West Virginia has reached a lawsuit settlement with e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Juul) over allegations that the company violated the state's Consumer Credit and Protection Act.
Juul has agreed to pay $7.9 million in settlement fees to the state. According to West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the company is accused of engaging in unfair or deceptive practices in the manufacturing, design, sale, marketing, promotion, and distribution of e-cigarettes in the state, particularly targeting underage individuals. He said, "This settlement stops companies like Juul from replicating big tobacco's strategies, targeting marketing efforts at minors." "We accuse them of deceiving consumers about nicotine content, distorting the nicotine equivalence of their products to traditional cigarettes, and underestimating the risk of addiction due to such high nicotine levels", reports West Virginia's News.
According to a statement from Juul Labs' Corporate Communications Vice President Autin Finan, this settlement represents "another step in Juul Labs' ongoing commitment to addressing past issues."
Finan said, "The terms of the settlement agreement are similar to previous settlements, providing financial resources to further combat underage use and develop smoking cessation programs, reflecting our current business practices since the company's comprehensive restart in the fall of 2019." "Considering West Virginia has the highest cigarette smoking rate in the United States, we hope some funds will be directed toward reducing cigarette use and improving public health within the state."
Finan stated that Juul has now reached settlements with "40 states and territories, providing billions of dollars to participating states." According to 2FIRSTS previous reports, Juul has paid accumulatively over $2.6 billion in total settlement fees to various states. Finan added, "This is based on our global resolution of private lawsuits in the United States, covering more than 5,000 cases brought by about 10,000 plaintiffs", reports West Virginia's News.
According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Juul e-cigarettes have high nicotine content - one Juul pod contains the equivalent of 20 traditional cigarettes. The prosecution disagrees with this data, arguing that the total nicotine content in a Juul pod is "equivalent to 1.72 packs (34 cigarettes)."
In 2017, 14.3% of high school students in West Virginia had used e-cigarettes at least once in the past 30 days. Nationwide, this figure is 13.2%.
Data from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey shows that over 5 million US middle and high school students are using e-cigarettes, with 27.5% of high school students and 10.5% of middle school students reporting current e-cigarette use. Among these current e-cigarette users, 34.2% of high school students and 18% of middle school students use e-cigarettes for 20 days or more per month.
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Reference:
West Virginia reaches settlement with e-cigarette maker Juul
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