By Matthew Perrone, Health Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) --California on Monday sued the nation’s biggest e-cigarette maker, alleging that Juul Labs deliberately marketed and sold its flavored nicotine products to teenagers.
The lawsuit from California’s attorney general is the latest legal action against Juul, the multi-billion dollar vaping startup that has been widely blamed for helping spark the teen vaping craze.
California is the second state to sue the company, following a North Carolina lawsuit in May. Illinois, Massachusetts and several other states are also investigating the company.
A Juul spokesman said the company’s intended customers are adult smokers, adding “we do not intend to attract underage users.”
Under intense pressure, the company has suspended its U.S. advertising and halted sales of all but two of its flavors, menthol and tobacco. Additionally, the company shuttered its social media accounts, tightened age verification for online sales and replaced its CEO.
San Francisco-based Juul is the best-selling e-cigarette brand in the U.S controlling roughly two-thirds of the retail market.
The lawsuit from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra argues that Juul’s past marketing efforts online and in major U.S. cities used bright colors and youthful models to attract underage users. Federal law bans sales to those under 18.
California officials said they are seeking money to help pay for anti-vaping advertisements.
“Juul ran big tobacco’s playbook and the results were predictable — millions of teens and young Americans now use their product,” said Becerra, at a Sacramento press conference announcing the lawsuit. “In California, we will not allow kids to be lured in by deceptive practices.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Juul previously:
— failed to adequately verify customers’ ages and identities on its website
— shipped products to users who gave fake names, such as “Beer Can”
— distributed free products at concerts and festivals that did not include a mandatory warning label
The lawsuit came as White House officials said President Donald Trump is backing away from a plan to remove most vaping flavors from the market. The officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said Trump is concerned the flavor ban could alienate voters he needs to win re-election.
“We’re not going to wait for the federal government” Becerra said.
Underage vaping has reached what health officials call epidemic levels. In the latest government survey, 1 in 4 high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month, despite federal law banning sales to those under 18.
E-cigarettes typically heat a solution that contains nicotine, which makes cigarettes and e-cigarettes addictive.
Associated Press writers Richard Lardner and Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed to this story.
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More