When the next democratic president is elected, I hope that we will bring back regulation of drugs and so-called health products, and that Juul and other drugs are taken off the air. Drugs should not be allowed to advertise in the public space, or make false claims. If Juul is truly a product for quitting smoking, no child should be using it in the first place, and it should be prescribed by a doctor for a limited amount of time. Capitalism unbound gives you cancer and rich lawyers. Juul should be sued.
5
@Dr. Conde
You would have to sue the person who bought them for them. If you're over 18...well, education is your only friend.
@Dr. Conde " Drugs should not be allowed to advertise in the public space, or make false claims." So that means no beer ads or coffee ads? I won't be surrounded by young hot women if I drink Bud Light and won't feel terrific with that 1st cup of high end Columbian coffee every AM? Poor individual life choices might give you cancer. Put the blame where it belongs. With amount of smoking and drinking laws, it is hardly unbound Capitalism. Who can't possibly know that smoking is bad for you?
1
"The growing popularity of e-cigarettes has been paralleled by an evolving and unfinished regulatory framework."
unfinished by whom?
also, picking on one company is not a consistent regulatory framework passed by legislatures (at both the state and national levels), signed by executives and enforced by courts.
methinks that people need to look at this evolving technology in general sense and compare to the greater evil called tobacco and come up with a consistent, risk-appropriate and enforceable set of rules on marketing, consumer rights, non-user rights (as in second hand smoke/vapor), age restrictions, labeling, taxes, imports (because there are foreign products/companies too),...
4
@thomas bishop
"Dr. Ned Sharpless, the acting F.D.A. commissioner [said] “Juul has ignored the law and, very concerningly, has made some of these statements in school to our nation’s youth.”
really. juul representatives went to schools and talked to minors? the principals of the schools allowed this? the teachers allowed this? the police allowed this?
NYT, please clarify.
6
@thomas bishop It would seem the FDA needs to prove its claims against JUUL going into schools and what they may have said. They claimed it, not the NYT. The NYT only reported what the FDA stated.
3
@thomas bishop Sounds like you want a Republican Party that believes in government and a Democratic Party that represents its voters and not its donors. You're making far too much sense. Evidence-based regulation is really out of fashion in the USA. Sorry.
From the UK's National Health Service:
"They're not completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes.
"E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke."
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoking/using-e-cigarettes-to-stop-smoking/
From the Progressive Policy Institute:
"E-cigarette use lowers people’s annual per
capita healthcare costs, compared to cigarette
smokers and ex-smokers, for all age groups up
to age 75"
https://www.progressivepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/ECigaretteStudy.pdf
29
@Aly
You are absolutely correct. It is not the nicotine, but rather the delivery system that cause the majority of the problems. There is no question that this delivery system is safer and lessens the burden on the health care system that we all pay for. The problem of second hand smoke is probably greatly reduced.
As for the unsupported reported deaths, I am sure that orders of magnitude more people died of lung cancer during the same period, who had comparable usage.
6
They may not contain tar or CO, but contain other solvents that cigarettes do not, impacts of which have not been studied. It’s premature to call them safe or safer.
3
I hate the smell of cigarettes and dislike being around smokers, but there is noting on this green earth that is LESS cool than vaping. At least with a cigarette you can imagine yourself to look like Humphrey Bogart or the Marlboro Man. With a Juul, you look like you're sucking on a USB thumbdrive. Insult to injury; my goodness!
2
Once again Pandora is out of the box. Now the volunteer human “lab rat” test results on vaping are coming in.
1
How about people with free will and agency just not inhale junk into their lungs? Now there's a concept.
Where do F.D.A. commissioners come from and where do they go?
And who thinks the F.D.A. will protect us from vaping or from much of anything?
Dr. Scott Gottlieb left earlier this year as F.D.A. commissioner. Before that time....
Gottlieb’s financial disclosure form shows that he made more than $3 million throughout 2016 and the first three months of this year, through a combination of speaking fees, consulting arrangements with drug companies in general, board memberships..."
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, has received significant payments from the opioid industry — while attacking attempts to deter the explosion of opioid pill mills.
For example, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, the maker of a highly addictive generic oxycodone pill, paid Gottlieb $22,500 for a speech
"... 2017 confirmed by the Senate this week in a 57-42 vote... concern about Gottlieb’s financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. (That sure is a lot of no votes, mostly Democrats.)
Gottlieb argued that the DEA should not treat corporate pharmaceutical firms like street drug dealers
And now back from being head regulator to being, among other things--Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb joins Pfizer’s board of directors 2019
The whole pharmaceutical industry runs this way, so why shouldn't the vaping industry? Marketing illegally is standard: just pay the fines. Even if there were regulation, what deterrence?
StatinStories.com
4
Why is the US so backwards on e-cigarettes? While Europe embraces them as a way to quit or contain smoking, the US in its classic Puritan way, treats them no different than regular cigarettes. The truth is that e-cigs are safer than traditional ones. But the anti nicotine activists have zero tolerance for e-cigs and that’s a shame. While folks are dying from a lung disease brought about because of lack of regulation, these activists are out for blood. Seems smokers just can’t win in the US.
4
What on earth is the argument for not shuttering that company and the entire industry? Their product is poison. They market it to kids. They are killing customers? On what possible grounds does the FDA not do more than send a letter?
1
Memo to Juul
You want the Government off your back et get the attention of the President. Next time you go to Washington, make sure that you will stay at the Trump hotel in Washington.
Hmm, the FDA is now trying to cover its backside for letting Juul et al. on the market by NOW saying they illegally marketed e-cigs as safe?
Anyone with half a brain could have see that Juul products were going to be dangerous and damaging to children (mango, mint?!) but the FDA let it through. Now the horse is out of the barn and many teens are addicted to nicotine the FDA is going to act...shame on them!
