Biden’s FDA orders Juul to stop selling vape products in the US

According to a press release from the FDA, the company Juul "must stop selling and distributing these products. In addition, those currently on the U.S. market must be removed, or risk enforcement action."

According to the New York Post, the Juul devices account for roughly 50 percent of the e-cigarette market and according to Gallup around 15 million people or 6 percent of adults use e-cigarettes.

The FDA made the decision after JUUL's parent company, Altria, submitted info that "precluded the FDA from completing a full toxicological risk assessment of the products." Overall the FDA found insufficient and conflicting evidence regarding the toxicological profile of the products. The FDA were especially worried about "potentially harmful chemicals leaching from the company’s proprietary e-liquid pods."

Vaping related illnesses have been on the rise since 2019 and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning to vapers to stop purchasing e-cigarettes and other vaping-related products following a spike in deaths and prolonged illnesses.

Many defend the product as a tool that helped them quit smoking but the FDA said in their statement "quitting all tobacco products is the best possible path to good health."

According to NPR the move was praised by Parents Against Vaping (PAV) who said, "Juul will finally be held accountable for creating the youth vaping epidemic, and igniting a new industry of highly-addictive flavored products that are harming millions of American kids."

Juul pulled their candy and fruit flavored vape products voluntarily in 2018 and 2019 in response to criticism from PAV and other groups.

The FDA has been criticized as inconsistent concerning vaping as last month they approved a similar product, the less popular Vuse by RJ Reynolds. And there are numerous off brand products that work similarly to Vuse and Juul.