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Tag: vaping

Study Finds That E-Cigarettes Don’t Prevent Smoking Relapse

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According to the results of a new longitudinal study, using e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to prevent smoking relapse is not effective. Nearly 13,000 smokers in the United States participated in this research. It is the first study to report on whether cigarette smokers can switch to e-cigarettes and successfully quit using cigarettes. 

Use of E-Cigarettes to Prevent Smoking Relapse

“Quitting is the most important thing a smoker can do to improve their health,” explained study author John Pierce. “But the evidence indicates that switching to e-cigarettes made it less likely, not more likely, to stay off of cigarettes.” 

Specifically, the research found that 50 percent of former smokers who quit “cold turkey” were still non-smokers as of the second annual follow-up. Only 41.5 percent of former smokers who used an alternative form of tobacco in their quitting efforts found success. “Those who switched to e-cigarettes (or indeed another form of tobacco) were 8.5 percent more likely to relapse to cigarettes,” said Pierce, a professor of family medicine and public health at the UC San Diego Institute for Public Health.

The study did not consider the use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), which is specifically designed to help people stop smoking. Those therapies include patches, gum, and lozenges that contain limited amounts of nicotine. 

Harmful History of Vaping

E-cigarettes are often used a nicotine alternative for smokers trying to quit. They work by using an often-flavored liquid called e-juice, which eventually vaporizes. Vaping eliminates the over 7,000 chemicals, including the toxic ones, that are found in a burning cigarette.

Vaping became popular for tobacco cessation after a study out of the United Kingdom found that e-cigarettes helped as many as 70,000 smokers in England quit smoking in 2017. However, their use is now controversial due to potential long-term health effects from chemicals in the vape juice or cartridge.

Additionally, multiple studies determined that teen vaping often leads to cigarette smoking. American youth also dealt with a serious outbreak of a vaping-related lung disease, now known as EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury), in 2019. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of February 2020, the illness had killed at least 68 people and sickened over 28,000 e-cigarette users. 

For more information about the investigation into e-cigarettes, contact us today.

Additional Reading:

Big Drop in Youth Vaping Thanks to COVID School Closures

FDA Authorizes Vuse Solo E-Cigarette, Shows Benefit for Smokers

FDA Requests More Time to Determine Ruling About E-Cigarettes

FDA Removes 55,000 Flavored Vaping Products From Market

FDA Authorizes Vuse Solo E-Cigarette, Shows Benefit for Smokers

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For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized a vaping device, the Vuse Solo e-cigarette. The agency believes that the product, from parent company R.J. Reynolds, can help smokers quit the use of traditional cigarettes. Vuse is the second most popular vaping brand in the U.S. It is responsible for nearly a third of all retail sales and only sells fewer products than JUUL.

Vuse Solo E-Cigarette

The FDA’s recent authorization applies to the Vuse Solo e-cigarette and its tobacco-flavored nicotine cartridges. Released in 2013, Vuse Solo is a rechargeable device that looks like a traditional cigarette. The agency noted that it rejected 10 requests from the company for other flavored products. It is still reviewing the request to sell a menthol-flavored nicotine cartridge.

Data reported by the company shows that the product helps smokers significantly reduce their exposure to dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes. Although the product is now legally sold in the U.S., the FDA stresses that they are not safe nor “FDA-approved.” Additionally, the agency discourages non-smokers from using them.  

Current FDA Review

For over a decade, e-cigarettes have been sold in the United States with little government research or oversight. Currently, the FDA is in the midst of a review of vaping products to determine what should be allowed to remain on the shelves. The organization has already rejected applications for more than a million e-cigs and related products, primarily due to the potential appeal to youth. However, regulators have delayed decision-making for most major vaping companies, including JUUL.

“Today’s authorizations are an important step toward ensuring all new tobacco products undergo the FDA’s robust, scientific premarket evaluation,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s tobacco center, in a statement. “The manufacturer’s data demonstrates its tobacco-flavored products could benefit addicted adult smokers who switch to these products — either completely or with a significant reduction in cigarette consumption.”

