Posted on 09/25/2019 11:39:58 AM PDT by Drango
uul Labs has agreed to stop advertising its popular e-cigarettes in the United States and announced that its chief executive officer is stepping down as state and federal regulators examine hundreds of cases of people who are sick from what appears to be a vaping-related lung disease.
The company also said in a Wednesday statement that it will not push back on a Trump administration plan to pull flavored e-cigarettes from the market until the controversial products win approval from federal regulators.
In the statement, Juul officials said the company will be "refraining from lobbying the administration on its draft guidance" that proposes banning fruit-flavored vaping products, unless approved by the Food and Drug Administration, in an attempt to make the e-cigarettes less available to young consumers.
News of the departure of Juul's CEO, Kevin Burns, was accompanied by an announcement that merger discussions have been called off between Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, and Altria, the tobacco giant that owns a 35% stake in Juul.
Burns will be succeeded by K.C. Crosthwaite, the chief growth officer at Altria.
In a statement, Crosthwaite said vaping products originally were introduced to move adult smokers to a safer alternative. But hundreds of cases around the country of mostly young users experiencing a mysterious breathing ailment thought to be tied to vaping is raising new alarms.
He said the company's original mission is at risk "due to unacceptable levels of youth usage and eroding public confidence in our industry. Against that backdrop, we must strive to work with regulators, policymakers and other stakeholders, and earn the trust of the societies in which we operate," Crosthwaite said.
Flavored e-cigarettes represent the majority of Juul's sales, but analysts have said the company's decision to stop fighting the Trump administration's regulations might fend off an even bigger blow to the company: the federal government banning Juul from selling any of its products.
At least 530 people in 38 states have been sickened with a vaping-related lung disease, and nine people have died. Health experts are also concerned about long-term pulmonary issues from vaping.
Yet health experts have not tied the outbreak to any specific product or type of e-cigarette. Many cases of the mysterious respiratory illness are connected to people who have used e-cigarette products to vape marijuana bought on the black market.
States including Massachusetts, New York and Michigan have moved to ban the sale of vaping products, and attorneys general in a number of states, including Illinois, are investigating whether Juul violated consumer protection laws by marketing its products to teenagers younger than 18.
Ned Sharpless, the acting FDA commissioner, told a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday that the Trump administration's soon-to-be finalized policy of banning flavored vaping products could change if e-cigarette companies can win federal approval.
"This policy would not mean that flavored e-cigarettes could never be marketed," Sharpless said. "If a company can show through an application to FDA that a specific product meets the standard set forth by Congress, then the FDA would authorize" the sale of the products, he said.
During the hearing, Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., asked if the surge in vaping-related illnesses represents "a massive regulatory failure." Sharpless conceded that the federal government missed some important warning signs.
"In retrospect, the FDA should have acted sooner," Sharpless said. "We should have acted to regulate these devices sooner."
Data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that the percentage of teenagers who are vaping doubled in the past two years, with about 1 in 4 high school students using e-cigarettes in the past month. That has led the institute's director, Nora Volkow, to declare vaping "a public health crisis."
"These products introduce the highly addictive chemical nicotine to these young people and their developing brains, and I fear we are only beginning to learn the possible health risks and outcomes for youth," Volkow said.
The FDA is set to release its policy restricting the sale of flavored vaping products in the coming weeks.
For its part, Juul has taken steps to combat the selling of its products to minors, including requiring some retail stores to electronically verify government-issued ID before allowing someone to buy its products.
But critics of Juul have accused the company of deliberately targeting young people by marketing flavors including mango, cucumber and mint.
The FDA's office of criminal investigations is currently probing products that are reportedly making people ill.
"FDA is not pursuing any actions associated with personal use of any vaping products, our interest is in the suppliers," Sharpless told Congress on Wednesday. "But to be clear, if we determine that someone is manufacturing or distributing illicit, adulterated vaping products that caused illness and death for personal profit, we would consider that to be a criminal act."
I tried everything to quit before I got on the juul train.
I’m expecting at some point people will notice I was being sarcastic.
My flavor of choice is whiskey. Is that bad?
