Answer Addiction

Tag: e-cigarette products

  • Michigan Becomes First State To Ban Flavored E-Cigarette Products

    Michigan Becomes First State To Ban Flavored E-Cigarette Products

    The ban will also affect the marketing of flavored e-cig products in the state.

    Michigan just became the first state to ban flavored e-cigarette products, including menthol.

    Governor Gretchen Whitmer said the move will protect young people from the potential harmful effects of vaping. E-cigarette companies have been accused by health officials of targeting young people, enticing them with colorful packaging and candy flavored e-juice like “Sour Double Rainbow” and “Cinnamon Roll.”

    “My number one priority is keeping our kids safe and protecting the health of the people of Michigan,” said Whitmer on Tuesday (Sept. 3).

    Michigan is the first state to issue a ban on certain e-cigarette products, but in June San Francisco became the first city in the U.S. to ban the sale, distribution and manufacturing of all vaping products, CBS News reported at the time.

    Rising Number of Vaping-Related Illnesses

    Authorities are investigating a growing number of lung illnesses that have been tied to vaping both nicotine and THC products. The Washington Post reported last Friday (Aug. 30) that there are now up to 354 possible cases being investigated across 29 states.

    The sudden onset of “mysterious” cases that have cropped up this summer have led some health experts to suspect that adulterants are the common denominator.

    The CDC and FDA issued a statement last Friday warning e-cigarette users against purchasing these products “off the street,” and to avoid modifying e-cigarette products in a way not intended by the manufacturer.

    Young people like Maddie Nelson have become the face of these sudden and severe illnesses. The 18-year-old from Utah was healthy until she began experiencing nausea, vomiting and chest pain in July. Then, it was severe back and kidney pain.

    “My temperature was so high, my brain just totally shut off,” she told Fox 13.

    X-rays revealed severe lung damage, and she was placed in a medically-induced coma.

    She was diagnosed with acute eosinophilic pneumonia, a rare lung illness. “I had fat particles growing inside my lungs that were related to the glycerin in vape juice,” she said. “My lungs were full of fluid and they said that my chest x-rays were some of the worst that they’d ever seen.”

    Nelson said she had vaped every day for three years.

    Nelson is not the only such case in Utah, which has reported at least 21 possible cases of these illnesses.

    Sean Bills, 31, was also placed in a medically-induced coma this summer after falling ill with lipoid pneumonia, which doctors also suspect is tied to vaping. His wife, Tiffani Bills, said the couple had vaped every day for two years.

    Discouraging New Users

    Even the CEO of Juul, Kevin Burns, who has faced a barrage of criticisms regarding his company’s marketing of e-cigarette products to young people, warned people against picking up the habit in August.

    Addressing people who “don’t have a preexisting relationship with nicotine,” Burns said, “Don’t vape. Don’t use Juul… You’re not our target customer.” Burns also acknowledged that the long-term health impact of vaping is unknown.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Did Juul Use Young People To Create E-Cig Buzz On Social Media?

    Did Juul Use Young People To Create E-Cig Buzz On Social Media?

    Stanford University researchers suggest that Juul used young social media influencers to market its products to teens.

    These days there is great concern about young people Juuling, which is the most popular form of vaping. At first, some young people were under the mistaken impression that vaping wasn’t as dangerous as smoking, but many would soon become hooked, suffering from similar health problems to cigarette smoking, and suffering terrible withdrawal symptoms when they tried to quit.

    These days, there is a backlash against the company Juul, which insists that their vaping products are for adults who want to wean off cigarettes, but as Business Insider discovered, Juul has a large following on Twitter and Instagram with younger users and the report suggests that this may be by design.

    Stanford University researched how Juul marketed their product on social media and they discovered that many of the company’s images, videos and social media posts featured young people.

    Currently valued at $15 billion, Juul is now a giant in the e-cigarette world. They went to the top by utilizing launch parties, free samples and flooding social media with content.

    The Juul launch ads featured a snazzy, colorful campaign where customers were e-mailed, and were asked to become “Juul influencers,” a position that allowed everyday people to help drive sales on social media.

    Robert Jackler, a physician at Stanford explained, “Juul’s launch campaign was patently youth-oriented….You started seeing viral peer-to-peer communication among teens who basically became brand ambassadors for Juul.”

    At each event organized by Juul, over 1,500 samples were given out, and as Jackler continues, “Their business model was to get the devices in your hands either for free or cheaply.”

    Juul countered that their initial advertising “was intended for adults, was short-lived, and had very little impact on our growth.” Juul also started charging $1 for their samples because of a US regulation that banned giving away tobacco products for free that has since been amended to include e-cigarettes.

    In researching Juul’s advertising strategy, Stanford noted similarities with the big tobacco companies’ ad campaigns, and how Juul put emphasis on their sweeter flavors, like Crème Brulee, which the company called “dessert without the spoon.”

    In anticipation of an FDA crackdown, where stronger regulations will be placed on e-cigarettes, Juul has stopped selling their flavored vapes in retail stores, renaming certain flavors to be less youth-friendly. Juul has also shutdown its US-based social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram, according to Time. 

    In September, the FDA sent out 1,300 warning letters to e-cigarette manufacturers, telling them they needed to come up with a plan to “immediate and substantially reverse [the] trend” of young people taking up vaping.

    The FDA warned that if these companies, including Juul, did not comply with their demands, it “may require the companies to revise their sales and marketing practices, to stop distributing products to retailers who sell to kids and to stop selling some or all of their flavored e-cigarette products until they clear the application process.”

    Do you think Juul purposefully marketed its products to teens using social media? Sound off in the comments below.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • FDA May Ban Flavored E-Cig Products From Convenience Stores

    FDA May Ban Flavored E-Cig Products From Convenience Stores

    If the ban becomes a reality, places like 7-Eleven, Circle K, Shell and Mobil would no longer carry flavored e-cig products.

    Continuing its crusade to push back on “epidemic” levels of young people vaping, the FDA is now considering whether flavored e-cigarette products should be limited to being sold in vaping shops.

    This would mean that convenience stores and gas stations like 7-Eleven, Circle K, Shell and Mobil would no longer carry flavored e-cig products.

    These four merchants were caught up in a nationwide undercover sweep over the summer that resulted in 1,300 warning letters from the FDA to retailers illegally selling e-cigarette products to minors.

    “We’re looking at what can be sold in brick-and-mortar stores and whether or not flavored products can be sold in regular stores like 7-Eleven and a truck stop and a gas station, or whether or not flavored products on the market should be confined to adult vaping shops, which generally tend to do a better job of checking ID,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a recent interview.

    The FDA has been cracking down on e-cigarette makers and merchants based on the concern that vaping is becoming too accessible to middle- and high-schoolers.

    According to federal figures cited by Gottlieb, in 2017, use of e-cigarettes among high schoolers increased by 77%, and by 50% among middle schoolers.

    “We see clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion, and we must adjust certain aspects of our comprehensive strategy to stem this clear and present danger,” said Gottlieb in September news release. “We cannot allow a whole generation to become addicted to nicotine.”

    At that time, the FDA requested that five major e-cigarette brands—Juul, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu and Logic—submit plans to “immediately and substantially reverse these trends” of young people vaping.

    They were warned that if they do not comply within 60 days, the agency may require the companies to “revise their sales and marketing practices, to stop distributing products to retailers who sell to kids and to stop selling some or all of their flavored e-cigarette products until they clear the application process,” CNBC reported at the time.

    In the recent interview, Gottlieb said that so far the FDA has met with Juul, Altria (MarkTen) and Reynolds (Vuse).

    View the original article at thefix.com