FDA clears Juul's first new e-cigarette in more than a decade, with optional age-verification

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorised Juul Labs to sell an updated version of its e-cigarette — the first new device the company has been permitted to put on the market since it launched more than a decade ago — featuring an optional age-verification system designed to block underage use (AP News).

The decision covers the device, which the company will market as Juul2, along with updated tobacco- and menthol-flavoured pods. In 2019, Juul pulled mango, mint and creme flavours that had driven most of its sales but were also popular with teenagers. Chief executive K.C. Crosthwaite said in a statement that the company intends to seek authorisation for "a portfolio of flavours — beyond tobacco and menthol — that are targeted to adult nicotine consumers" (AP News).

The FDA stressed that the authorisation is not an endorsement of the products, and that people who do not smoke should not use Juul or any other e-cigarette. Regulators said the decision was based on company studies indicating that adult smokers who switch completely to Juul can reduce their exposure to carcinogens and other toxic chemicals in conventional cigarettes, and that between 20% and 50% of smokers using Juul products had stopped smoking by the end of six weeks, with quit rates varying by flavour (AP News).

The clearance comes after several difficult years for Juul. The company has laid off hundreds of employees and paid roughly $3 billion to settle government and private lawsuits over the role of its earlier products in fuelling teen vaping, a backlash that pushed regulators to weigh banning its devices outright before the company overhauled its applications (AP News).

Under the new authorisation, users will be able to require age verification through an online app before the device unlocks — a feature the company has pitched as a way to keep the products out of the hands of minors while still allowing adult smokers to switch. Public-health groups have long argued that on-device age-gating is easily circumvented, and the FDA has previously rejected several other e-cigarette applications, including some from Juul's rivals, over youth-use concerns (AP News).

**Sources:** Associated Press