Executives at Juul knew early on that young people were attrac♋ted to its addictive vaping products, but overlooked ��it, according to a report Tuesday amid a widening national health crisis.
A found that from the birth of the e-cigarette company, insiders discussed and debated concerns over the products’ potency and addictiveness.
The first signs that Juul had a serious appeal t🍬o young people came almost immediately after the e-cigarette device went on sale in 2015, an ex-company manager told Reuters.
An onslaught of teens called company reps askin𝐆g where they could buy more Juuls and their dis💖posable pods containing liquid nicotine.
The inquiries sparked an internal debate at the company, the former manager, speaking to theꦏ news outlet on the condition of anonymity, said.
Juul co-founder James Monsees was among the executives who argued for swift action to limit youth sales, but other company directors, including healthcare entrepreneur Hoyoung Huh and other investors argued that they could not be bl🦩amed for youth nicotine addiction because it did not intentionally advertise or sell to them, the manager said.
“Clearly, people internally had an issue with it,” the manager told Reuters in reference to the sales of Juuls to teens. “But a lot of people had no problem with 500 percent year-o𝔉ver-year growth.”
In a statement, Juul told Reuters that it never intended to attract underage customers and said that Monsees “did no🦹t recall” the internal discussions in 20✃15 over whether to take action to curb youth sales.
Huh and oth🍎er board members who served at the t꧃ime did not respond to requests for comment by Reuters.
The Reuters report no𝕴ted that following pressure from regulators and US senators, Juul, in April 2018, announced what it called a “comprehensive strategy” to curtail youth sales.
The measures the company took came two days after the US Food and Drug Administration announced a nationwide crackdown on underage sales of Juu🍌l produ🙈cts.
Asked by Reuters why Juul did not act sooner when it committed $30 million for youth prevention efforts, Juul said it took two measures to curb youth sales in August and Septemb꧑er 2017.
The company notes that it raised the minꦜimum age for online purchases through Juul’s website to 21 and started a “retail monitoring program.”
Juul “reacted to the information that it had, and increased its youth prevention me🌃asures as more data came out over the years,” the company told Re♒uters.
Despite its usage of young and hip-looking people in previous advertisements, 🌠the vaping company’s Chief Administration Officer Ashley Gould told CNN last year that “we were completely surprised by the youth usage of the product.”
Meanwhile, two prominent tobacco resea𒊎rchers told Reuters that they warned Juul’s founders and a top company scientist about the potential for you🍌th e-cigarette abuse.
Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco told the news outlet that he told Gal Cohen, Juul’s director of scientific affairs that rampa🅰nt teen use could wreak havoc on the company.
“Look, the one thing you have to do is make sure that this doesn’t get into the hands of young people,” Benowit꧃z recalled telling Cohen about a year after the product launch. “If it spreads among kids, this product could be dead.”
Juul declined to comment to Reuters on whether tobacco researchers warn🎃ed company officials about youth e-cigarette addiction.
In September, the Trump administration announced a proposed bꦓan on flavored e-cigarettes.
Last month, Juul stopped selling all it♛s fruity flav𝐆ored products nationwide amid the national health crisis.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Oct. 29, there have been 1,888 cases of e-ci♑garette or vaping product use linked to lung injury and 37 deaths have been confirmed in 24 states.