“Our new and improved labels and boxes of “Cookies & Milk” will remind you of your favorite childhood cookie, dunked in sweet, creamy v’nilla milk!”
Two quick questions:
Q1. Which age group is the target? Q2. What type of products are these?
A1. Most of us would say kids. A2. These are e-cigarette nicotine refill packs.
The Food and Drug Administration says more than a dozen sellers of liquid nicotine for e-cigarettes have removed their products from the market in response to accusations that their labeling and advertising are false or misleading. Juul, whose liquid nicotine flavors include Cool Cucumber, Fruit Medley, Mango, and Mint, say they are absolutely not marketing to kids. The FDA disagrees, demanding the market leader submit documents about its marketing and research and what it knows about Juul use among young people.
E-cigarette usage is highest among people 18-24.
Juul upended the market by replacing clunky vaporizers with sleek metal devices that look like USB drives. This cool factor, combined with the ability to vape surreptitiously, makes Juul the favorite among school kids.
Makers of e-cigarettes argue that they help people stop smoking regular cigarettes.
Johns Hopkins says vaping is only marginally less harmful than smoking cigarettes. They say e-cigarettes are just as addictive and are not approved as smoking cessation devices. Studies show more vapers also smoke regular cigarettes than quit smoking. Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, calls these concerns “fearmongering.” He says in USA Today, with an apparent lack of irony, “This is a debate that should be shaped by real facts and sound science.”
Surveys show that fewer than half of adolescent e-cig users know the vapor contains nicotine. The same proportion is unaware nicotine is addictive.
Dr Albert Rizzo, the American Lung Association’s leading medical authority, says another very large concern is “we really don’t know a whole lot about what happens when heated chemicals are inhaled into the lungs.”