1
You want to ban a drug? Ban alcohol. Its use has been absolutely proven to kill millions. Juul is a tiny roundoff error compared to booze.
3
The CEO should be jailed.
Never trust anyone who uses the word “nonmisleading” in defense of anything.
3
Some of these highly opinionated people have obviously never struggled with an addiction to smoking. It’s so easy to opine on what’s best for others, isn’t it? Putting e-cigarettes behind a doctor visit and a prescription wall will ensure many more cigarette related deaths, primarily in poorer people. That is a terrible idea.
2
I dont understand why the article does not know what the kids are vaping and why the the person who wrote the article doesn't have proper facts. Marijuana vaping and e-cigarette vaping are not the same product, nor are they made with the same products and are NOT packaged by the same company. To assume so is ignorant of the marijuana laws.
Maybe the person who wrote the article should ASK THE KIDS what they where vaping. Or maybe the person who wrote the article just doesn't know enough to write the article with true knowledge of the facts.
3
There is little doubt around the world that vaping is safer than cigarettes.
This is a continuation of the anti-tobacco effort that found itself without a cause with its victory over cigarettes. Originally vaping looked like smoking so after vaping they went. Has anyone done a study on the effect of cooking and frying with vegetable oil as an occupation on the lungs?
That something is going on with vaping garage THC products but don't hype it up and conflate it with vaping in general.
British health agencies look upon vaping with a very different point of view than is being pushed in America.
6
Truth in advertising: "Juul is a nicotine delivery system designed to remove other pollutants from cigarettes. It delivers its main addictive ingredient more effectively as well as stylishly so as to quickly addict more of its users to a drug that doesn't 'get them off' but will ultimately make them sick and probably kill them. And no, we never tested for side effects." There, that works now. (Juul's competitors can use the same copy.)
Glad to see this. The commercials are medical claims.
Patches are much safer and easier to use to wean off smoking or vaping. Juul is a nicotine delivery system and will not help most people to wean off of nicotine.
2
@Analyst Patches are a nicotine delivery system. Lots of people will tell you that they've tried gum, patches etcetera but vaping is the only alternative that has stopped them returning to smoking. Others will tell you it was much more effective at getting them off nicotine altogether. Being like smoking but not being smoking helps a lot. (I fear it's also what antagonises never smokers and ex-smokers. "People enjoying nicotine relatively safely in a smoking-like manner? Oh no, we can't have that." Puritanism and resentment is alive and well.
2
No better than the Big Tobacco guys...they done care about us.
1
You can't quit nicotine by taking nicotine. Same goes for every other drug.
Ironically, cigarettes are easier to quit than the vaping scam. There is more social pressure and less convenience with smoking.
Also, while certain types of cancer may be less likely with purified nicotine, losing half of your brain to stroke is still equally likely with the vaping scam as with cigarettes.
Have fun.
5
It’s another example of how our government- Congress and the FDA have failed the American people. Corporate lobbying prevented adequate regulations of both e cigarettes and opioids. Those two products have addicted millions of young people and resulted in thousands of deaths. It’s criminal- people should be going to prison - these companies should be shut down. They serve no public good. Opioid prescriptions should be heavily regulated and e cigarettes should be dispensed by prescription only. In DC, the FDA is known as the Feckless Drug Administration- it’s ineffectiveness is widely known.
2
I am not a Juul user or apologist, but is it really in question at this point that Juul is not as injurious as cigarettes? Compared to their multi-million user base, 500 is a drop in the bucket. That is far less than the number of life-threatening allergies from dairy or wheat. Could we please get the FDA to react solely to scientific data, as opposed to kowtowing to "say no to drugs" public pressure and anti-scientific scaremongering?
8
OK I'm really, really tired of this same article being written over and over, conflating vaping in general (which could be literally anything at all, including black market Chinese products) with Juul. And PLEASE stop with the young people angle. Every young person in this country has ready access to amphetamines (in the form of "prescription" Adderall), alcohol, every type of club drug ever created, processed sugar (which kills more people than smoking), firearms, laundry pods, and not to mention they can just walk out in the street and get run over. We've been hearing "young people are getting harmed by X" for decades and it always turns out that young people are not actually being harmed by X, and its just some political group or private interest or religious sect that just doesn't want people to do a certain thing for whatever reason. Can we go back to discussing how we're going to stop the planet from burning and eliminate fascism now?
9
@Cory. Do you want to be alive to enjoy it?
This is a self-defeating article that aims to ban vaping products and thus create dangerous black market products. Plant chewing/eating/smoking/vaping for pleasure has been going on since thousands of years across all cultures. This is something no one can effectively ban due to ethical (personal freedom) social, historical reasons. Thinking else is not only unrealistic but also dangerous as then each ideology will then try to ban its nemesis. We will then be living in a world of strongarming instead of principles.
Banning vaping will make it much unsafer as all types of criminals will turn it into their business and they will immediately focus on schools. The MD who suggests prescribing vaping products lacks the common sense of a street-grown kid. This is the mindset of academics, experts in their fields but unaware of basic real-world realities. Indeed, this article states recent vaping incidents are likely related to modified or custom products so essentially there is a self-defeating argument here.
Regarding the school comments, one sales rep did something unacceptable but it is one single incident in a huge industry. Vaping companies are accepting that their products are limited to ages 21 and above.
I have four children and would not want them to vape. But worse, I would not want them to live in an environment where so-called pundits try to prohibit anything that does not fit into their ideology and so the system works through strongarming and black markets.
9
The FDA is always playing catch up.
It does not take a rocket scientist to recognize that inhailing
Chemicals is not healthy. How on earth can this product be
On the market without having clinital trials performed on this product. The FDA needs major overhaul and be properly funded.
