Author: Stephen Johnson / Source: Big Think
- Juul makes flavored e-cigarettes and currently dominates the vaping industry, with 70% of the market share.
- The FDA is planning to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in gas stations and convenient stores this week.
- Some have called teenage vaping an epidemic. Data from 2018 show that about 20% of high school students had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days.
Juul, maker of the most popular line of e-cigarettes in the U.S., announced Tuesday it will stop selling most of its products in retail stores and cease social media operations, a move made as the public and government try to mitigate rising rates of teenage vaping.
The San Francisco-based company, which sells e-cigarettes resembling flash drives with flavors like mint and mango, currently dominates the tobacco vaping industry with 70% of the market share. Juul’s website says the company hopes to “improve the lives of the world’s one billion smokers” by giving them alternatives to traditional cigarettes.
But, intentionally or not, e-cigarettes have become increasingly popular among American teenagers. Some have called it an epidemic. Government data from 2018 show that about 20% of high school students had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days—a rise of 75% compared to 2017.
Critics say e-cigarettes are marketed directly to kids.
“To me, these are products that are really appealing to kids,” Joseph Allen, an assistant professor of exposure assessment science at…
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