California sues vaping powerhouse JUUL, alleging it caused a ‘public health epidemic’
California is taking JUUL Labs to court, alleging that the e-cigarette company unlawfully targeted minors through advertising and flavors that appeal to young people.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that the lawsuit was filed Monday in Alameda County Superior Court; the state is joined in the lawsuit by Los Angeles County.
“We will go after anyone who uses deceptive business practices to harm our people,” Becerra said at the press conference announcing the suit.
The lawsuit alleges that JUUL delivered its product directly to underage people, and delivered products without verifying the customers’ age. The suit further alleges that JUUL violated minors’ privacy rights by emailing them with marketing material despite them failing age verification on JUUL’s website.
JUUL is responsible for creating “a public health epidemic,” Becerra said.
Since JUUL launched in 2015, youth vaping in the United States has doubled, according to the attorney general’s office, with e-cigarette use rising 135 percent from 2017 to 2019 alone.
JUUL sales make up more than 64 percent of the e-cigarette sales market, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
JUUL is the big name in vaping, said Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey. E-cigarette users sometimes refer to the act of vaping as “juuling,” she said.
“They’re the one most recognized,” she said “Sometimes when you go after the most serious actor, everybody else disappears because they don’t want this kind of trouble.”
The lawsuit seeks to make JUUL Labs pay $2,500 for each violation of the state’s business and professions code.
Reached for comment, a JUUL spokesman said that the company has yet to review the complaint, but that JUUL Labs is focused on “earning the trust of society by working cooperatively with attorneys general, regulators, public health officials, and other stakeholders to combat underage use and convert adult smokers from combustible cigarettes.”
That effort includes putting a stop to all broadcast, print and digital product advertising in the U.S., suspending the sale of the popular mint flavor, and investing in scientific research to curb youth usage.
“Our customer base is the world’s 1 billion adult smokers and we do not intend to attract underage users,” the spokesman said.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 11:46 AM.
