FDA temporarily suspends order banning sales of Juul

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday announced it had temporarily suspended its ban on sales of the popular e-cigarette maker Juul. 

“On July 5, 2022, FDA administratively stayed the marketing denial order,” the agency’s tobacco division wrote in a tweet. “The agency has determined that there are scientific issues unique to the JUUL application that warrant additional review.” 

“This administrative stay temporarily suspends the marketing denial order during the additional review but does not rescind it,” FDA Tobacco said in its Twitter thread. 

“All electronic nicotine delivery systems, or ENDS products, including those made by JUUL, are required by law to have FDA authorization to be legally marketed,” FDA Tobacco concluded. “The stay and the agency’s review does not constitute authorization to market, sell, or ship JUUL products.”

The agency also said that the company is allowed to market its products in the U.S. for the time being.

Two weeks earlier, the health agency banned the sale of Juul e-cigarettes, saying that the company did not prove that keeping its products on the market “would be appropriate for the protection of the public health.”

In a statement, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said that Juul has played a major role in the rise of vaping among U.S. youth. 

“Today’s action is further progress on the FDA’s commitment to ensuring that all e-cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery system products currently being marketed to consumers meet our public health standards,” Califf said in his statement. 

A federal appeals court a day later temporarily blocked the FDA ban on Juul, granting the e-cigarette maker’s request for a stay, noting that its order will not reflect its ruling on the case.