The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has prohibited Juul Labs Inc from selling nicotine products in the United States after concluding that the company “had a disproportionate role in the rise of child vaping.”
A vaping company’s ability to sell e-cigarettes in the United States has been restricted after it was determined that it played a “disproportionate role in the rise of underage vaping.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined after Juul Labs Inc submitted scientific and health information on its nicotine products for review.
The nearly two-year-long collection of data revealed a “lack of sufficient evidence” that Juul’s products produced a net benefit to public health.
Robert Califf, the commissioner of the FDA, said in a statement, “We recognize that these items represent a major section of the market and that many have played a disproportionate role in the rise of child vaping.”
The judgment has been deemed possibly devastating to the San Francisco-based company.
In 2017 and 2018, teen e-cigarette use increased as Juul gained mainstream, according to a federal poll.
In 2019, around 27.5% of high school students vaped, compared to 11.7% in 2017.
According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States, the figure decreased to 11.3% by 2021.
Researchers stated that the most recent data on juvenile e-cigarette use cannot be compared to past years due to changes in survey methodology during the COVID pandemic.
The FDA has set September 2020 as the deadline for Juul and other e-cigarette brands, including Imperial Brands Plc’s Blu and British American Tobacco Plc’s Vuse, to submit applications.
The health agency was then tasked with determining whether each product helped smokers quit.
The degree to which the product assisted people in quitting smoking was balanced against the potential health risks to new e-cigarette users who had never smoked, particularly adolescents.
Juul has not yet replied to calls for comment, but reports from the United States indicate that the company is likely to appeal the judgment.
E-cigarette manufacturers have sold goods in the United States without FDA authorization for years.
In 2020, the FDA prohibited all flavors other than tobacco and menthol for cartridge-based electronic cigarettes, including those manufactured by Juul.
Juul retracted all other flavors, including mint and mango, after laws were tightened and anti-smoking activists protested.
Shares of Altria Group, which owns a 35 percent stake in Juul, fell 9 percent in response to the FDA’s ruling.
This comes after the administration of President Joe Biden pledged to investigate alternatives to help people quit smoking to reduce unnecessary cancer deaths.
This week, the White House released suggestions for a law establishing a maximum dose of nicotine in cigarettes and other tobacco products to make them less addictive.