The goal is to keep Americans safe which the FDA has lost sight
off.
3
Car companies have sometimes produced vehicles that were defective, leading to the death of purchasers of them. Driving a non-defective car is known to come with significant risk of causing serious injury and death anyway. Hence: cars should be banned. As everybody knows, nobody ever died riding a horse.
[Er, this is satire.]
3
Devils advocate here: is the tobacco lobby taking down Juul? They are strong and e cigs don’t use their product. Just seems to be a concerted odd effort to go after a non tar alternative to smoking.
7
@Meg Riley The tobacco industry owns some of the most popular e cigarette brands.
2
Just when with decades of effort we had less and less Americans smoking, along come e-cigarettes to create an entire generation of addicts, together with unknown health affects, with some studies even showing that smoking these even ONCE alters your blood vessels.
The FDA has been taken over by Big Tobacco, and keeps sending absurdly comical letters and doing basically nothing. These products need to be banned unless proven to not be harmful, not the other way around. Maybe Congress needs to act.
5
Anyone who is stupid enough to think vaping is not safer than cigarettes should be banned from voting and have 1st amendment rights stripped for life.
The order of magnitude difference is wider than the Pacific Ocean
11
Spoken like someone with a financial interest in e-cigarettes or related products, and like someone who might be more comfortable living in someplace like North Korea, where there isn't a constitution to worry about and where people routinely are stripped of their power and dignity for disagreeing.
Vaping may be safer in some ways than smoking, but that doesn't make vaping a safe activity, nor does it make the chemicals it delivers safe. Perhaps those who deal in or promote addiction to nicotine and abuse of other substances shouldn't be voting.... Nah; I like democracy.
5
Anyone who believes vaping is safe should be stripped of their health benefits and left to face the consequences of their choice and addiction on their own.
Nicotine, in any delivery form is horrendously dangerous. E cigarettes may remove the combustion derived carcinogens and maybe the risk of airway cancer will be less (we need another 10 yrs of use, cause it takes about 2 decades to see an effect like this on cancer development). What we do know is that nicotine causes 5 or 6 times the number of deaths from cardiovascular illness (heart attacks and strokes). So if vaping provides more nicotine, more addiction you’ll see a significant uptick in mortality linked to vaping. In the next 5 yrs or so.
Nicotine is more addictive than any of the street drugs (heroin, crystal, crack or coke, cannabis), vaping risks are increased by the fact that users become rapidly and strongly addicted to the drug that destroys their cardiovascular system. Recipe for disaster, and not just the few toxic injury cases to lungs that we are seeing now, but disaster on a much grander scale (>500k-1mill/yr in US alone).
Wake up, this stuff is ridiculously dangerous.
2
Fascinating how’re many people say how great vaping is for them compared to smoking. I Have they ever for a minute considered breaking their addiction to nicotine instead of changing their definitely deadly delivery system to a perhaps deadly delivery system.
Nobody has to be dependent on nicotine. Marketing it to teens is about the depths a corporation can sink to. This is craziness to hook more on nicotine. More kids. Your kids.
6
@Summer Smith The great thing about vaping is that the user can step down the nicotine content. I smoked for 10 years, started vaping, and eased myself down to 0% nicotine juice. I have now been nicotine free for the past six months, something I was never able to do when trying to quit cigarettes.
18
@Gregg. But vaping even without nicotine still has risks, look it up!
@Gregg Me too. I have an empty cigarette-shaped e-cig I charge and "smoke". It took me about a week to detox from tobacco.
Is it me or did this thread attract a lot of people from tobacco industry?
How can you make the argument that alcohol is more addictive than nicotine, and that nicotine has no health risk?! Maybe if you just use the patch it doesn’t have much, but the only ones who do that are trying to kick all the other delivery devices that come with higher rates of cancer and so many other risks!
Humans continue to prove that they will do things that are bad for them, especially teens. I’d prefer living in a society where we try to discourage the worst decisions. Trying a beer isn’t one of them. Getting unwittingly addicted to a lifelong expensive habit that saps you of your health (and a bit of your dignity), is. The only thing that might be worse? Taking a job in the marketing department of a tobacco company.
3
America the corrupt. Lie, cheat, and kill but you’re now a billionaire so government bows to you. At worst there are those slap on the wrist fines. Democrats too (Obama and Eric Holder). But they are oh so justified locking up pot smokers.
Trump isn’t the problem but rather a symptom of systemic corruption.
3
Cigarettes seem to take 40 or more years to kill one. The cigarette companies can now say vaping is more deadly and they can say switch to the “safer” cigarette.
Does anyone think this is beyond the deception practiced for years by these companies.
4
Wow. Five deaths "linked" to vaping. I guess that is almost as bad as the 480,000 deaths per year that the CDC says are caused by smoking tobacco.
At some point the FDA's regulation of speech has got to yield to the First Amendment. In this case, they are putting a gag order on disseminating true facts - true facts that would save lives by helping people kick cigarettes.
13
But what percentage of smokers die per year of smoking-related causes vs. the percentage of vapers who die from related causes? One might also include hookah use, since so-called e-cigarettes are basically battery-operated mini-hookahs (aka bongs).
2
@Chorizo Picante—doesn’t matter what causes your death—you’re still dead👹
Why doesn’t the FDA regulate it as a device and drug that requires a prescription, and doctors only prescribe to existing smokers...once there is agreement it is less harmful?
But it’s a joke they say they didn’t market to teens. I have a teenager who thought the flavors were cool. And who had no idea about the nicotine. And corner stores who will sell to anyone. The name alone betrays that argument. That’s not a brand name aimed at older people.