For more information about the investigation into e-cigarettes, contact us today.

Additional Reading:

FDA Requests More Time to Determine Ruling About E-Cigarettes

FDA Removes 55,000 Flavored Vaping Products From Market

North Carolina Takes Legal Action Against JUUL

JUUL Labs Faces “Substantive Scientific Review” from the FDA

E-Cigarette, Vaping, and Juul Bans

Big Drop in Youth Vaping Thanks to COVID School Closures

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While virtual learning during the pandemic has many drawbacks — social isolation and dependence on strong self-motivation, to start — it has at least one notable benefit. A recent government report, completed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), revealed that youth vaping dropped significantly last year.

Youth Vaping Statistics

Health officials ask that readers use caution as they look at the numbers. Outside experts, however, believe that the decrease is real and makes sense, given that vaping is often done socially. In the national survey, 11 percent of high school students and less than 3 percent of middle school students reported that they had recently used e-cigarettes. These numbers show a 40 percent drop from last year, when almost 20 percent of high schoolers and 5 percent of middle schoolers admitted to recently vaping.

“They found a dramatic drop from last year, and it’s hard to image that doesn’t represent a real decrease in use [among students],” said Dr. Nancy Rigotti of Harvard University, who was not involved in the research. The decline needs to be confirmed by other surveys this year. There is, of course, the fear that the numbers could increase again with many in-person classes back in session. 

If these results prove true, it would be the second big drop in a row. Reporting in 2019 resulted in a peak of 28 percent for high school students. 

New Federal Restrictions for Youth Vaping

Prior to the pandemic, government restrictions began to limit the underage use of e-cigarettes. Towards the end of 2019, the purchase age for all tobacco and vaping products changed from 18 to 21. Then, the FDA banned nearly all of the flavors for cartridge-based e-cigarettes, which first ignited the popularity of teen vaping. Additionally, some kids stopped using e-cigarettes after an uptick in vaping-related illnesses and deaths. Many of these health concerns were related to a filler in black market vaping liquids that contained THC. 

Despite this promising report, government officials believe that roughly two million U.S. teens and pre-teens are still vaping — a number that is much too high. “E-cigarette use among youth remains a serious public health concern,” said CDC specialist Dr. Karen Hacker. In an effort to combat this crisis, the FDA is expected to place even bigger limits on the vaping industry and remove more products from market.

For more information about the investigation into e-cigarettes, contact us today.

Additional Reading:

FDA Requests More Time to Determine Ruling About E-Cigarettes

FDA Removes 55,000 Flavored Vaping Products From Market

North Carolina Takes Legal Action Against JUUL

JUUL Labs Faces “Substantive Scientific Review” from the FDA

E-Cigarette, Vaping, and Juul Bans

FDA Requests More Time to Determine Ruling About E-Cigarettes

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked for additional time before declaring the outcome of the final e-cigarette ruling, which ultimately determines whether or not e-cigarettes can remain on shelves in the United States. On the deadline date, the agency revealed that it had acted on 93 percent of the submitted applications. “However, there’s more work to be done to complete our remaining reviews and ensure that we continue taking appropriate action to protect our nation’s youth from the danger of all tobacco products,” the regulators said in a statement. 

Flavored E-Cigarettes Removed From Shelves

In total, more than 500 companies filed applications for some 6.5 million products by the September 9, 2020 deadline. The FDA’s official order is to authorize vaping products only if the manufacturing company can demonstrate the items are in the interest of public health. In other words, the FDA must compare the potential good of adult cigarette users switching to a less-dangerous option to the potential harm of young people getting addicted to nicotine.

Thus far, the FDA has ordered more than 946,000 flavored products be removed from shelves. For these vaping liquids, which include flavors like apple crumble and cinnamon toast cereal, the agency believes that manufacturers failed to provide sufficient evidence that the products benefit adult smokers enough to outweigh the potential appeal to young people.

The biggest e-cigarette manufacturer in the U.S. is JUUL. A spokesperson for the company said, “We respect the central role of the FDA and the required thorough science- and evidence-based review of our applications. We remain committed to transitioning adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes while combating underage use.”