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In retrospect, the FDA should have acted sooner
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Didn’t these things have to get FDA approval before they were put on the market in the first place (a non-smoker asks)?
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Yes, ‘cuz’ smoking ANYTHING hasn’t been known to be problematic since the Dawn of Man; let alone req. ‘permission’ from Big Brother.
Sorry, I’m a parent of middle aged and high school kids. I think this is a great idea and support 100%.
Nicotine is HIGHLY addictive. Juul and others may have started with a genuinely good idea, but pushing out flavors like Pina Colada, French Toast and Bubble Gum?? Who the F is that targeting? VERY unlikely it’s an “already smoker” who is trying to quit. THAT person can easily switch to a non-flavored alternative in an effort to get off smoke.
My son told me about 75% of the high school class is vaping. That is friggin disgusting.
Vaping isn’t safe like they held it out to be. Clearly we know that now. It’s not FDA approved. As far as I know, there isn’t an age limit on how to buy it and clearly if there is, NO ONE is enforcing it.
I fully support this and I’m a long time employee of large corporations so I rarely come down on this side of an argument. I get personal choice, accountability and responsibility. But the target audience for this stuff doesn’t always possess the level of maturity they need to make a good choice. Peer pressure, hormones, girl friends/boy friends, stress from school etc... It all takes a toll and no matter how much you preach as parents, kids will always find a way.
TuiB
What it seems to be:
1. Became a big teenager fad very fast
2. The chemicals that activate the “vapor” seem to be the problem
3. With Marijuana decriminalization and CBD popularity, many people saw uses, before those chemical risks surfaced.
21 to buy vapes in my state. 75% of my highschool class smoked cigarettes in school I might add. Hell they sold beer at the football games.
1 in 4 high school students using e-cigarettes in the past month
WOW!!!
You always have stupid kids but 1 in 4?
I don’t vape, but have friends who do.
Banning vaping products is a knee-jerk response to idiots who vape illegal and bootleg cannabis products and get sick and in a few cases die. It has nothing to do with people trying to quit cigarettes and tobacco products.
This is typical liberal panic induced craziness.
CJ, my apologies for ripping you — this issue hits WAAAAAAYYY too close to home for me to properly even comprehend a message in my primary language of sarcasm...
Newt Gingrich (1997) didn't say anything about nicotine, but he might today.
Civilization cannot survive with twelve-year-olds having babies, fifteen-year-olds shooting one another, seventeen-year-olds dying of AIDS, and eighteen-year-olds graduating with diplomas they cannot read.
It’s way more pervasive than 1 in 4. And they start young - 7th, 8th grade.
I have two relatives that are teachers and at least 4 friends that are. It’s at least 50% and my son says 75% in his school. (high school)
Vaping banned statewide in MA. "Republican" Charlie Baker unilaterally decided to ban sale of vaping products for 4 months. This is going to put a HUGE number of vape shops out of business...unless Baker has decided to pay the owners' mortgages for 4 months.
Bake has revealed himself to be a RINO.
Hits way to close to home for me too. Imagine finded something that actually works and is legal to buy and the bs hysteria demands you pretty much go back to smoking what is 100% gonna kill you and worse the actual flavor of the cancer stick. I tried the tobacco flavor it made me gag.
[Flavored Creamers is a perfect example. How many kids are hooked on Starbucks? The kids ain’t buying black coffee. Starbucks should only sell non flavored coffee drinks. It will cut down on youth caffeine addiction. Frankly they should ban all flavor.]
As long as the tobaccophobic bigots are happy, they’re cool with more people going back to smoking and dying earlier.
And, don’t forget the increased tax revenue! A nannystater’s wet dream.
Wow. Run for the border. My blackface gov only raised the age and banned flavors. He made instant criminals of the people between the ages of 18 and 21. No grandfather for you.
Dont get me started on how sweet tea is marketed to kids. Should get rid of that too. Just creating diabetes
My college age kids wanted to leave an event because they saw one person vaping.
Turns out they associated vaping 100% with pot use.
I thought of it as merely an alternative to smoking until then.
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