US Bans All Products From Leading Vaping Company

The US is banning the sale of all products sold by Juul, one of the country's top e-cigarette companies.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it did not have enough data to be sure that marketing the firm's products was "appropriate for the protection of public health".

Juul said it would challenge the move.

It comes after other recent anti-smoking efforts by the FDA, including plans to reduce the amount of addictive nicotine allowed in cigarettes.

The agency had already barred the fruity flavours that helped make Juul a phenomenon among teenagers a few years ago.

"Today's action is further progress on the FDA's commitment to ensuring that all e-cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery system products currently being marketed to consumers meet our public health standards," FDA commissioner Robert M. Califf said in a statement.

Juul, founded in California in 2015 by a pair of former smokers, has promoted its vaping pods as a healthier alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes.

But the products, which contain high concentrations of nicotine, raised alarm as use among teens exploded, with more than quarter of high schoolers using e-cigarettes in 2019, according to a federal survey.

In 2020 the FDA said it would require companies to submit their e-cigarette products for approval. It has since granted some of them a green light.

- bbc.com