Without admitting guilt, Juul Labs announced on Tuesday that it would pay $438.5 million to resolve hundreds of cases over business practises that may have contributed to the increasing use of e-cigarettes by American teenagers.
The corporation stated in a statement that “this settlement with 34 states and territories is an important element of our continuous commitment to resolve concerns from the past.” We have reached settlements with 37 states and Puerto Rico as of today’s announcement, and we appreciate the efforts made by the Attorneys General to allocate funds to combat underage use.
William Tong, the attorney general of Connecticut, praised the information.
During a news conference on Tuesday, Tong stated, “We think that this will go a long way in halting the tide of teenage vaping.” “We are not deluded, and we cannot guarantee that it will put an end to youth vaping. It’s still spreading like wildfire. It continues to be a significant concern. However, we have virtually eliminated a significant portion of the market leader.
The American Food and Drug Administration is still deliberating whether to permit Juul to market its goods in our nation. The business’s vaping goods were banned by the FDA in June, but Juul challenged the ruling, and the court decided that the company may keep selling some of its products while the appeal was being considered.
With its youthful models, free e-cigarette samples, and flavours like crème brulee and mango, Juul was found to appeal to young people in the most recent investigation by almost three dozen states. Additionally, between the ages of 13 and 17, roughly 45% of the company’s Twitter followers fell.
The agreement reached on Tuesday would forbid Juul from engaging in activities like marketing to children, supporting education in schools, or misrepresenting the nicotine content of its products, though the company has already altered some of its practises in response to pressure from parents and government officials.
According to the New York Times, settlement money will be paid out over a six- to ten-year period. The state of Connecticut intends to utilise its $16 million portion for programmes to help people quit smoking, using nicotine, and becoming addicted. Texas will get $43 million. $16.6 million will go to Virginia.
According to Meredith Berkman, who co-founded Parents Against Vaping E-Cigarettes, “Juul came on the scene and opened this dreadful Pandora’s box.” “No amount of money can undo the damage caused by Juul’s targeting of and marketing to minors, whose use of the brand’s stealth-by-design flavoured products caused many kids to suffer serious nicotine addiction and bodily harm,” according to the firm.
After her ninth-grade son told her about a Juul representative speaking at a school assembly and calling its products “absolutely safe,” Berkman decided to join the group in 2018.
According to Berkman, the group has heard from hundreds of families who claim their kids were addicted to vaping Juul and other similar devices, with some teenagers developing serious illnesses as a result.
A recent poll by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raises concerns: While the number of students using e-cigarettes has decreased, Puff Bar products, which produce vapes with candy and fruit flavours, are currently the most popular.
Even while some businesses have shifted to selling synthetic nicotine, which wasn’t regulated until March when Congress granted the FDA the authority to oversee synthetic nicotine products, the FDA continues to work to control new products with candy flavours and colours. According to the Times, the government is still sorting through the approximately one million applications from non-tobacco nicotine product manufacturers it received this spring.
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming are the states that are a part of this most recent settlement. Juul previously reached agreements with Arizona, Washington, North Carolina, and Washington.
According to the Times, there are still nine lawsuits pending, including ones in New York and California. In California, almost 3,600 cases representing private parties, public schools, and municipal governments were combined.
Information about
E-cigarette information can be found at the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
NEW YORK TIMES, SOURCE
