Tobacco stocks dropped on 3 April after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was investigating a possible link between e-cigarette use and seizures, CNBC reported.

The agency said that it has received 35 reports of seizures following e-cigarette use since 2010. Most of these reports involved teenagers or young adults. Severe nicotine poisoning can lead to seizures, the report said. However, the FDA stressed that it is unclear whether e-cigarettes caused the seizures in these cases. “We want to be clear that we don’t yet know if there’s a direct relationship between the use of e-cigarettes and a risk of seizure. We can’t yet say for certain that e-cigarettes are causing these seizures. We’re sharing this early information with the public because as a public health agency, it’s our job to communicate about potential safety concerns associated with the products we regulate that are under scientific investigation by the agency,” the FDA said in a statement.
According to CNBC, shares of Altria, which invested USD 12.8 billion (EUR 11.19 billion) for a 35 per cent stake in e-cigarette giant Juul, fell nearly 5 per cent. Shares of British American Tobacco traded in the U.S. dropped nearly 3 per cent, while shares of U.K.-based Imperial Brands traded in the U.S. dipped 4 per cent.