Juul and Vaping Injuries
After decades of teen and youth nicotine usage dropping as a result of tobacco and health education initiatives, the trend has reversed at epidemic levels in recent years with the introduction of Juul. Juul is an e-cigarette or vaping device that has become popular with teens and young people and offers a slick design that can easily pass for a USB flash drive which made it easy to disguise from unsuspecting parents, school administrators and others.
When Juul initially launched their product, they made very deliberate and effective efforts to target the youth market via social media strategies that depicted, young, cool, attractive individuals using the device. Early ads and posts on social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram generally failed to mention that Juul was a nicotine device or that nicotine was a dangerous and addictive chemical. Juul even offered candy like flavors designed to be attractive to kids such as Creme Brulee, Mango, Cool Cucumber, and Cool Mint.
The vape/e-cigarette industry in general has tried to position their products as “safe” often making statements such as “completely safe” and “99% safer than traditional cigarettes”, statements that have not been approved by the FDA and appear to be completely made up and based on a total lack of actual evidence or science. Juul recently even sponsored what they called a tobacco education initiative in which they were supposed to educate young people on the dangers of vaping, but according to testimony before congress actually pulled a big tobacco bait and switch and asked adults to leave the room so that the ‘students could ask questions freely” of the “educator who the preceded to pull out a Juul device and explain to the students that using Juul was completely safe.
As of Sept 2019, hundreds of mystery lung ailments and several deaths have resulted from vaping, in some cases from individuals who had only vaped for a very short time. According to reports, the CDC is investigating 380 “probable” and “confirmed” cases of a vaping-associated lung disease and 6 deaths have been reported. The majority of the illnesses are linked to individuals who were vaping both THC and Nicotine products, but in some instances only nicotine was reported being used. Health officials are urging people to avoid using e-cigarettes and THC vaping products amid the outbreak.
“During this particular seminar, the students were alone in a classroom with a Juul representative. Mintz testified that the representative said, repeatedly, Juul is “totally safe.””
Juul use rose exponentially in 2018 among young people — a majority of those who ever used JUUL or an e-cigarette report that they were younger than 18 years old when they first tried it — and its popularity with friends and the availability of flavors are top reasons for using it, according to Truth Initiative® surveys.
Over the past year, those surveys found that 56 percent of youth and young adults who ever used JUUL or an e-cigarette reported that they were younger than 18 when they first tried the device and nearly half — 47 percent — said that they tried it because their friends used it. The assortment of fruity and sweet flavors, which are proven to attract young people, was the second most popular reason for use, at 29 percent. The surveys also report escalating rates of youth and young adult use alongside growing sales that have tripled JUUL’s e-cigarette market share in just over a year, from 24 to 75 percent.
The survey results contribute to a growing collection of evidence that JUUL’s popularity with young people is driving its unprecedented growth. For example, a recent Truth Initiative analysis published in Tobacco Control found that teens between 15 and 17 years old have 16 times greater odds of using JUUL than 25- to 34-year-olds, with nearly 10 percent of them having tried JUUL and more than 6 percent reporting current use.
There are many brands of E-Cigarette/Vaping products, but as of the end of 2018, Juul was the biggest player with 76% of the market share. While they claim to target adults who wish to quit smoking, it has been clear from their early marketing efforts that their primary target was youth.
During a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on Wednesday, two teens spoke about their experience with Juul, the company that produces flavored e-cigarettes. The committee is investigating Juul’s role in the youth vaping epidemic, and the teens who testified said that Juul did advertise directly to teens — right in their own school.
Caleb Mintz, now 17, said he and his friend, Phillip Fuhrman, who also testified, were in the 9th grade when Juul came to their school to give students a presentation. Mintz said his school holds a mental health and addiction seminar three times a year, during which the teachers leave the room so the students have a safe space to talk.
During this particular seminar, the students were alone in a classroom with a Juul representative. Mintz testified that the representative said, repeatedly, Juul is “totally safe.”
Juul Informational Page
This is an information page about Juul and is related to potential lawsuits against Juul related to alleged underaged marketing and advertising and injuries. Juul is an American electronic cigarette company which spun off from Pax Labs in 2017. It makes the Juul e-cigarette, which packages nicotine salts from leaf tobacco into one-time use cartridges.
The Juul became the most popular e-cigarette in the United States at the end of 2017 and has a market share of 72% as of September 2018. Its widespread use by youth has triggered concern from the public health community and multiple investigations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Given the high nicotine concentrations in Juul, the nicotine-related health consequences of its use by young people could be more severe than those from their use of other e-cigarette products.
Altria Group (formerly Philip Morris Companies), acquired a 35% stake in Juul Labs for $12.8 billion on December 20, 2018. Altria is the parent company of Marlboro, who holds more combustible cigarette market share than the next 7 brands combined. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Altria’s investment in Juul was pushed by the fact that many smokers were switching to the electronic variant and Altria’s own e-cigarette product, MarkTen, was not selling well.
Juul target audience – Juul alleges that it is not targeting children and teens and that it supports efforts to limit tobacco products to people under age 21.
UULpods are available in four different flavors: Virginia Tobacco, Classic Tobacco, Menthol, and Mint.
On JUUL.com, JUULpods cost $15.99 for a 4-pack. Local excise tax and/or shipping costs may differ depending on your region. Each 5% JUULpod contains approximately 0.7mL with 5% nicotine by weight (approx. 40 mg per pod based upon 59 mg/mL) at the time of manufacture. Each 3% JUULpod is designed to contain approximately 0.7mL with 3% nicotine by weight (approx. 23 mg per pod based upon 35 mg/mL) at time of manufacture.
