Lawmakers in Illinois and around the country are investigating electronic cigarette giant Juul Labs over the company's growing popularity with underage teens.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is conducting a "wide-ranging" inquiry into Juul, according to the Associated Press, which centers around whether the company has targeted advertising to underage users. District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine is conducting a similar investigation, according to the report.
Members of congress, federal health regulators and attorneys general in Colorado, Connecticut and Massachusetts are also probing Juul. The attorney general in North Carolina sued Juul in May in an attempt to limit its marketing in the state. And a Trump administration official pledged last week to use the government's regulatory power “to stop the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use.”
The amount of teens using nicotine vaping devices skyrocketed in 2018, as there were 1.3 million more high school vapers in 2018 than in 2017. There's also been a rise in vaping-related illnesses, and this year a person in Illinois died from a lung illness tied to vaping.
“E-cigarettes are appealing to consumers for a number of reasons, including the mistaken belief that e-cigarettes are somehow safer than other tobacco products,” Raoul said in a statement. “As people around the country report being hospitalized after using e-cigarettes or vape pens, and with one fatality already in the state of Illinois, it is clear that vaping products pose a significant health risk and should be avoided.”
Juul argues that its marketing is not aimed at teens; in fact, Juul says it supports federal legislation to move the smoking age to 21. The company has shut down its Instagram and Facebook pages, and stopped selling fruity nicotine pods in stores.
The increased scrutiny into Juul comes as the company has been on a fundraising frenzy since it launched in 2017. It's raised nearly $14 billion to date, and just last week disclosed in an SEC filing that it raised $785 million out of a planned $800 million financing round.
Juul executives say the device is designed to help cigarette smokers quit, and if you don't have a "preexisting relationship" with nicotine, you shouldn't use Juul, CEO Kevin Burns said in a recent interview.
"Don't vape. Don't use Juul," he continued. "You're not our target consumer."
