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Juul will pay $462 million to 6 states in underage vaping settlement
The deal will also put strict restrictions on how the company can market its products.
Juul will pay $1.2 billion to settle multiple youth-vaping lawsuits
Juul will pay approximately $1.2 billion to settle around 10,000 lawsuits, including 8,500 personal injury cases.
Juul can temporarily keep selling its vaping products in the US
A federal appeals court has granted Juul's request to delay the FDA's ban on its vape pens and pods.
Juul asks appeals court to block the US ban on its vaping products
The FDA this week ordered the company to stop selling its e-cigarettes and pods.
FDA bans sales of Juul vape products in the US
The company did not provide "the data needed to determine relevant health risks," the FDA said.
Juul's e-cigarettes could be banned from sale in the US
The FDA is set to announce the move imminently, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Juul will pay $22.5 million to settle a Washington state lawsuit
AG Bob Ferguson accused the company of marketing its products to minors.
Juul will pay $40 million to settle a vaping lawsuit in North Carolina
Several other states have sued the company, alleging that it marketed products to teens.
FTC sues to unwind Marlboro owner's $12.8 billion Juul investment
While e-cigarettes may have been quickly replaced in headlines by a new threat to public health, it appears the government has not forgotten about vaping. However, this time the news isn't about banning flavored pods or raising the legal age, instead the FTC is suing to unwind Altria's $12.8 billion investment in vaping giant Juul. While the folks at Altria might be having similar thoughts after lawsuits and regulation cut the value of that stake to around $4.2 billion in January, the feds take issue with the way the two companies "turned from competitors to collaborators by eliminating competition and sharing in Juul's profits." At the time the investment even upset people within Juul, due to the suddenly hypocritical stance of claiming to be a way to help people quit smoking despite having a major investor that's a tobacco giant (Altria owns brands like Marlboro and Virginia Slims). According to the FTC, the partnership came about after Altria agreed not to compete with the upstart in exchange for getting that big stake. In a statement, Altria VP Murray Garnick said "We believe that our investment in JUUL does not harm competition and that the FTC misunderstood the facts. We are disappointed with the FTC's decision, believe we have a strong defense and will vigorously defend our investment."
After Math: That's something at least
This week has been a real kick in the teeth. The UK actually stepped off the Brexit precipice while the US Congress barely went through the motions of Trump's impeachment trial. Worst of all Elon Musk released a truly cringeworthy EDM track because sure, it's not like the week was going to be getting any worse at that point. Still there were a few high points, read on for the week's headlines that helped get us to Sunday.
Marlboro owner's stake in Juul is worth a third of its original value
When cigarette giant Altria invested $12.8 billion into Juul, it probably thought this was a brilliant move that gave it a stake in the future as conventional smoking continued to decline. It's probably having second thoughts in 2020, however. The company wrote off another $4.1 billion of the investment's value in the fourth quarter due to the onslaught of lawsuits over allegedly deceptive and teen-oriented marketing. Combined with an earlier $4.5 billion write-off, Altria's Juul stake is now worth $4.2 billion -- just under a third of its original value.
Juul to end fruit-flavored vape pod sales in Canada
It's not just Americans who won't have access to Juul's fruity pods anymore. The company will also temporarily stop selling its mango-, vanilla-, fruit- and cucumber-flavored vaping products in Canada, according to CNBC, CBC and other sources. Michael Nederhoff, Canadian Juul Labs' general manager, has reportedly sent a letter to retailers and distributors, telling them that the company will no longer resupply them with those flavors after their stocks run out.