Reshaping the Market with Final E-Cigarette Ruling

This sweeping review could reshape the e-cigarette market. If products are authorized to remain on the market, manufacturers should expect stricter controls on marketing. This sort on control has already proven beneficial: Youth vaping fell significantly last year after laws raised the legal purchase age to 21 and removed fruity-flavored e-cigarette cartridges from the market.

The agency hasn’t revealed when its review will be completed but did share that many applications are in the final stages of review.

For more information about the investigation into e-cigarettes, including JUUL products, contact us today.

Additional Reading:

FDA Removes 55,000 Flavored Vaping Products From Market

North Carolina Takes Legal Action Against JUUL

JUUL Labs Faces “Substantive Scientific Review” from the FDA

E-Cigarette, Vaping, and Juul Bans

FDA to Make Major Decision About Flavored E-Cigarettes

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently reviewing millions of applications from e-cigarette makers and must decide today if flavored e-cigarettes are “appropriate for the protection of public health.” 

Use of Flavored E-Cigarettes

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that roughly 15 percent of adult smokers successfully quit smoking using e-cigarettes. Additionally, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that, of those smokers who quit, 18 percent remained cigarette-free after a year. 

Despite these positives, e-cigarettes have caused notable harm to public health. Lawmakers and public health advocacy groups focus on vaping’s appeal to teens and even children. A 2020 study from the CDC determined that nearly 20 percent of high school students and 5 percent of middle school students had vaped regularly. These users primarily partake in flavored e-cigarettes. 

Because of this usage by America’s youth, several lawmakers and state attorneys general have urged the FDA to ban all flavors, including menthol. The agency has already banned the sale of reusable flavored e-cigarettes sold by companies like JUUL, but it currently allows the sale of disposable flavored products. 

E-Cigarettes As A Cessation Device

Most public health experts agree that some kind of e-cigarettes should be available to help wean adults from cigarettes. However, anti-vaping advocates believe that flavors are unnecessary to sell e-cigarettes to individuals trying to quit smoking. After all, they are already familiar with tobacco-flavored products. 

Plus, many of these businesses don’t play by the rules. “No one has attempted to file applications or legally market these products [before now]. No one has filed applications to make modified risk claims legally,” explains Desmond Jenson, a lawyer at the Public Health Law Center at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. “The whole idea that e-cigs are a cessation device — why has no company filed a drug application to say it’s a cessation device?”

For more information about the investigation into flavored vaping products, contact us today.

Additional Reading:

FDA Removes 55,000 Flavored Vaping Products From Market

North Carolina Takes Legal Action Against JUUL

JUUL Labs Faces “Substantive Scientific Review” from the FDA

E-Cigarette, Vaping, and Juul Bans

FDA Removes 55,000 Flavored Vaping Products From Market

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Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered three small e-cigarette makers to pull their products from the market, signifying the beginning of a larger agency crackdown on vaping products. JD Nova Group LLC, Great American Vapes, and VaporSalon must pull 55,000 existing or future flavored products from stores. These products include flavors like Apple Crumble, Dr. Cola, and Cinnamon Toast Cereal. 

FDA Crackdown Against Flavored Vaping Products

According to regulators, the companies failed to provide “sufficient evidence” that their products offer a net public health benefit for adult smokers when compared to the “threat posed by the well-documented, alarming levels of youth use” of flavored vapes. These FDA orders mark the agency’s first marketing denials for e-cigarettes. “We know that flavored tobacco products are very appealing to young people, therefore assessing the impact of potential or actual youth use is a critical factor in our decision-making about which products may be marketed,” Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the FDA, said in a statement.

Of course, the agency’s orders come during a broader fight against the future of vaping. Public health advocates believe that e-cigarettes, especially flavored ones, have spurred an epidemic of nicotine-addicted youth rather than helping adults quit smoking. The FDA will determine the future of about two million vaping and other non-cigarette tobacco products by September 9th. 

