Juul has created a "race for nicotine", according to a new study – Quartz

With around 70% of the e-cigarette market share, Juul has clearly changed the vaping landscape.

Earlier this week, researchers at Stanford University published an article in the Tobacco Control Review (paywall) claiming that Juul was responsible for the rise of more nicotine-intensive cartridges. The authors argue that the rise of these cartridges could lead to more people becoming hooked on the e-cigarette, especially teenagers, who had never been smokers before and who really enjoyed vaping.

When e-cigarettes came to the US market in 2007, they were seen as a way for smokers to quit. They contain nicotine, the addictive stimulant in traditional cigarettes, but did not have tobacco – a known carcinogen and the substance that harms the health of smokers. In 2013, however, Juul patented a new blend of nicotine salts specifically for its electronic cigarette cartridges. It masks the bitter taste of nicotine, which means that a puff having the same taste as a recipe for a lower octane canister can hold a larger volume of nicotine.

Most of the cartridges that Juul has introduced contain more than twice as much nicotine as other cartridges – 5% by weight of each cartridge, compared to the usual 1% to 2% that were already on the market. Juul also makes cartridges containing 3% nicotine in the mint and Virginia tobacco flavors. When Juul cartridges were marketed in June 2015, the authors of this study encouraged other cartridge manufacturers to create products containing 5% to 6.5% nicotine. . Although legally, these products can not be sold to people under 18, many of these cartridges have sweet flavors that have probably been sold to teenagers, who could quickly become addicted. Although the number of nicotine-dependent adolescents is not clear, previous work had suggested (paywall) that smoking a quarter of a pod a day would contain the amount of nicotine needed to become an addict.

Some of the new imitations identified are also cheaper than Juul cartridges. "Rushing to higher and higher nicotine levels has reduced the cost of nicotine addiction," CNN's Robert Jackler, the lead author of the article, told CNN. Nicotine does not pose the same health risks to consumers as tobacco, but its long-term risks to young populations are largely unknown. Early lab work suggested that other chemicals contained in the vapes could also damage lung cells.

In an email to Quartz, Victoria Davis, spokeswoman for Juul, pointed out that Juul was not the first company to sell vaping products containing higher percentages of nicotine. Smaller companies like Vuse and NJOY started selling high nicotine cartridges in 2007.

However, Juul's significant share in the e-cigarette market gives the company a much greater influence in the market than small businesses. "Juul is able to set the standard in this area," Robert Pagano, director of Vapor Vanity, a website devoted to the review of e-cigarette products, told Quartz. "Other companies that make similar devices in the basket are forced to follow Juul, otherwise they will lose their small market share."

Juul's Davis told Quartz that the products identified by the "Stanford team" as being "Juul-compatible" are illegal because they do not meet the criteria set out in the 2016 FDA rule (Foods). and Drug Administration) that all e-cigarettes contain warning labels and marketing authorizations and are not sold to minors or other tobacco products. She cited the company's commitment to keeping adult products, including its plan to stop selling flavored products in retail stores in anticipation of an FDA ban. However, when the FDA announced that it would prefer to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, the New York Times announced that Juul had left room for maneuver to resume sales of flavored cartridges in stores have age verification processes, and that these products are always available. online.