Makes me angry our society tolerates as much as it does from companies like this, Purdue Pharma and all their enablers who laugh all the way to the bank. How CEO of Juul can tell himself he didn’t just get a generation of Americans hooked on a drug is mind boggling. Clearly he doesn’t know what a conscience is.
4
@Bob Smith yes because regulating Adderall certainly stopped teenagers and college kids from access.
And you can say they marketed to teens, but you're forgetting that when they started they had almost no ads at all, and the devices are designed to mimic high end tech products. The cost alone should be prohibitive for teens; even the tech support in my office can't afford them! When I first saw Juul I remember thinking "finally a vape thats made for older people who are too busy for clouds".
And out society DOESN'T tolerate it; we're forced to because they have so much money for lobbyists that they can, oh, say, convince everyone that teens are vaping.
No one is focusing on the potential harm to lung tissue by the solvents, propylene glycol or glycerine, as well as the flavoring agents. The solvents are generally considered safe for oral ingestion but the effects on lung tissue have not been studied. Nicotine is not soluble in water thus the need for these solvents. Might these solvents do damage to the cells making up the air sacs of the lung?
We are focused, understandably, on the serious lung disease that has been reported, but there is absolutely no evidence supporting the long term safety of any vaping product currently on the market.
The fact that children are addicted to these devices could present a public health crisis in ten or twenty years quite aside from the acute respiratory illness being reported now.
8
Not to mention the impacts on cardiovascular system; brain and nervous system (including psychiatric ailments); tongue, mouth and throat; ocular and nasal tissue; etc. from chemicals you mentioned and/or from the primary substances being vaped, from the batteries, etc.
4
Don't forget the environmental impact of Juul's, its competitors', and related product production and disposal. For one thing, the world does not need ever more spent or malfunctioning batteries in landfill, watersheds, etc. Or the plastics.
2
@Smarty Let's not forget the environmental impact of the trillions of cigarette butts littering our world. Batteries can be disposed of properly. Cigarettes cannot.
We need to put graphic photos of people in caskets from there cigarette smoking , holes in their necks blowing smoke out. Also of what healthy lungs look like compared to the old black ones on packages of vaping products like they soon will be doing to cigarettes next year in America. If the people continue to smoke raise their health care premiums 5 percent to cover there more days in the hospital.
1
Can’t wait to see the NYT comment section collective outrage over beer/liquor commercials using young people in their ads to market to underage drinkers, while making almost no effort to safeguard against underage sale/abuse.
Nicotine is an addictive chemical that has shown little intrinsic downsides outside of being addictive. Alcohol is an addictive chemical that can shut down your respiratory system in a matter of minutes if used improperly. Amazing what society picks and chooses what to care about.
13
Wrong... Vaping is associated with 56% increase in heart attack and 30% increase in strokes. Vaping causes stiffening of the arteries and hastens the progression of heart disease, blood clots, and other circulatory programs.
3
You're kidding re: no harmful effects from nicotine other than becoming addicted, right?
If not, you have my pity.
3
@Melanie Source please! If what you say were true it would be very strange that nicotine solutions are legal in the UK and approved by its NHS as a safer alternative to smoking.
All indignation and concerns about child smoking aside; I used to smoke one pack of Marlboro per day for 34 years until 4 years ago when I got Juul and not one cigarette since..I can tell everyone that my lung capacity has improved drastically, I run 7 miles, my skin has cleared up, my teeth and gums are better condition. It’s not the Juul user going through 1 cartridge a day; it’s the other big vape box wafters. Huge difference.
13
@Victor Jungman Hard to "put indignation and concerns about child smoking aside" when your kid just got out of intensive care in the hospital, after having O2 and IV antibiotics for a week, at a cost of $35000; and 80% of high school students/40% of middle school students are developing a brand new addiction thanks to these predatory companies. Glad you're seeing a "huge difference" in your own health and are able to put aside other concerns.
5
Good for you for stopping traditional cigarettes. Even better for you, and for the rest of the planet, would be to quit tobacco/nicotine/intentionally polluting your lungs altogether. For that, we send you a sense of power of self-worth, power, perseverance, and satisfaction.
2
So, someone in the FDA finally woke up to JUUL's ugly, horrid polluting campaign, hurting our young adults' health finally?
Did the money to hush up dried up or was someone really afraid what next would come spilling out of the garbage they have been filling our children's lungs with??
We have known vaping is dangerous since 2014 because of mice models. Did people have to die before a warning be declared?
What do we not know about inhaling smoke/exogenous material into lungs? We have always known it causes harm... degrees of harm but harm... cough, bronchitis, asthma, dyspnea, etc.
I don't get it, I have to spend ten minutes to explain a side effect which may affect 0.1% of the population before a patient may consent to take an antibiotic which they desperately need but, it is perfectly alright for these (JUUL) people to earn billions at the expense of human's health and deaths!
And what about these people vaping JUUL as well?
When will Americans' start taking ownership of their health... and also be held responsible for the harm they are doing to themselves??
10
Once again it is not until deep into the article that it is mentioned that the recent spate of lung illnesses are believed to be caused by improvised devices off the street and black market juices. Vaping nicotine is VASTLY safer than cigarette smoking and demonizing the industry will just push people back to cigarettes. I also am always upset when e-cigarettes are referred to as "tobacco" products. There is no tobacco in them. We all need to pump the brakes a little here on the hysteria. If JUUL was causing these illnesses we would have been seeing them by the thousands over the past three years.
10
@Noah Be sure to share your evidence for the "VASTLY safer" - especially since the companies have yet to do so.
4
I am a psychotherapist who works with children and adolescents. I have yet to see one teen in the past few years who didn't bring up the subject of vaping by session 3-5... Some kids presented with symptoms of addiction and others were experimenting or simply curious. All had access to Juuls-- and primarily within the school setting. It is a serious concern.
