COLUMBIA, S.C. — Federal health officials on Thursday ordered Juul to pull its electronic cigarettes from the U.S. market, the latest blow to the embattled company widely blamed for sparking a national surge in teen vaping.
Health officials say vaping has become an incredibly popular but dangerous activity among youth. According to DHEC, high school students are more likely to vape than they are to smoke and cite Juul as the most popular source.
Andrew Bagley is the owner of the Illuminati Smoke Shop in Columbia and says even with the popularity of Juulz, he doesn't have concerns about the ban's effect on sales.
“I’m not concerned. We have quite a few other vape products that are PMTA approved, which just means at this point we are legally allowed to sell them and juuls were a very small percent of our sales, it’s not that big of a deal."
Juul has faced heightened pressure from regulators, lawmakers, and state attorneys general over the appeal of nicotine products to teens. However, Bagley says he doesn't entirely agree with the ban.
“My issues with the ban are that they are based on how they were marketing their products, it actually has nothing to do with the end health results of their products or where their products were ending up," said Bagley.
The FDA's review was based on whether the e-cigarettes are effective in getting smokers to quit and, if so, whether the benefit to smokers outweighs the health damage to new users, including teenagers.
This decision comes nearly two years after Juul had applied for approval to keep selling e-cigarettes in the country.
For more information about resources available to people who want to quit smoking, go to smokefree.gov.