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WASHINGTON (AP) – Electronic cigarette giant Juul Labs faces heightened surveillance from law enforcement, with attorneys general of Illinois and the District of Columbia investigating the success of the The company's blockbuster vaping device with underage teens, according to the Associated Press learned.
The company's rapid rise to the top of the multi-billion dollar US e-cigarette market has been accompanied by accusations from parents, politicians and public health advocates which Juul would have fueled the craze for high school students. In addition to ongoing investigations in Illinois and the district, which had not yet been publicly disclosed, four other state attorneys general are investigating or prosecuting Juul.
Members of Congress and federal health regulators are also investigating the company, which faces separate lawsuits from juul users, teens and adults.
Juul executives have disputed allegations that they would have marketed their products to teens, saying that they had taken unprecedented steps to combat the use of its electronic cigarettes by minors. The company closed its Facebook and Instagram pages and removed several of its flavored products from retail stores. Juul also supports federal legislation to increase the total number of tobacco products to 21 years, including e-cigarettes.
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Juul's spokesman, Ted Kwong, declined to answer specific questions about the investigations in an e-mailed statement, but reiterated the company's previous steps to prevent the use by the companies. youth. Juul announced Thursday that 50 retail chains have committed to adopt the company's age verification system, which requires sellers to scan a customer's identity before selling the products. Juul.
A senior Illinois law enforcement official told AP an extensive investigation by the Illinois Attorney General's Office, Kwame Raoul, about whether Juul had violated consumer fraud laws and other laws by designing and marketing its products to attract underage teens. . The agent was not allowed to speak in public and asked for anonymity.
Marrisa Geller, a spokeswoman for District Attorney General Karl Racine, confirmed in an e-mail statement that an investigation was underway on Juul. She said Racine was worried about "the dramatic increase in the use of vaping products by district youth" as well as policies and practices used by electronic cigarette manufacturers to prevent minors to use their products.
Attorneys General of Colorado, Connecticut and Massachusetts have announced investigations into Juul because of concerns over the use of its products by minors. The North Carolina Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Juul in May, asking a court to limit the company's sales and marketing in that state.
The six attorneys general are democrats.
Juul repeatedly reiterated that he understood the concerns about young people's vaping and had taken "the most aggressive steps" from any company in the industry to tackle this problem. He spent millions of dollars on newspaper, radio and online advertising, pledging to protect his products from the hands of young people.
The company also denied selling it to anyone who was a minor.
Electronic cigarettes, which have been available in the United States since 2007 and have grown to an industry of more than $ 6 billion a year, are battery-powered devices that typically heat a flavored nicotine solution into an inhalable aerosol.
Juul, launched in 2015, now controls about three-quarters of the US e-cigarette retail market. Last year, one in five American students said they had ejaculated the previous month, according to data from a government poll.
Most experts agree that aerosol is less harmful than cigarette smoke because it does not contain most of the carcinogenic byproducts of burning tobacco. But there is virtually no research on the long-term effects of vaping chemicals, some of which are toxic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week that 193 teenagers and adults in 22 states, including Illinois, had contracted serious respiratory illnesses after they had been vaping. However, they said that a clearly identified common cause of the diseases had not been identified and that they were referred to as "potential cases" that are still the object of a investigation. A CDC official said that no specific product had been identified or conclusively linked to the disease, while noting that a number of people who had fallen ill had sprayed a substance containing THC, the highly inducing ingredient of marijuana.
Kevin Burns, CEO of Juul, told CBS This Morning on Wednesday that the diseases are "worrisome" for the sector and for Juul "if we contributed to it." He added that the company is in close contact with the CDC to get as much information as possible "so that, if a problem were associated with us (…), we can come to the root cause and understand that. ".
In Illinois, the state's Department of Public Health has described the use of e-cigarettes among teens as "epidemic" and said that there was Meme it an alarming lack of understanding of the risk of nicotine addiction.
Raoul's office also looks at other aspects: how Juul checks the age of people who shop online on the company's website; the amount of nicotine in the flavored solution and its degree of safety; and if Juul mis advertised his electronic cigarette as a tool to stop smoking.
Kwong said the Juul system is designed to help adult smokers pass combustible cigarettes and is not intended to be used as a cessation product. Neither Juul nor any other electronic cigarette has yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to help smokers smoke traditional paper and tobacco cigarettes.
The Illinois probe began in the spring. Raoul's office does not coordinate his investigation with other attorneys general, said the official.
Geller, the spokeswoman for Racine, declined to discuss the scope of the district investigation. However, a senior official at the Racine office wrote to a Juul representative in early February asking for a lot of information about how residents of the district buy the company's products.
Among the data sought by Benjamin Wiseman, director of consumer protection, was a list of authorized retail stores and third-party online retailers that did not comply with Juul's rules to prevent minors from buying and selling goods. use his products. Wiseman also asked the company "to describe in detail the nature of the retailer's failure to comply" and the measures taken by Juul to respond.
Wiseman wrote that Racine's office had learned in reports and conversations with community members and other government officials that Juul's use of juvenile youth in the district had increased dramatically. these last years.
"Remarkably, a district high school principal estimates that half of the students at his age and school use electronic cigarettes, many of which are, in our opinion, Juul's products," Wiseman told Patrick. Lynch, former Attorney General of Rhode Island. lobbying and consulting company that represents Juul.
Lynch's office held a meeting in the Attorney General's office last November with Juul's Executive Director, Ashley Gould, Wiseman and DC Deputy Attorney General Brian Caldwell, according to e-mails obtained through a request. open files. Lynch is not registered as a lobbyist in the District of Columbia.
The agenda of the meeting is not described in the minutes, although an email from Lynch stated that they had discussed Juul's efforts to significantly reduce Young people's access to their product ".
In November, Racine was elected for a second term as Attorney General and Raoul was elected for the first term. The Juul Political Action Committee donated money to both campaigns. Racine accepted Juul's $ 1,500 contribution, the maximum amount allowed by the District of Columbia Code. But Raoul refused the company's $ 3,000 donation because it was contrary to his professional responsibilities and his personal opinions, according to Hanah Jubeh, spokesperson for Raoul's campaign.
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