E-cigarette company Juul has agreed to pay $438.5 million in settlement to 33 states and one territory for marketing its products to teenagers.
Juul to Pay Settlement
According to The Washington Post, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement that the settlement would send millions of dollars toward an effort to reduce tobacco use, especially for teenagers.
Atty. Tong said that Juul's ad campaign created a new generation of nicotine addicts due to the way they marketed vaping products to underage children, manipulated their chemical composition to make them palatable to teenagers, employed an inadequate age verification process, and misled the people about its products' nicotine content and addiction.
Juul said that the settlement is part of its commitment to resolve its past issues.
Holding the Company Accountable
In 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation against Juul because he wanted the company to be held accountable for its past wrongdoing and to change its practices so it can comply with the law.
The recent settlement can help accomplish both of Paxton's priorities. Paxton added that he is committed to protecting consumers from deceptive business practices.
The settlement requires the company to refrain from marketing to the youth in several ways, including advertising on public transit or on billboards, paying influencers, or featuring anyone under the age of 35 in ads.
Connecticut will receive $16.2 million, and Texas will receive $42.8 million in settlements.
The settlement still leaves a lot of questions unanswered, according to Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.
Tobias pointed out that the amount may not be able to help those who were injured, and it may not be enough to prevent future misconduct.
Tobias added that Juul is not the same company it was years ago because of scrutiny on the vaping industry.
He said that the company isn't much of a problem now, and even though its ads are aimed toward the younger demographic, the company made a lot of money off the products, and more could have been done to prevent injuries.
Juul said that it is now focusing on working to steer adult smokers away from cigarettes while combating underage use, according to Mashable.
Tobacco Use in the US
According to BBC, the most recent survey of youth tobacco use reported by the FDA and the CDC shows that youth vaping has declined since 2019.
About 7.6% of middle and high school students in the 2021 survey said they had used an e-cigarette at least once in the past 30 days, compared to 20% in 2019.
Still, the FDA said that e-cigarette use remains a concern because more than 2 million teenagers were reported vaping in August.
The agency warned that changes to the 2021 system due to the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to compare results with previous years.
The youth-tobacco survey also found that disposable e-cigarette that is not covered by cartridges, has become the most popular vaping brand among middle and high school students.
Related Article: FDA Cracks Down On Sale Of JUUL And Other E-Cigarettes
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Written by Sophie Webster
