This week’s escalation came because regulators said Juul failed to provide sufficient evidence to assess their toxicity and hazards of their tobacco and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes, leaving the FDA unable to “assess the potential toxicological risks of using the Juul products”.
The ban is still momentous, says Lauren Czaplicki, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, because it’s one of the first marketing denials for a brand with substantial market share in the US and for a menthol-flavored product.She points out that other brands like Vuse, Logic and NJOY have received market authorization for various tobacco flavored e-cigarette products and systems, but Juul was denied.
“Juul is still a popular product among young people who do use e-cigarettes, and Juul has a certain level of brand recognition and cultural cachet among youth that may be susceptible to nicotine use.”.
A recent federal survey found Juul was only the fourth most popular product among middle and high school students: the disposable e-cigarette Puff Bar came in first, with Vuse and Smok the second and third most popular.
When the FDA prioritized enforcement against flavored e-cigarette devices like Juul in 2020, it exempted disposable e-cigarettes and menthol-flavored e-cigarette products, says Zorilla.
“Reducing the number and type of flavored, e-cigarette devices for sale in the US is likely to have a substantial impact on reducing youth vaping,” she says.