Vaping News Headlines
JUUL In Mafia Style Lawsuit! | Indian Vape Ban makes “NO Sense” | Global Vaping Sales Boom | