Los Angeles County 4th District Supervisor Janice Hahn announced that the state of California filed a joint lawsuit against electronic cigarette maker, JUUL, Labs, Inc (JUUL) alleging that the San Francisco-based company targeted young people in its ad campaign and did not provide proper warnings about the risks of using their products– such as cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm.
Hahn, who represents Long Beach, announced the lawsuit along with California Attorney General Xavier Bacerra and Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey.
“Nearly one in 10 high school students in LA County report using e-cigarettes. That is not by chance,” Supervisor Janice Hahn said during a press conference. “JUUL has systematically targeted the teen market with everything from the design of their products to their advertisements. With this lawsuit we are going to hold JUUL accountable for their hand in this public health crisis and do what we can to stop this company from creating a new generation of nicotine addicts.”
The suit also alleges that that the company acted unlawfully by not properly verifying the age of California customers.
JUUL is also accused of violating the privacy rights of minors by keeping the personal e-mail addresses of individuals who visited their website but did not meet the required age required by law.
The suit claims that the company used these e-mail addresses to market to those underage individuals.
“We’ve worked too hard, committed our hard-earned money for too long combating harmful tobacco use to stand idly by as we now lose Californians to vaping and nicotine addiction,” Becerra said. “JUUL adopted the tobacco industry’s infamous playbook, employing advertisements that had no regard for public health and searching out vulnerable targets. Today we take legal action against the deceptive practices that JUUL and the e-cigarette industry employ to lure our kids into their vaping web. We will hold JUUL and any other company that fuels a public health crisis accountable.”
The news of the lawsuit comes as the CDC reports 42 deaths in relation to e-cigarette or vaping use. There are also 2,172 cases of associated lung injuries nationwide– with three deaths reported in California.
The use of e-cigarettes by young people has increased rapidly over the past few years. Juul sales make up more than 64% of the U.S. market for e-cigarettes.
Since JUUL’s launch in 2015, the amount of young people vaping in the United States has more than doubled. Partially due to the fruity flavors, such as mint or mango.
The lawsuit is the latest step for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in its attempts to push back against e-cigarette use among underage smokers. In September, the Board approved a ban on flavored tobacco products in unincorporated areas of the county.
To read more about the complaint, click here.
