Juul can continue to sell e-cigarettes, FDA says

Juul Labs can continue to sell its electronic cigarettes and its charging cartridges by decision and Drug Administration on Thursday.

According to an announcement on the Juul website, the FDA determined that its device and electronic cigarette pods – which come in tobacco and menthol flavors – are “appropriate for the protection of public health”.

Thursday’s authorization, reported for the first time by the Wall Street Journal, marks the long -awaited conclusion to a multi -year FDA review which placed the products in regulatory limbo.

An FDA spokesman said that the authorization does not mean that the products are safe or “approved by the FDA”; Juul has rather provided evidence showing that its electronic cigarettes have respected the legal standard to market new tobacco products in the United States

The spokesman said that the FDA had to take into account the risks and advantages for the American population as a whole, including the advantages for adults who are currently smoking cigarettes. Juul has submitted robust data to show that high adult rates go from cigarettes to Juul from menthol or tobacco products, the spokesperson said.

“This is good news for the millions of Americans who still smoke cigarettes,” said Juul Labs in an online statement.

The company has positioned its products as an alternative to traditional cigarettes, which contain tobacco. Juul’s electronic cigarettes are tobacco -free. However, they contain nicotine, the active tobacco ingredient, which can be addictive. Chemicals in electronic cigarettes have also been linked to lung and heart disease.

The FDA in 2022 ordered Juul to stop selling its electronic cigarettes, invoking a lack of evidence necessary to assess their potential health risks. The decision followed an examination of almost two years of the request for the request for Juul of the research of the FDA, which is required by law so that companies market electronic cigarettes.

At the time, the FDA under the Biden administration said that there were “insufficient and contradictory data” on the “leachate of the potentially harmful chemicals of the electronic pods owners of the company”. But the FDA suspended the ban on less than two weeks later, telling Juul that she could continue to sell her products while the agency has done an exam.

In June 2024, the FDA officially canceled the prohibition and gave Juul’s request a “waiting status”, opening the door to potential authorization.

“We strongly support the role of FDA in the regulation of tobacco and nicotine products. Americans who use nicotine deserve an ordered and reliable market in which they can choose with confidence from a wide range of smoked nicotine products,” said KC Crosthwaite, PDO of Juul Labs on Thursday.

Many provided that the Trump administration would be more forgiving with vaping regulations, given the comment of President Donald Trump on Truth Social during his second presidential campaign that he “saved vaping”. The Washington Post reported that the comment had followed a private meeting with a main vaping lobbyist.

Juul was faced with the controversy over his first marketing practices, which, according to criticism, targeted young consumers under the age of 21. In 2021, the company settled a trial on allegations that it marketed its goods to adolescents, agreeing to pay $ 40 million to the North Carolina State. But Juul denied having deliberately attempted to market his products with young people.

The use of electronic cigarettes by students in the American community and secondary has decreased considerably in recent years. However, more than 1.6 million students still said that used them in 2024.

Yolonda Richardson, CEO of the campaign for tobacco -free children, said that the FDA decision on Thursday is “a big step in the wrong direction” and could reverse recent progress with the reduction in the use of electronic cigarettes.

“There is no doubt that this crisis was motivated by elegant and easy-to-find products from Juul, which were sold in attractive flavors, including menthol, were marketed in order to use children and have delivered massive doses of nicotine which can quickly toxic,” she said.