FDA’s Authorization of Juul Is a Big Step Backward for Preventing Youth E-Cigarette Use

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The FDA’s decision to authorize the sale of Juul e-cigarettes, including menthol-flavored products, risks a reversal of recent progress in reducing youth e-cigarette use. Largely because of Juul, e-cigarette use among high school students skyrocketed from 11.7% in 2017 to 27.5% in 2019, leading the U.S. Surgeon General to declare youth e-cigarette use an epidemic.

It is a big step in the wrong direction to authorize sales of the product that was responsible for this public health crisis in the first place. There is no question that this crisis was driven by Juul’s sleek, easy-to-hide products, which were sold in enticing flavors, including menthol, were marketed in ways that appeal to kids and delivered massive doses of nicotine that can quickly addict kids.

This is why Juul is having to pay over $1.1 billion in settlements of lawsuits brought by states and other parties. And despite recent declines in youth e-cigarette use, Juul products remain popular among youth. According to the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, Juul remained in the top five most popular e-cigarette brands among U.S. youth, including 12.6% of current middle and high school e-cigarette users. Juul was the third most popular e-cigarette brand among middle school e-cigarette users.

It is particularly troubling that the FDA authorized the sale of menthol-flavored Juul given the scientific evidence that menthol is a flavor that appeals to kids. According to the CDC, tobacco companies have a longstanding history of adding menthol to tobacco products to make them seem less harsh and more appealing to young people. Moreover, menthol enhances the effects of nicotine on the brain and can make tobacco products even more addictive. The FDA itself has found, in denying marketing applications for other menthol-flavored e-cigarettes, that “non-tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes, including menthol flavored e-cigarettes, have a known and substantial risk with regard to youth appeal, uptake and use.”

The U.S. has made significant progress in reducing youth e-cigarette use in recent years through restrictions on flavored products, education campaigns, and other strategies. But over 1.6 million U.S. youth still currently use e-cigarettes, and nearly 90% of them use flavored products. To protect kids, the FDA should deny marketing applications for flavored e-cigarettes and, along with other federal agencies, step up enforcement efforts against the many illegal products currently on the market.