Vaping advocates, however, are alarmed at the FDA’s decision and shared a warning that the broader industry is in danger. As one tweet stated, “FDA bans 55,000 flavored e-cigarette products, crippling three vape companies. FDA clams applicants failed to demonstrate they are a net benefit to public health. No worries though, people can just switch back to smoking! #publichealth”

E-Cigarettes and America’s Youth

The focus here lies in potential danger to America’s young people. As the FDA prepares to rule on JUUL and other major companies, a regulator stressed that the agency would be carefully considering the potential risk to children. “Companies who want to continue to market their flavored [e-cigarette] products must have robust and reliable evidence showing that their products’ potential benefit for adult smokers outweighs the significant known risk to youth,” Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said.

For more information about the investigation into flavored vaping products, contact us today.

Additional Reading:

Judge Advances Bellwether Lawsuit Against JUUL for Deceiving Marketing Tactics

North Carolina Takes Legal Action Against JUUL

JUUL Labs Faces “Substantive Scientific Review” from the FDA

E-Cigarette, Vaping, and Juul Bans

Judge Advances Bellwether Lawsuit Against JUUL for Deceiving Marketing Tactics

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E-cigarette company JUUL is facing a bellwether lawsuit that argues its top executives intentionally deceived customers about the addictive qualities of vaping products. Specifically, the suit blames the company’s founders and board members as well as their biggest investor, Altria, of using marketing campaigns to target young people and create a new generation of nicotine addicts.

Active Case

Plaintiff Claims in E-Cigarette Bellwether Trial

At the end of July, U.S. District Judge William Orrick III refused to throw out most of the claims filed by 19 bellwether plaintiffs from 14 states in the multi-district class action lawsuit. Ultimately, he advanced both conspiracy and fraud claims, bringing the lawsuit closer to trial.

The plaintiffs are between the ages of 15 and 27 with some claiming they got hooked on e-cigarettes as young as 12 years old. They say that the e-cigarette company failed to warn consumers that their products were highly addictive. Allegedly, JUUL even falsely claimed in ads and on product labels that the pods contained 5 percent nicotine (that same amount in a pack of cigarettes) when, in truth, the levels are much higher. Additionally, they believe that JUUL marketed its vaping products as a “safer alternative” to cigarette smoking.

The Response of JUUL’s Top Executives

JUUL founders and top executives James Monsees and Adam Bowen asked the federal judge to dismiss claims of fraud, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, strict product liability, and medical monitoring, arguing that they were not personally involved in the testing, design, marketing, or sale of the vaping products. However, Judge Orrick rejected their claims, believing that the plaintiffs “adequately alleged that both Monsees and Bowen engaged in acts that had the intent and impact of misleading the public and plaintiffs about the dangers of JUUL.” 

The judge also refused to let three board members — Nicholas Pritzker, Hoyoung Huh, and Riaz Valani — off the hook for fraud and negligence, finding them to have a direct role in the alleged wrongdoing. 

In an earlier court decision from April, Judge Orrick ruled that Altria and JUUL’s board members could potentially be held liable under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. These claims are the result of the belief that the defendants treated JUUL like an illegal enterprise and conspired to target young people and create a generation of nicotine addicts, omit necessary information about nicotine content, and mislead government regulators in an effort to continue selling to children. 

For more information about the investigation into JUUL, contact us today.

Additional Reading:

North Carolina Takes Legal Action Against JUUL

JUUL Labs Faces “Substantive Scientific Review” from the FDA

E-Cigarette, Vaping, and Juul Bans

JUUL Settles North Carolina Youth Vaping Case for $40 Million

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At the end of June, Attorney General Josh Stein announced that JUUL settled with North Carolina for $40 million. The state alleged that the e-cigarette company aggressively marketed its products to young people through social media advertisements and other outlets, leading to a notable increase in youth vaping. 

Active Case

Underage E-Cigarette Use and Marketing Tactics

“For years, JUUL targeted young people, including teens, with its highly addictive e-cigarette,” Stein shared in a statement. “It lit the spark and fanned the flames of a vaping epidemic among our children — one that you can see in any high school in North Carolina.”

