Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids slammed Juul’s “fake apology” on Monday, saying it’s “a blatant attempt to deflect attention from the company’s wrongdoing” in “creating the youth e-cigarette epidemic.”
Food and Drug Administration officials are calling teen vaping an “epidemic,” with federal data showing 3 million U.S. high school students vaped last year. Some critics, including former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, blame the surge in teen vaping on Juul.
CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla interviewed Juul CEO Kevin Burns for a documentary, “Vaporized: America’s E-cigarette Addiction,” which premieres Monday at 10 p.m. ET. Quintanilla, who toured one of Juul’s manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin with Burns, asked him what he would say to a parent with a child who was addicted to Juul.
“First of all, I’d tell them that I’m sorry that their child’s using the product, ” Burns said. “It’s not intended for them. I hope there was nothing that we did that made it appealing to them. As a parent of a 16-year-old, I’m sorry for them, and I have empathy for them, in terms of what the challenges they’re going through.”
Angelica LaVito – CNBC – July 15, 2019.