Why San Francisco Decided to Ban Electronic Cigarettes or "JUUL"

Four years ago, Adam Bowen and James Monsees graduated from Stanford University; both of them specialized in Product Design. Soon after their departure, the two avid smokers established a start-up business at Silicon Valley and invented a new form of cigarettes that will make smoking more socially acceptable. A long flash drive with heat liquid insert in a pod that produces attractive flavors - JUUL was born. The company became a success and sales tripled in 2018. Despite their triumph, many people criticized this particular brand of vaporizer. The average e-cigarettes' 1.7% of nicotine pales in comparison to JUUL's whopping 5% of nicotine. Although JUUL does not contain cancer-causing chemicals such as tar, the addictive nicotine is enough to alarm San Francisco 's government.

On Tuesday 25th June, the City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Supervisor Shaman Walton suggested that San Francisco should suspend the sale of e-cigarettes until the Food and Drug Administration discover the impacts of vaping on public health. The Californian city's mayor, London Breed, agreed with the two governors' recommendation and decided to sign the legislation. This rule will come into play six or seven months thereafter. Naturally, JUUL lab defended its product. Ted Kwong, the organization's Senior Communication Manager, argued that banning electronic vaporizers would drive the consumers to purchase traditional cigarettes which "create a thriving black market". Despite Kwong's assertion, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban the sale of e-cigarettes.

The main goal of this legislation is to abate the growing trend of teenager's nicotine addiction. Not only did Dennis Herrera blamed JUUL for adolescent's dependency on nicotine, but he also thinks that the Food and Drug Administration is at fault too. In recent years, the FDA did not carefully review each vaporizer's brand; instead, the federal agency automatically allowed these products to be sold in the market place. To make matter worse, some retail stores do not check the purchaser's ID. In response to this situation, Herrera expressed his opinion: "If the federal government is not going to act to protect our kids, San Francisco will." This statement acts as a wake-up call for the FDA to improve its system. On the eleven day of June, the federal executive department regarding drug regulation issued a guidance to electronic cigarette companies. Each organization needs to submit a premarket tobacco product applications; the FDA will evaluate each request based on the public health standard that considers the potential risks and benefits. This way, the companies would receive an official authorization of their products. The evaluation also prevents the risk of exploding batteries and accidental nicotine poisoning.

In the end, JUUL Lab caved in to the government's demand. Ted Kwong told CNN news that his company planned to support the new regulation by including electronic age verification technology and enforces a permit for online purchase. Furthermore, the organization aimed to reduce teenager's nicotine consumption by suspending sales of its popular flavors such as mango, creme, and cucumber. Feel free to check out JUUL's website to see the steps they have taken to fight nicotine addiction: https://newsroom.juul.com/2019/06/20/our-commitment-to-youth-prevention/

Lastly, I would like to credit the sources I use to write this blog post: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48752929 ,https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/25/health/san-francisco-e-cigarette-ban-sales-bn/index.html, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46654063 , and https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/11/health/fda-tobacco-ecigarette-vaping-guidelines-bn/index.html