Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed new rulesthat would restrict flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco products that have lured young people into vaping and smoking.Fast Company, a media outlet that “chronicles how changing companies create and compete”, recently published a profileof Juul, a company founded in 2017 to make and sell e-cigarettes. Juul is now valued at more than $16 billion and controls 72% of the U.S. e-cigarette market. It’s also hooking teens on nicotine and drawing scrutiny from the FDA. Can the company innovate its way out of a crisis it helped create, asks Fast Company?
Another story last week, this one in The New York Times, describes how Matt Murphy, a high school senior then 17 years old in Reading , Massachusetts, become addicted to Juul. “It was love at first puff,” said Matt, now 19. As the United States debates what rules will govern the marketing of e-cigarettes, public health researchers and advocates will have to digest and synthesize a growing body of literature — and misleading claims. Two recent reviews, cited below, can help readers to begin to sort through this evidence.
Breitbarth AK, Morgan J, Jones AL. E-cigarettes-An unintended illicit drug delivery system. Drug and alcohol dependence. 2019(88): 144-149.
Unger M, Unger DW. E-cigarettes/electronic nicotine delivery systems: a word of caution on health and new product development. Journal of thoracic disease. 2018;10(Suppl 22):S2588.
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