Juul will stop selling flavored e-cigs in stores

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In an attempt to address what government regulators are calling
an “epidemic” of
teen vaping, Silicon Valley e-cig startup Juul officially
stopped selling its flavored
e-cigarettes at all retail stores,
including convenience stores, vape shops, and gas stations.

The move is perhaps the company’s strongest and most sweeping
change since it began selling its sleek, flash drive-esque e-cigs
in the summer of 2017. 

“As of this morning, we stopped accepting retail orders for
our Mango, Fruit, Creme, and Cucumber JUUL pods to the over
90,000 retail stores that sell our product, including traditional
tobacco retailers (e.g., convenience stores) and specialty vape
shops,” Juul CEO Kevin Burns said in a statement.

Scientists and public health advocates have been nearly unanimous
in voicing their approval for the move, which they say will help
protect young people by making the products
less appealing and
harder to purchase.

At the moment, Juul is the single stand-out e-cig brand,
making up nearly 80% of the e-cig market. On November 9, the Wall
Street Journal
reported that the company was preparing to voluntarily pull
its flavored products from brick-and-mortar stores ahead of an
expected FDA ban on flavors.

Gottlieb and several scientists have said they’re
particularly concerned about the Juul because of its uniquely
high concentrations of nicotine, a highly addictive substance,
and its appealing fruit and mint flavors. A recent
study published in October suggested a “rapid uptake”
among young people (including minors) of the Juul, and several
researchers say the flavors are an especially appealing part of
the product.

Researchers and public health advocates have voiced
near-unanimous praise for the expected FDA ban, which they call
an important starting point.

“From my perspective as a pediatrician, I think this is
step in the right direction in limiting sales and marketing of
e-cigarettes to adolescents and young adults,”
Nicholas Chadi, a clinical pediatrics fellow at Boston
Children’s Hospital, told Business Insider.

A focus on flavors

California Department of Public
Health

Juul’s move — comes in advance of an expected FDA ban on e-cig
flavors — also homes in on flavors, which are believed to be a
big part of the draw for young people. Sweet flavorings like
Apple Pie and Watermelon have have been a focal point for FDA
commissioner Scott Gottlieb and other public health agencies. In
a
September statement announcing steps the agency was taking to
curb teen vaping, he wrote:

“We’re especially focused on the flavored e-cigarettes,” Gottlieb
said in the statement. “And we’re seriously considering a policy
change that would lead to the immediate removal of these flavored
products from the market.”

In Juul’s statement about the new decision, they responded to
this concern.

“We are sensitive to the concern articulated by Commissioner
Gottlieb that ‘[f]lavors play an important role in driving the
youth appeal,’ and understand that products that appeal to adults
also may appeal to youth,” Burns said.

That’s a significant turning point for the company, which has
previously defended its flavors by saying they also play an
important role for adults looking to switch from traditional
cigarettes to e-cigs.

“Our data show that flavors play a critical role in adult
smokers’ ability to switch from combustible cigarettes, but we
must prevent youth access,” said Burns.

San Francisco’s flavor ban may have paved the way for similar
moves from Juul and the FDA

Over the summer, the city of San Francisco passed a sweeping

tobacco flavor ban that barred the sale of flavored e-cigs
and menthol cigarettes. Several big names including former New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg came out in support of the ban,
suggesting at the time that it
could spur similar moves in other cities.

“This vote should embolden other cities and states to act,
because it demonstrates the public will not allow tobacco
companies to stand in the way of policies that are proven to
reduce smoking and save lives,” he said in a statement.

Other advocates and many researchers who study e-cigs agree.

“Most scientists believe flavorings are used to target teenagers
into becoming users,”
Ana Rule, a professor of environmental health and engineering
at Johns Hopkins University and an author of a recent study on
e-cigs and teens,
told Business Insider this summer.

“There are of course many other factors such as marketing and
peer-pressure, but when you look at the flavoring names, one has
to wonder.”