JUUL Facing Mafia Style Racketeering Charges!
A lawsuit placing JUUL and the Mafia in the same legal category seems crazy even in the current rabid anti-vape climate in America.
However, just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier, vape giant JUUL is facing ‘racketeering‘ charges usually reserved for the mob – yes really lol.
Anyone who’s watched a recent gangster film or indeed the Sopranos will have heard of the RICO Act.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act [RICO] was brought in to tackle organized crime and sent a shiver of fear through the so called 5 families and even the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
Some say it was this act that pretty much shut down the mafia’s presence in the USA for good.
Tomorrow morning [Monday] a federal judge will consider if school districts and consumers can use the act against JUUL, a move lawyers have described as:
…the litigation equivalent of a thermonuclear device.
Yeah, I know lol, we really need to file this one under ‘shit you couldn’t make up‘ *rolls eyes*.
Legal insiders say they doubt the judge will dismiss the law suit meaning JUUL could face paying out multi-million dollar settlements from personal injury claims, and fines linked to illegal marketing and shipping methods – if of course they are found guilty.
All joking aside, this is serious stuff with the class action describing JUUL’s early promotion methods as a ‘diabolical pairing‘ of modern and historic Big Tobacco style adverts which it says directly targeted children.
Part of the law suit reads:
They hired young models and advertised using bright, ‘fun’ themes, including on media long barred to the cigarette industry, such as billboards, on children’s websites such as ‘Nick Junior’ and Cartoon Network, and on websites providing games and educational tools to students in middle school and high school.
JUUL is already facing multiple lawsuits from so called ‘injured parties’ from across the USA – but this one eclipses them all and in a big way.
The company has of course denied the claims of ‘racketeering‘ and plans to fight the case with a JUUL spokesman – or should that be a company ‘wise guy‘ – saying:
We will continue to reset the vapor category in the U.S. and seek to earn the trust of society by working cooperatively with attorneys general, legislators, regulators, public health officials, and other stakeholders to combat underage use and transition adult smokers from combustible cigarettes.
One option could be for JUUL to offer out of court settlements to make the law suit go away…
A case of making the plaintiffs ‘an offer they can’t refuse‘ you might say…lol…
Failing that, a horses head on the bed seems to have worked in the past…
I shall of course be keeping a very close eye on this unfolding story.
Relx Technology Launches Vape Research Lab
A multi million dollar vape research centre has been opened by vaping giant Relx Technology.
The state of the art laboratory will pair up with universities and other scientific institutions to take research into the health effects of vaping to the next level.
Relx was founded back in 2018 by Kate Wang, and now holds 68% of the China vape market.
At the launch last Thursday, Ms Wang was upbeat to say the least:
The Relx bioscience lab’s mission is to explore the unknown.
We want to collect evidence through a scientific approach and strive to prove the potential for e-cigarettes to be less harmful, and in doing so, provide users with the option to choose an alternative.
As an innovative product, it’s inevitable that Electronic Cigarettes face many doubts from the start.
Many characteristics haven’t been answered scientifically, and that’s why we decided to advance to science.
Great news indeed – though if any of the anti-vaping brigade out there will listen to any positive findings is highly unlikely.
Read Jonny’s recent review of the RELX Infinity pod kit to see why the company’s vape devices are so popular in China and the rest of the world.
IVG E-liquid Expansion Plans
The parent company behind IVG e-liquids is about to create 150 jobs as it unveils ambitious expansion plans.
Based in Preston UK, Acme Vape says it’s ready to invest £5 million over the next 12 months.
Most of the cash will go towards a brand new 80,000 sq ft HQ which in turn will double the current workforce to 300 employees.
Ahsan Bawa, the company CEO said:
We aim to take our brands and the vaping industry to the next level, this is why we are investing in our staff, manufacturing, technology & logistics, creating over 150 new jobs in the process and paving the way for our future.
We continue to see growing demand as consumers switch from smoking to vaping and we are gearing up to provide high quality brands for consumers as well as education and expertise to our trade partners.
Our flagship brand, IVG, has been a fantastic success and continues to grow strongly both in the UK and in international markets.
Another week, and another UK vape company on the up – great to hear.
Checkout my IVG Mixer Short Fill and Nic Salt range review.
E-cigarettes Helping Kiwis Quit Smoking
A new study shows more smokers in New Zealand are using e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking.
However many are only trying them briefly, before returning to smoking believing wrongly vaping is as harmful as smoking.
You can blame all the fake news around e-cigarettes for that…
The study carried out by researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington, still makes for good reading.
It shows that of the 1155 people quizzed, 97% were aware of e-cigs whilst 77% of smokers had tried vaping.
E-cigarettes were most popular in smokers trying to quit within the 18-24 age range.
Lead researcher Professor Richard Edwards said:
This suggests e-cigarettes are contributing to reducing smoking prevalence and to achieving the goal of Aotearoa becoming smokefree by 2025.
…The most common potential barriers identified were that 68 percent of participants thought vaping was less satisfying than smoking and 39 percent incorrectly believed that e-cigarettes were as or more harmful than smoking cigarettes, or were unsure (15 percent).
However, it isn’t all good news give the good professor wants the New Zealand Government to make e-cigs less available reduce the nicotine content in e-liquid!
We need to do a whole load of other things and we need the government to step up and put in place in other policies to regulate smoked tobacco products, for example making them less widely available or reducing the nicotine in those products, so that we can get rid of smoking for good.
Surely that defeats the object…or is that just me?
Riot Squad Submit PMTA
Hugely popular UK e-liquid company Riot Squad has successfully submitted its PMTA for 7 of its most popular vape juice blends.
They are: Pink Grenade – Sub Lime – Tropical Fury – Blue Burst – Cherry Fizzle – Rich Black Grape and Ultra Peach Tea.
You can read my review of the most recent Riot Squad Punk Grenade e-liquids here.
OK, the Milton Keynes based company says the FDA has received the 1.8 million pages of scientific data which has taken over 2 years to complete.
Having a Pre Market Tobacco Application accepted means Riot Squad can continue to sell the seven flavours within the USA for at least 12 months.
Ben Johnson, Riot Labs CEO, said:
We are delighted to announce that our first-round of PMTA applications have been accepted.
We pride ourselves on producing the highest quality products.
We have been working on our submissions since 2018.
Everyone at Riot Labs is fully committed to offering better alternatives to combustible tobacco products.
Good news indeed and let’s hope the PMTA submission is successful.
Find out more about the PMTA process:
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More vaping news on Wednesday!