WSJ: FDA vape ban will target fruit flavored pods
A few days ago, the FDA officially raised the minimum age of sale for tobacco products from 18 to 21, and according to a Wall Street Journal report, it's close to announcing a new set of restrictions specifically for e-cigarettes. In a move that is supposed to address teen vaping by targeting products they're interested in, the new rules will reportedly apply only to pod-based vaporizers, like Juul or NJOY, and remove any flavors from sale other than tobacco or menthol. In anticipation of the ban, Juul stopped selling sweet fruit-flavored pods -- that represented a significant part of its business -- in October, and pulled mint flavors in November. The WSJ report suggests that meeting at this point represents a compromise between the Trump administration and the tobacco industry, avoiding a wider ban on all flavored vapes -- that had been suggested -- ahead of the 2020 election. It would also avoid banning flavors in "open-tank" systems that allow people to mix their own flavors.
NY Attorney General sues Juul for deceptive marketing
Yesterday, California filed a lawsuit against e-cigarette company Juul for allegedly targeting underage Californians with its marketing and sales practices. Today, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a similar lawsuit against Juul "for deceptive and misleading marketing of its e-cigarettes, which contributed to the ongoing youth vaping epidemic in New York State."
California is suing Juul for allegedly targeting minors
California is suing e-cigarette maker Juul. The lawsuit alleges that Juul targeted underage Californians with its marketing and sales practices, failed to warn consumers of their exposure to chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects, failed to properly verify the age of its customers and violated the privacy rights of minors by retaining their email addresses even when they failed age verification. Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey and the County of Los Angeles announced the lawsuit today.
Trump plans to raise the minimum vaping age to '21 or so'
Donald Trump says his administration plans to raise the minimum vaping age to combat the issue of teens using e-cigarettes. "We have to take care of our kids, most importantly, so we're going to have an age limit of 21 or so, but we'll be coming out with something next week very important on vaping," he told reporters.
Juul stops selling mint-flavored vapes
Juul will stop selling mint-flavored vape products in the US. The company says it's pulling mint pods from its website, as well as no longer taking new orders from retailers. As of this article, the company only sells three flavors: Classic tobacco, Virginia tobacco and menthol. Juul says it made the decision based on a study that came out this week that found mint-flavored vapes are popular among middle and high school students in the US. However, the company declined to comment on why it plans to continue selling menthol-flavored vapes when Bloomberg pointed out that the same study found both mint and menthol flavors were popular among youth. The move comes after Juul stopped selling fruit-flavored vapes on its website last month. Echoing a statement he'd made at that time, new Juul CEO (and former tobacco exec) K.C. Crosthwaite said today that "These results are unacceptable and that is why we must reset the vapor category in the U.S. and earn the trust of society by working cooperatively with regulators, Attorneys General, public health officials, and other stakeholders to combat underage use. We will support the upcoming FDA flavor policy and will follow the PMTA process." Earlier today, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) said that the number of vaping-related lung injuries in US is up to 2,051. Cases of vaping-related lung illnesses have come up in 49 states, which, combined with rising use among youths has lead a variety of regulators to look into a ban of vapes -- the Trump Administration is expected to announce a temporary ban on flavored e-cigarettes as soon as this week.
Juul stands accused of shipping a million contaminated vape pods
A former Juul executive is accusing the controversial company of shipping a million contaminated e-cigarette pods earlier this year and not issuing a recall, according to BuzzFeed News. The executive, Juul's former senior vice president of global finance Siddharth Breja, has filed a lawsuit against the e-cigarette maker. Breja claims the company retaliated against him for raising concerns about the contaminated shipment and that he was fired just a week after doing so.
Juul stops selling its fruit-flavored vape products
Today, Juul announced that it's suspending the sale of its fruit-flavored vape products in the US. It will no longer sell its mango, creme, fruit and cucumber varieties. The decision comes as the Trump administration is preparing to ban flavored e-cigs in an attempt to curb teen vaping and as the CDC continues to search for the cause of a vaping-related lung illness.
Congress is asking vape manufacturers if they used social media bots
Congress wants to know if the largest vaping companies used bot-generated social-media messages to market their products. The House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Massachusetts attorney general have asked each of the five largest manufacturers if they've relied on automated, bot-posted campaigns, The Wall Street Journal reports.
