JUUL increases nicotine levels in its electronic cigarettes

The famous electronic cigarette manufacturer Juul is one of the fastest growing vaping companies. It targets young people and teens with their flavored electronic cigarettes. The company has recently been under scrutiny for the steady increase in nicotine content of its e-cigarettes.

A report on the rise of nicotine in Juul's electronic cigarettes and its impact on other vaping companies was published in the latest issue of the BMJ journal. Tobacco control in a study entitled "The Nicotine Race: JUUL and the High Nicotine Product Market". It comes from a team of Stanford researchers led by Dr. Robert Jackler, founder of Stanford Research on the Impact of Tobacco Advertising and co-authored by Divya Ramamurthi.

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The report's experts said e-cigarettes had canceled decades of messages and public health campaigns trying to keep kids and teens out of nicotine. The company initially used 1 to 2% nicotine refills, increased to 5%. This has prompted other vaping companies to also increase their nicotine levels and now, almost all renewals are done between 5 and 7%. "When Juul proposed very high-nicotine electronic cigarettes, it triggered a nicotine arms race among competing companies seeking to emulate Juul's success," said Jackler.

A 5% pod can provide nicotine amounts equivalent to a pack of cigarettes, write the study's authors. Jackler explained that these high amounts of nicotine can "be a benefit to adult smoking addicts," who were trying to quit, "but it also creates a powerful addiction to nicotine-naive teens."

The researchers reported that Juul had developed "nicotine salt", which masks the bitter taste of nicotine and allows consumers to consume more. This increase in nicotine levels in their products has not only made e-cigarettes more addictive, but also more affordable. Refills are mostly billed on the pod and not on the refill. The United Kingdom and Israel have limited sales to only 1.7% refills, while Americans are getting the highest refills.

In the United States, the number of vapers is steadily increasing and health advocates are demanding restrictive laws and regulations from the US Food and Drug Administration. In its 2017 statement, the FDA said it was "committed to encouraging innovations that could make a noticeable difference in public health and informing policies and efforts that would best protect children." and help smokers quit. " The time given to the agency to explore clear and meaningful measures to make tobacco products less toxic, attractive and addictive, "the agency said.

In a statement, Juul spokeswoman Victoria Davis, Victoria Davis, said: "As part of our commitment to prevent the use of minors, we are taking swift and decisive action against counterfeit and counterfeit products . "