Vape juice company Juul marketed nicotine to children. It will now pay $438.5m to settle an investigation into it. The FDA has already banned its key products, a ruling which is on hold as it appeals; Juul faces many lawsuits for its practices.
The investigation into Juul's marketing found that the company had "relentlessly marketed vaping products to underage youth" even though such purchases are illegal in the US, said Connecticut attorney general William Tong, who announced the settlement on Tuesday. He said the company had also used age verification practices it knew were ineffective and did not clearly disclose that its pods contained nicotine, which is addictive. "Juul's cynically calculated advertising campaigns created a new generation of nicotine addicts," he said.