21
My daughter says kids are Juuling in class and teachers are either clueless or don’t care.
The candy flavors definitely made the kids think they were harmless. Have had multiple conversations about how all of them contain nicotine. Took a few of them for her to believe me - her friends kept saying otherwise.
And yes, some of these same 14 year olds are doing pods with THC, too.
1
Why are vaping and vaping products even legal?
This epidemic has now become a public health threat.
The companies and the governments that permit and tax it should be held accountable.
Now.
14
Remind me, why is cannabis still legally prohibited?
Even if the death count from these things never goes higher than five, that’s five more deaths than have ever resulted from anyone smoking some weed.
3
@ubique. Totally legal in Cali, bro. I'm high right now.
2
Um, NOT true. Cannabis-high drivers have killed people. Cannabis smoke has caused dangerous bouts of coughing/lung and trachea irritation. Cannabis use has contributed to episodes of domestic violence, to house fires, to serious mental health problems. Maybe it didn't happen to you or to people you know, but it has happened.
Because it is a psychoactive substance that is NOT without adverse consequences for health or for society.
I am glad to testify in court about the horrible impact on teens--anything to close Juul down.
6
I hope people start realizing this in show it’s always done in America. Lax regulations combined with a Buyer Beware mentality and consumers believing advertisements. The lid is on very lose on society. The government is not your daddy and is not watching out for you. Think for yourself because many people want to sell you toxic products for profit and no one checks it out until AFTER people get sick.
7
That scary warning letter is sure going to get them to change their behavior, especially as they've already hooked thousands of teens on their product and have steady revenue from these kids for years.
5
Must say that I was startled to see Juul ads (cleverly disguised as survey research) very regularly in the virtual edition on NYT this past summer. Don't see them now. Thank you.
7
My family has spent thousands of dollars (therapy and doctor's appointments) and time trying to help my 19 yr old son get off Juul...He is highly addicted to nicotine and vapes somewhere between 18-20 viles several times a day. He hates himself for his addiction. Almost every morning he gets up and vomits . I HATE e-cigarettes!
12
If JUUL says their product is totally safe, that crosses a line and should be stopped. But when they say that consuming nicotine vía e-cigs is safer than inhaling the smoke from the combustion of tobacco, then they are well within supportable facts. Given my nicotine dependence, all of my doctors would prefer that I vape rather than smoke, and that includes my pulmonologist.
They speak about it as self-evident and marvel at those who refuse to see it.
14
Even better would be ending your nicotine addiction altogether, right?
Others have done it, and you can too.
Good wishes for your journey to better wellness, for you and all around you.
1
They made money. This is America. Anything they did must be OK.
1
I guess Juul is not on Trump's enemies' list so it can keep getting off with a slight rap on the hand.
3
Where’s Martha Coakley on this one?
Sad that a person who was known for advocating for consumers is now a paid shill for these merchants of death (yes, they are merchants of death). STanford educated but merchants of death no less. Phillip Morris thAt has tried to rebrand themselves as “Altria” owns about 30% of Juul. Just gross!
3
Juul must think that there above the law. Why are they even being allowed to show up to schools ? This is their tricky tactic to expose and advertise their products to children. Dear Juul, your intended target audience is not adult smokers, we all know your hidden agenda and Dr.Sharpless something has to be done and done now !
6
It's about time.
4
A warning letter? Really? The FDA should be ashamed! I seem to recall that Juul was “threatened “ with a ban over one year ago and that they “promised” they would self-regulate. How many times will you cry “wolf” before a ban is implemented? Your all-bark and no-bite is barely a whimper. Do your job!
15
Take a listen to Juul’s vaping competitor myblu, pushing “total nicotine satisfaction.” I guess if you don’t have to wait 20-30 years to die from smoking, that’s a kind of improvement, no?
4
I wonder what Trump would do?
Make the worst possible pro-corporate, anti-people decision of course. He'd pardon Philip Morris execs the moment they got even a wristslap fine—then accept their campaign contributions.
4
JUUL/Big Tobacco is creating a new generation of nicotine addicts INCLUDING new cigarette smokers. My kids tell me some college students are now trying regular cigarettes for their weaker nicotine buzz as a way to cut down on JUUL. One BMJ study shows that a kid who vapes is 4x more likely to smoke regular cigarettes than a kid who does not:
These results contribute to the growing body of evidence supporting vaping as a one-way bridge to cigarette smoking among youth
https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/26/e2/e106
JUUL knew what they were doing.
37
@KrisM
I'm 20 and what you say is true.
13
@KrisM So call for the banning of tobacco products!
1
Vaping devices fulfill a need based on the same need filled by cigarettes namely that they allow us to heave a deep sigh in public without it being recognized as such. It is in fact the prevalence of depression and the need to hide it that will keep these devices in use for eons to come.
3
Years ago various groups made sure that the Marlboro Man was put out to pasture ie: the cigarette manufacturer could no longer run advertisements on TV. Explain to me why juul, which has been in the news whose use causes hospitalization for a large number of users, is allowed to advertise on CNN.
11
CNN is not broadcast tv; it is cable tv. Different rules apply!
Don't warn them. Fine them. Heftily. They know what they were doing. Hold them accountable.
10
AND, for the record and in view of the recent epidemic of serious lung complications associated with "vaping" devices—
Early Juul ads DID target teens, and its marketing was patently youth-oriented. A disgrace for which they should be held accountable.
A physician MD
11
Fine them. 50 billion sounds about right - it’s what the company was valued at for addiction 100s of millions of people to a dangerous drug they don’t need and didn’t know they wanted by false advertising.
8
Is there any evidence that Juul *isn't* safer than cigarettes?
