, the FDA added that Juul should 'stop selling and distributing these products' and that anything 'currently on market must be removed, or risk enforcement action.'
Joe Murillo, Chief Regulatory Officer at Juul Labs, has 'respectfully disagreed' with the decision.
In a statement given to LADbible he said: “We respectfully disagree with the FDA’s findings and decision and continue to believe we have provided sufficient information and data based on high-quality research to address all issues raised by the agency.
“In our applications, which we submitted over two years ago, we believe that we appropriately characterised the toxicological profile of JUUL products, including comparisons to combustible cigarettes and other vapor products, and believe this data, along with the totality of the evidence, meets the statutory standard of being 'appropriate for the protection of the public health'."
He added: “We intend to seek a stay and are exploring all of our options under the FDA’s regulations and the law, including appealing the decision and engaging with our regulator.
"We remain committed to doing all in our power to continue serving the millions of American adult smokers who have successfully used our products to transition away from combustible cigarettes, which remain available on market shelves nationwide.”
According to Truth Initiative, in 2017, 11.7 percent of high school students had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days and by 2018, that number had risen to 21 percent. Although, that number dropped to 19.6 percent in 2020.
Meanwhile, Michele Mital, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products added: "The FDA is tasked with ensuring that tobacco products sold in this country meet the standard set by the law, but the responsibility to demonstrate that a product meets those standards ultimately falls on the shoulders of the company.
"As with all manufacturers, Juul had the opportunity to provide evidence demonstrating that the marketing of their products meets these standards.
"However, the company did not provide that evidence and instead left us with significant questions.
"Without the data needed to determine relevant health risks, the FDA is issuing these marketing denial orders."
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