(New York) The United States health agency (FDA) on Thursday banned the sale in the United States of all electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, of the Juul Laabs brand, effective immediately, according to a press release.
Posted at 11:56
The FDA found that the start-up, which enjoyed phenomenal success in the late 2010s with its USB-shaped vapes and flavored nicotine refills, had failed to demonstrate that the marketing of its products was “appropriate for the protection of public health”.
Following this decision, “the company must stop selling and distributing” the products for which it currently has an authorization. Those already in stores “must be removed” from sale.
The agency was tasked with reviewing vaping products to ensure that the benefit to adults, including helping them quit smoking traditional cigarettes, outweighed the risks posed to younger people. .
It had already banned in 2020 the marketing of refillable vapes, of the Juul type, with flavored tastes, only authorizing tobacco and menthol flavors.
Since 2021, it had challenged the vapers of several companies, but also gave the green light to certain products presented by the companies RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Logic or Njoy.
The ban announced Thursday demonstrates the FDA’s commitment “to ensuring that all e-cigarettes and other products that deliver nicotine through an electronic device currently on the market meet public health standards,” the boss said. of the agency, Robert Califf, in the press release.
The FDA does not consider that Juul’s products present an “immediate risk”, but judges that the company has not provided enough data to be able to assess “the potential toxicological risks”.
The young company based in San Francisco has been accused of having largely participated in the rise in vaping among teenagers with advertisements and marketing operations particularly targeting high school students.
Faced with pressure from the authorities, Juul Labs had already suspended sales of flavored refills, popular with young people, in 2019 and had undertaken to review its marketing strategy.
The company did not immediately react to a request from AFP.
The American tobacco company Altria, which owns 35% of the shares of Juul Labs, had fallen by more than 9% on Wednesday after initial press reports on an imminent decision by the FDA.
The company made a big bet on Juul Labs in 2018 by investing more than $12 billion in a deal valuing it at $38 billion. She then wanted to diversify her business, sales of classic cigarettes declining for a long time in the United States.
But in the face of new restrictions from health authorities and costly legal disputes, the value of Juul Labs has since melted. Altria estimates that by the end of 2021, the young company was only worth around $5 billion.