I've been using them for about a year, and the difference is remarkable. I can breathe easier, it's harder to get winded, I don't cough up gunk, and my circulation feels improved. (I also never have to worry about fires, which is nice.) I smoked conventional cigarettes for twenty years, and obviously this is just anecdotal, but they certainly *feel* healthier.
I'm not saying Juuls are healthy, and I'm not encouraging anyone to use them. But I keep seeing news reports and F.D.A. trying to link e-cigarettes with these recent illnesses, despite overwhelming evidence that they're cause by black-market vaping liquids and devices designed to ingest THC.
From England's NHS website:
In the UK e-cigarettes are tightly regulated for safety and quality. They aren't completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes. E-cigarettes don't produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke. The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke but at much lower levels.
Public Health England's 2015 independent evidence review found that, based on the available evidence, vaping is around 95% less harmful than smoking. The Royal College of Physicians came to a similar conclusion in its 2016 report 'Nicotine without smoke: tobacco harm reduction'.
https://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/help-and-advice/e-cigarettes
27
@Murph
Don’t come here with your silly evidence. It will ruin everyone’s hysteria.
5
I was panicking about this until I realised that the official UK position (and the EU which regulates e cigs, unlike in the USA) is that vaping is safer than smoking. Anyone that has switched from smoking to vaping (not marijuana!) will testify that health improves dramatically, including myself (a junior professor whose been vaping for 12 years).
I know, if I say, once again, that the USA laws and regulations are ridiculous, my American friends will be like “we know, we know, just wait till next year”...
10
I smoked cigarettes for 45 years, since I was 15. Last year I started studying the UK information, studies, and recommendations, since all you can find from US sources is this kind of biased hysteria that seems very light on facts even after all these years. (Why hasn’t OUR government studied it in all this time?) After ALSO studying different US manufacturers to find one not associated financially with any tobacco company and seemed legit, I took the plunge. One Sunday in January I vaped for the first time. Four days later I smoked my last tobacco cigarette. I then gradually reduced the nicotine concentration of the “juice,” eventually hitting zero. I then felt really ill for about 5 months and ultimately have gone back to a very low nicotine dose. I’m now doing GREAT, feel great, breathe better, sing better, and don’t burn holes in my clothes or car seats anymore. I may ultimately vape for a long while yet, but obviously tobacco products (which vaping is NOT) cause more deaths every day than vaping, FAR more fires, and are more expensive. Doing neither is best, to be sure, but for some of us vaping is a blessing. If vaping is outlawed, I guess I will have to go back to tobacco. While we’re here, can we weigh in on alcohol vs. marijuana? Both cause deaths and destruction, but nowhere near the same levels. REAL research & public education on these things seems like a good idea, along with some reasoned perspective.
6
@Reasonable
It hurts me to see the busy-bodies and nannies that mascarade as concerned parents and professionals hyperventilate over such a nonexistent "health crisis." If millions of teens and adults use vaping products frankly how can dozens of deaths, isolated to literally a span of months and potentially counterfeit products, be considered anything to lose sleep over?
As Millennial, former pack a day smoker, and former vaper (little juul and larger vaping devices), I'm disheartened when I see such outsized outrage at such a statistically benign issue.
Let's not forget the real young people killers: driving, underage drinking, opiods, and suicide.
Please I can't read another post by a concerned parent with their common sense stuck so far up their smug that I get confused into thinking they are actually making a reasoned and informed argument about something important.
2
The FDA is just now finding that it had never tested and approved Juul products??
4
The FDA does NOT test products. In the case of “drugs”, manufacturers test products for safety and efficacy, The FDA - after reviewing that data - decides if the benefits of the product outweigh its risks. Tobacco products - as well as dietary supplements - are NOT subject to a pre-market approval requirement. This, regrettably, is the system Congress has created and we as a society are paying a price for it now.
5
Altria-staked Juul loves to market their nicotine self-harm tool as an alternative to cigarettes, when it's really an alternative to being caught with cigarettes.
"USB drive"-style self-harm tools like Juul help aspiring and addicted smokers alike hide the habit, and the former Philip Morris hide more cash for killing kids and teens in their wallet. They deserve the corporate death penalty just as urgently as Facebook, Purdue Pharma, or any fossil burner.
5
This is not a "safe" or a "safer" product, but an addictive killer that should be off the market. Anyone who smokes this will be as addicted to nicotine than cigarette smokers.
67% of smokers die of smoking related disease, and it is likely that a majority of Juul smokers will die from smoking-related disease as well.
3
@RBSF
Your whole point makes no sense. People who dont smoke (vaping is not smoking) will not die from smoking related diseases.
6
You’re right. While it can take a couple of decades of traditional smoking for damage to show up, it seems to taking less than a year for vaping. “Vaping is not smoking”, only worse!
@RBSF
All of the deaths that are linked to vaping are related to black market THC/Marijuana vape systems. But hey, who cares what the facts are. You have a crusade to pursue.
None of the people who have become ill or died, were using JUUL. There are so many types of vapes, many of which users can tamper with and add who knows what? JUUL's pods are enclosed and can't be mixed with other juices or THC. Many, if not all of the people who have become ill were using some cocktail of liquids.
No one wants children to use JUUL, including JUUL, but I do think the company has been very responsible by fighting for the 21 + law and removing ALL their flavored products from the market, now only available from their website with two step verification (including a social security number). I heard they gave up a hefty percentage of their income because of this action.
What is criminal is that cigarettes are totally fine on the market shelves, yet they are the number one cause of preventable death in this country. Many health professionals have said that JUUL is undoubtably safer than burning a combustible cigarette, since the cancer comes primarily from the tar that comes with burning.
I know a number of ex-cigarette smokers that have had great success in stopping smoking by using JUUL. They no longer cough, stink, or expose others to second hand smoke.
