Victoria Le
New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/health/vaping-juul-e-cigarettes-fda.html
Sept. 11, 2019
JUUL Illegally Marketed E-Cigarettes, F.D.A Says
Sheila Kaplan and Matt Richtel
Part I:
This article from the New York Times explores the controversy arising with e-cigarettes
and the health risks that are slowly rising across the country. Specifically, this article claims that
JUUL illegally marketed their electronic cigarettes by stating that it is a safer alternative to
smoking actual cigarettes. The company’s marketing campaigns and their ads primarily targeted
teenagers. This article further explains this by stating that “A Juul representative spoke at a
presentation and told students that Juul was “much safer than cigarettes” and that JUUL was
“totally safe “”. This causes concern in many families because they are afraid that these ads and
the rising popularity in JUULs will cause smoking rates to rise after a “steep decline”. Other
marketing schemes say “make the switch” which implies that this won’t actually help smokers
quit smoking, but it just gives smokers alternative options.
There are no actual long term studies on the effects of JUULs in the human body after
extended periods of usage, which is a primary reason why the government is trying to restrict
marketing on these products. Right now, research is in its early stages without any real results
yet. But current studies do show that e-cigarettes have caused a rise in teenage vaping, and a
number of health issues have begun popping up across the country as a result of this smoking.
Over four hundred people have become hospitalized because they are becoming sick from
e-cigarettes and at this time there are five deaths linked to smoking. This New York Times
article describes how “public health investigators have yet to determine a specific cause, but they
have cited the use of cannabis and nicotine vaping products are primary possibilities.” People
everywhere are now concerned that e-cigarettes are now used for something that they were not
originally intended for, and that these heavy marketing campaigns attracted the wrong target
market.
But what did JUUL do that makes their marketing illegal ? As it turns out, their products
are not actually FDA approved and not a certified option for a healthier alternative to smoking
