FDA Puts Off Decision on Whether to Allow Juul E-Cigarettes to Stay on Market

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it was delaying a decision about whether to allow Juule-cigarettes to stay on the market, the Associated Press reports. The agency said it had rejected applications for almost 950,000 other e-cigarettes and related products, because of their potential to appeal to minors.

The FDA missed a September 9 court deadline to decide whether to allow Juul and other e-cigarette companies to continue selling their products.

“The FDA’s announcementtoday that it has denied marketing applications for more flavored e-cigarettes is a significant step in the right direction,” Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement. “It is also important that FDA’s statement both recognizes the role of flavored e-cigarettes in attracting youth and makes clear that protecting our nation’s youth is a priority for the agency. However, the FDA will leave our kids at risk unless it acts quickly on the remaining applications, including for products like Juul that have driven the youth e-cigarette epidemic, and eliminates all flavored e-cigarettes, including menthol-flavored products that are widely used by kids.”