16
But they are safer than cigarettes. That’s not to say that they’re safe, and of course they’re addictive, but we’re living in a society where cigarettes are the leading preventable cause of death. Any possible alternative to that should be made available for the benefit of general public health. And of course it should be regulated and studied, but by all means the people deserve access to a safer alternative to cigarettes!
19
The exact point that this article makes - They are NOT safer. No proof, no evidence. No demonstrable proof that they make quitting cigarettes any easier either. In the mean time humans, mostly teenagers, are guinea pigs in the e-cigarette lung damage experiment.
3
Juul claims that e-cigs are a smoking cessation device. If that's the case, why doesn't the FDA make it available by prescription only, the same as with smoking cessation drugs like Chantix, which serve the same purpose.
12
@RT
Does nicotine gum, patches, or lozenges require a prescription?
Chantix is literally a medication similar to antidepressants that works to diminish the pleasure and desire to smoke by alternating brain chemistry and the way that nicotine interacts with the brain--hardly similar to a nicotine replacement.
2
@RT Lots of smoking cessation aids are available without prescription. Ever heard of a patch or nicotine gum?
3
Whatever happens to Juul needs to be more serious than changing the way they advertise. My 12 year old brother, who is now addicted to nicotine, informed me that he rarely ever saw any Juul ads in places aimed at people his age, but the street ethos of Juul as a "safer version of smoking" he heard from other kids is how he started using their product. Selling fruit flavored nicotine products that look like flash drives and are deemed "safe" is completely irresponsible and shows no regard for who will end up using these products.
It's been a long time since my brother has ever even enjoyed "juuling." Once my parents found out, they did everything they could to keep nicotine products out of his hands and stop him from doing it, but nicotine is nicotine, and 12 year olds don't know limits very well. He got hooked pretty quick. There is no stopping your kid from finding out about the cultural phenomeon that is juuling. Peer pressure is brutal for kids that age, and there's only so much a parent can do to stop them from using a Juul the first few times. Juul products are easily concealed, brought to school, and shared.
Kids are stressed out (as they generally are at that difficult age) and then a brand comes along and says they have an easy and mature way to relieve stress... but "only for adults." It's perfect supply and demand. I sincerely hope that Juul has a terrible future and that their brand gets ruined.
38
@Roman Doyle I'm resolutely against the marketing of vaping products to children and adolescents. I also would have no problem with the banning of non-tobacco flavoured solutions that children and adolescents seem to prefer. However I also think you should be glad that your brother has been using Juul's products rather than smoking instead.
2
"The agency sent a warning letter to the company, saying it violated regulations by touting its vaping products as safer than traditional tobacco cigarettes."
Certainly, one of the key issues here is why in the world the FDA allowed a product like this to go to market without fully understanding the health risks. Ultimately, those deaths are just as much on the FDA as they are on Juul. Reminiscent of the limp oversight of Boeing by the FAA.
41
This product is dangerous and should be removed completely from the market. If and when the product is deemed safe for adults over 21 years of age, it can return to the market, subject to ID age checks at the time of purchase - same as alcohol.
26
These are nicotine delivery devices, designed to deliver a pharmacologically effective dose. If we treated nicotine like the compound it clearly is, an addictive chemical, it would fall into one of the DEA categories for controlled substances. As a comparison, we strictly regulate other compounds, such as buprenorphine and methadone, both opioids, in their use as adjuncts in treatment of opioid addiction.
Why not treat nicotine the same way? Does money buy political clout, or what?
47
@Mr. Potato Head So why are tobacco products legal? Nicotine solutions generally contain vegetable glycerine and/or propylene glycol (both of which are used in numerous health care and food products) and nicotine at a low concentration. They do not contain the dozens of known carcinogens that are in tobacco smoke. These stories suggest that no scientific examination of the relative health effects of vaping nicotine solutions versus smoking have occurred. This is wrong. Some researchers have estimated that vaping is only 5% as harmful to health as smoking. It's not nicotine that kills smokers.
3
@Mr. Potato Head
If doses and prescription of methadone and other opiod maintenance drugs weren't highly controlled, misuse and use with contradictory drugs (even just alcohol) can easily lead to acute death or a life-threatening situation.
Hard to equate the two unless you are misinformed or trying to willfully misconstrue reality.
2
FDA, too little, too late. How did they ever allow this new product onto the market. It was obvious at the time that safety had not been established.
51
In a way we're better off with cigarettes. At least with cigarettes we know what we're getting, i.e. cancer. With this junk people are getting suckered into believing that these things are benign, which they are not.
Make this illegal. Make the companies and their owners pay for the harm they've done. You bring something to market which is perniciously dangerous, you pay, right Sacklers?
25
@MIKEinNYC, any evidence of that besides your fear?
6
Lots of reasons to be concerned, and even disgusted, by all of this. Here's another one: Alarmed by fact that Juul reps were making school presentations, and using that access to young people to tout their product as safe. What are these people doing in addressing students in school? This is absurd in so many ways.
83
These pernicious vaping devices should be illegal. There is no justification for their existence whatsoever.
If the argument is that they help people quit smoking then that's medical and people should have to get prescriptions.
21
@MIKEinNYC
More from the Nanny state. If people want to vape, let them. Drug prohibition helps no one.
5
The FDA attempted to thwart the e-cigarette industry in its infancy in the 2000’s by restricting the importation of the product. The Agency argued that the manufacturers of the product were making “drug-like” claims and should, therefore, have to seek and obtain pre-market approval (like drug manufacturers) before the product could be lawfully sold in the US. Regrettably, they lost in Court on the ground that the product should be regulated as a tobacco product NOT requiring pre-market approval. I often wonder where we would be had the FDA’s position been sustained. I think far better off. The lesson: bear in mind that regulators such as the FDA are only as good as the tools Congress gives them. In the case of this public health debacle, those tools simply weren’t/aren’t good enough.
