Juul e-cigarettes are being removed from US shelves — here’s why

The FDA takes Juul e-cigarettes off the market. The news was published by the Wall Street Journal, which claims the decision could come as early as today.

This decision follows a lot of criticism of e-cigarettes, particularly when it comes to teens and young adults’ use – some of the biggest consumers of the product. In 2019, the company stopped selling several flavors in the United States. A year later, it applied for FDA approval to continue selling its products in the country.

The FDA reviewed the company’s application, considering the argument that e-cigarettes can help smokers quit and whether or not the benefits of smoking outweigh the harms of regular use of Juul e-cigarettes.

Photo by Scott Olson/Staff/Getty Images

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“This clearly comes as a surprise to the market…we would expect Juul to appeal the decision and remain in the market through this process, which would likely take a year or more,” analyst Vivien Azer told Reuters.

Reuters claims the FDA declined to comment on the report.

In 2019, Juul faced many controversies, including the firing of Vice President of Global Finance Siddharth Breja, who made claims after the company shipped a shipment of contaminated Juul pods to the market. Breja shared a conversation with Kevin Burns, the company’s CEO. “Half our customers are drunk and vaping like Mo-Fos, who the hell is going to notice the quality of our pods?” said Burns.

Burns resigned from the company that year, claiming the allegations were lies. “I never said that, or anything remotely close to that, period. As CEO, I have caused the company to make huge investments in product quality, and facts will show that claim is dead wrong and pure fiction,” he said.

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From the beginning, e-cigarettes have been marketed as an alternative solution to cigarettes that is less harmful to people’s lungs. While this is true, e-cigarettes are still bad for people’s health, especially when used daily or when consumers are young.