The Baldwinsville Central School District has joined more than 100 school districts across the nation in a class-action lawsuit against vaping juggernaut Juul Labs, Inc., which commands nearly half of the e-cigarette market in the United States.
The BCSD Board of Education voted April 12 to hire two law firms — Bond, Schoeneck & King and the Frantz Law Group — to represent the district in a suit against Juul Labs and its major stakeholder, Altria Group, Inc., formerly known as Philip Morris Companies. The suit seeks “to discourage the proliferation of e-cigarettes, end the marketing of e-cigarettes to children, and seek compensation for harm caused to the district due to e-cigarette use.”
Local governments, school districts and consumers are suing Juul and Altria under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which Congress passed in 1970 to crack down on organized crime. RICO has been used to prosecute a range of entities such as the Bonanno crime family, Latin Kings gang members, Major League Baseball, corrupt government officials and police departments.
According to a report by Bloomberg.com, plaintiffs in the vaping suit claim Juul and Altria “used false and misleading advertisements, including the company’s ‘Vaporized’ campaign, omitting Juul’s nicotine content and potency” and “expanded youth access to Juul products through deception.”
Juul has used social media extensively to market its products. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cautioned the company about its marketing practices, which the FDA said downplayed the risks of vaping and suggested that e-cigarettes are a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes. The FDA also scrutinized the high nicotine content of Juul’s products.
According to Statista.com, which aggregates market and consumer data, Juul held 42% of the e-cigarette market as of June 2020. In 2019, Juul discontinued all flavored products except menthol e-cigarettes. The company has halted marketing efforts and has pledged to combat underage tobacco use.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim e-cigarette vapor contains heavy metals, cancer-causing chemicals and flavoring agents such as diacetyl, which has been linked to serious lung disease. To learn more about the effects of tobacco use and how to talk to your kids about the risks of vaping, visit cdc.gov/tobacco/index.htm.