10
Too many of our politicians are afraid of tackling big industries: pharma, guns, tech, tobacco, healthcare.
Yet most of these companies in these industries put their bottom line first and their customers second. and that’s especially true with tobacco, where their products literally kill people with no benefit to them whatsoever.
Why as a society do we even allow them to manufacture nicotine products? What fraction of federally subsidized healthcare goes to treating smoking related illnesses? Why should I as a taxpayer fund health issues for people who choose to smoke? Just ban it or prevent them from receiving federally funded healthcare.
2
I keep wondering how they are getting by with tv ads. They should not be allowed to advertise on tv.
70
@Cyn B
I wondered the same thing! They also have billboards. Was the law changed on advertising “tobacco products” ? The advertising has disclaimers about nicotine.....
10
Pressure the companies who take them to pull them! Twitter is good for this!
3
I still want to know about Gotliebs efforts to regulate vaping, then his resigning from the fda and going back to work for hedge funds that could be tied to these poisons. Men like him are making money off of nicotine, please investigate the investors.
5
If I were to commit illegal acts that result in the death of 5 people, I would go to jail. What will Juul’s punishment be, I wonder?
85
@Diane As I understand it, they didn’t. it’s a different kind of product (oil/THC vs water/nicotine). You, Diane, have been misinformed (quite deliberately, I might add).
12
@Diane Your comment is uninformed. Juul is linked to exactly none of the deaths you mentioned. Those are attributed to bootleg THC cartridges with Vitamin E oil in them. Reflexive outrage isn't as good a look as research.
16
McDonald’s has likely killed hundreds of thousands. It’s hypocritical to buy fast food and criticize vaping.
7
I notice Juul doesn't have their full-page, full-color ad on page 3 of the SF Chronicle front page section lately! Just go away Juul! It was a daily occurance .
1
How many times my 15-year old told me Juul is safer than smoking. That was one of the reasons he was convinced to try “juuling”. Now, I wish the CEO of Juul, who so disingenuously apologized to parents of children addicted to their product, would come to my house at 1 in the morning as my son is waking me up, crying and begging for one of their nicotine pods as he struggles to ween off his juul. The owners should be in jail.
126
@LM
Britain's NHS agrees with Juul:
In the UK e-cigarettes are tightly regulated for safety and quality. They aren't completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes. E-cigarettes don't produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke. The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke but at much lower levels.
Public Health England's 2015 independent evidence review found that, based on the available evidence, vaping is around 95% less harmful than smoking. The Royal College of Physicians came to a similar conclusion in its 2016 report 'Nicotine without smoke: tobacco harm reduction'.
https://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/help-and-advice/e-cigarettes
14
@Murph: Yet, in the US there have been 5 deaths related to vaping and lots of otherwise healthy young people ending up on respirators. So perhaps the initial research was off or flat-out wrong.
9
@LM
Agreed, the only reason cigarettes are not banned entirely is because of their addictive properties, something e-cigarette makers took advantage of. It's criminal and I can only hope that our courts make an example of both Juuls upper management and majority stockholders and have them put behind bars. If you benefit from suffering then you deserve punishment.
11
A friend of mine said "Why wouldn't you just try . . . THE JUUL"?
My question is why has it taken the FDA all this time to decide that Juul should not have claimed e-cigarettes were safer than standard cigarettes? The FDA had no evidence to begin with and yet allowed them to market them as a safer option.
21
@Preserving America
Because there's a bunch of evidence that e-cigarettes *are* safer than cigarettes. From Britain's NHS website:
In the UK e-cigarettes are tightly regulated for safety and quality. They aren't completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes. E-cigarettes don't produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke. The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke but at much lower levels.
Public Health England's 2015 independent evidence review found that, based on the available evidence, vaping is around 95% less harmful than smoking. The Royal College of Physicians came to a similar conclusion in its 2016 report 'Nicotine without smoke: tobacco harm reduction'.
https://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/help-and-advice/e-cigarettes
6
@Murph: "In the UK e-cigarettes are tightly regulated for safety and quality. "
I don't think they're being as regulated in the US. A lot of the juice and devices come from China.
3
@Anne I get my nicotine solution from a company in China. I'm happy with it. I think you'll find most solutions available in the US are produced in the US.
1
But they are safer than cigarettes.
Perhaps the FDA should concentrate on real hazards, and not worry about approving advertising claims.
Maybe even process drug applications faster so they get to patients sooner.
21
@Jonathan Katz Adults can do what they want. I used vaping to quit smoking, but they are working hard to market to kids and I have a HUGE problem with that.
52
@Jonathan Katz Ensuring advertising claims are supported by evidence is like half of what the FDA does.
15
@Jonathan Katz
"But they are safer than cigarettes."
What evidence do you have? Based on the lack of veracity of the tobacco industry, I doubt vaping is any safer than smoking a cigarette. Your statement lacks creditability.
11
Juul's Mission Statement is disingenuous if they sell it at retail and only rely on retailers and un-enforced laws to regulate it. At minimum, these types of products should require a telehealth prescription, like Blue Chew offers, and should only be sold online or through pharmacies so there is at least a minimum degree of auditable accountability.
2
@bmesc
It is completely absurd that federal law allows Juul and other ENDS producers to market and sell their products without proving that they are (1) safe and (2) effective. Effectivity would be a major stumbling block, even if they could be proven safe (they are not). The consumer should view all vaping products as at least as dangerous as cigarettes. We need federal laws that make it illegal to market a nicotine delivery device prior to proof of safety and effectivity.
7