The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered Juul Labs to stop selling its e-cigarettes as the Biden administration deals another blow to the tobacco industry, reports The Guardian.

Juul became a pioneer in the field of e-cigarettes when it launched in 2015. However, during the past three years, the company has been at the centre of controversy with regulators, lawmakers and state attorney generals criticising the company’s advertising and marketing that made its products especially attractive to youths. Juul was forced to stop selling several of its flavoured products in late 2019.
In a bid to bring scientific scrutiny to the vaping industry that has been relatively unregulated up until now, the FDA has been reviewing applications from thousands of vaping companies needing to prove that their products benefit public health. It said that Juul had failed to provide “sufficient evidence” that its devices helped people quit smoking and therefore has banned its products from the US market, reports The Guardian.
“The agency has dedicated significant resources to review products from the companies that account for most of the US market. We recognize these make up a significant part of the available products and many have played a disproportionate role in the rise in youth vaping,” said FDA commissioner Dr Robert Califf.
“Today’s decision is welcomed and long overdue. @FDATobacco made the right decision to end the sale of all Juul products including #menthol. They remain one of the most popular e-cigarettes among teens. Stopping these sales is an important step in ending the youth vaping epidemic,” the American Lung Association said on Twitter.
Amanda Wheeler, president of the American Vapor Manufacturing Association, an industry trade group, was disappointed by the move. “Measured in lives lost and potential destroyed, FDA’s staggering indifference to ordinary Americans and their right to switch to the vastly safer alternative of vaping will surely rank as one of the greatest episodes of regulatory malpractice in American history,” she said.
According to The Guardian, Juul is expected to appeal the decision.