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Dec 11, 2019 - Health

Former FDA chief: "Juul should be pulled off the market entirely"

Marisa Fernandez
Dr. Scott Gottlieb with Axios' Mike Aklen

Former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb. Photo: Lawrence Jackson/Axios

Former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told Axios' Mike Allen at an event Wednesday that Juul, a vaping company that has the largest market share of e-cigarettes, "should be pulled off the market entirely."

Why it matters: The Trump administration has stalled talks to ban flavored tobacco products as millions of teens within the past few years have become addicted to nicotine.

Though a nationwide flavor ban has been in the works, Gottlieb said the root of the problem isn't the flavors, but the convenience of cheap nicotine cartridges.

  • More often, he said, adults use open tank systems — bulkier, more expensive and more difficult to conceal e-cigarette products.
  • "Whatever benefits they had have been greatly overshadowed by the nicotine addiction 2018," Gottlieb said. "We were worried, and I still am."

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