Under the consent order, JUUL must adhere to several marketing restrictions, including little to no social media advertising, no outdoor advertising near schools, and no sponsorships of sporting events and concerts. While the e-cigarette company has voluntarily adhered to many of these rules, it’s now considered the law in North Carolina. The company also agreed to stop the sale of sweet and fruity flavored e-cigarettes in the state unless given permission by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Youth Vaping Across the Country

Although North Carolina is the first state to reach a settlement with JUUL, an additional 12 states and Washington D.C. have also sued the company. From a national perspective, Stein encouraged the FDA to prohibit all non-tobacco flavors, including menthol, in e-cigarettes; to limit the level of nicotine in e-cigarette products; and to impose strict marketing guidelines to prevent attracting young people.  

Youth vaping has been on the rise since 2017, with JUUL at the center of the e-cigarette controversy from the beginning. In fall 2019, the company stopped selling flavored vaping pods, excluding tobacco and menthol. 

Even so, the e-cigarette manufacturer denies any wrongdoing and liability. In a statement, spokesperson Josh Raffel said that the agreement with the state of North Carolina “is consistent with our ongoing effort to reset our company and its relationship with our stakeholders, as we continue to combat underage usage and advance the opportunity for harm reduction for adult smokers.”

For more information about the investigation into JUUL, contact us today.

Additional Reading:

North Carolina Takes Legal Action Against JUUL

JUUL Labs Faces “Substantive Scientific Review” from the FDA

E-Cigarette, Vaping, and Juul Bans

North Carolina Takes Legal Action Against JUUL

Posted on

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein recently filed a lawsuit against e-cigarette company JUUL for its marketing tactics towards young people. Stein argues that these practices have played a role in creating “an epidemic among minors.” This statement is supported by, among other evidence, a 2017 report that revealed 17 percent of all North Carolina high school students had used an e-cigarette within the last 30 days. 

Stein’s investigation, which began last fall, hopes to show that JUUL failed to highlight the potency and danger of nicotine. If found guilty, the e-cigarette company would be in violation of North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. 

Notable Increase in E-Cigarette Usage

“JUUL’s business practices are not only reckless — they’re illegal,” Stein shared. “We cannot allow another generation of young people to become addicted to nicotine.” He also revealed that the average potency of a JUUL pod is nearly three times the concentration allowed for sale  for people of all ages in countries around the world. 

Within the last year, e-cigarette use has increased among high schoolers across the country by 78 percent and middle-schoolers by 48 percent. North Carolina is the first state to come forward with allegations against JUUL. 

For more information about the investigation into JUUL, contact us today.

Additional Reading:

JUUL Labs Faces “Substantive Scientific Review” from the FDA

E-Cigarette, Vaping, and Juul Bans

Juul and Vaping Side Effects

Lung Injuries in Teens Linked to Vaping Marijuana

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A recent study reveals that teens are nearly twice as likely to report “wheezing or whistling” in the chest after vaping marijuana than after smoking cigarettes or e-cigarettes. While we know that cigarettes and e-cigarettes are unhealthy and damaging to the lungs, it appears that vaping marijuana has even worse health implications. 

Study author Carol Boyd, co-director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking & Health at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, was surprised by these results. “We thought we would find more negative respiratory symptoms in both cigarette and e-cigarette users,” she explains. “I recommend parents treat all vaping as risky behavior (just like alcohol or drug use).”

Vaping marijuana is also associated with a newly-identified lung disease called EVALI, which stands for e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury. This dangerous illness was first identified in August 2019 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after seemingly-healthy young people from around the country were hospitalized for severe and even fatal lung infections. 

A link between the condition and vaping was soon discovered with blame being placed on the use of vitamin E acetate. This sticky oil substance, which is added to thicken or dilute the oil in cartridges, is most often used in vaping products with THC, the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana. “According to the CDC, 84 percent of the EVALI cases were associated with cannabis-containing products,” Boyd says. 

Vaping and Juul
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