The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that as part of a crackdown on nicotine products it was not approving the sale of Juul e-cigarettes, CNBC reported.
The decision came after an FDA review of the vaping industry and years of lobbying by politicians and public health advocates to regulate vaping products as strictly as the rest of the tobacco industry.
As e-cigarettes became more prevalent among teenagers, the FDA began to weigh the risk to underage smokers during the approval process for vaping products.
Juul had asked for FDA approval for its vaping device and flavoured pods, which contain three or five percent nicotine. The decision was a major blow to the company, with the U.S. as its biggest market and a lack of international sales.
The FDA stated that Juul had not provided enough data about the risk of using its products, including the potential risks that harmful chemicals could leak out of its pods.
“Without the data needed to determine relevant health risks, the FDA is issuing these marketing denial orders,” Michele Mital, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement.
The FDA decision meant that Juul will no longer be able to sell its e-cigarette products in the U.S.
But the FDA approved e-cigarette applications from British American Tobacco and NJOY during the last year, although some of their flavoured products were banned.
The FDA said both companies won their approvals due to evidence that their tobacco e-products could be used by adults as alternatives to more dangerous cigarettes.
On Tuesday, the FDA said that it will ask tobacco companies to remove nearly all the nicotine from cigarettes in order to make them less addictive.