Last Tuesday, Juul Labs Inc. announced its plans to stop selling most of its flavored nicotine liquids at bricks-and-mortar stores. The e-cig manufacturer said that it will keep on selling menthol and tobacco-flavored products in stores, and all the other flavoured e-liquids will remain available for sale on its website, which has age-verification controls.
CEO Kevin Burns said it had “stopped accepting retail orders for our Mango, Fruit, Creme and Cucumber JUUL pods to the over 90,000 retail stores that sell our product.” However, these restrictions do not apply to Canada, and spokesperson Victoria Davis pointed out that these flavours will remain available in stores.
“All flavours are compliant with Canadian regulations,” Davis said, noting that the company had “chosen to voluntarily limit” them in the U.S. “as part of the discussions” between Juul and the FDA.
Gottlieb “recognizes” Juul’s efforts
“We’re deeply concerned about the epidemic of youth use of e-cigs. Voluntary action is no substitute for regulatory steps #FDA will soon take,” read a tweet by Gottlieb. “But we want to recognize actions by JUUL today and urge all manufacturers to immediately implement steps to start reversing these trends.”
Canada’s more reasonable approach
On the other hand, Canada who always seems to be a step ahead of the US in relation to harm reduction, seems unfazed by the FDA’s actions. Health Canada spokesperson Anna Maddison said that Canadian regulations already restrict “the promotion of vaping products with candy and dessert flavours, such as crème brûlée and blueberry cake.”
“Canada has established a strong regulatory framework for vaping products, with a focus on preventing uptake by youth and non-smokers,” said Maddison, adding, “In addition to enforcing regulations that prohibit the sale of vaping products to people under age 18 the Government of Canada will soon be introducing a new public education campaign to increase awareness about the harms and risks associated with vaping product use among youth aged 13 to 18.”
“The campaign will also equip parents and other trusted adults with tools and resources to support conversations and discussions about the health risks of vaping products for this age group.”
Read Further: Yahoo News
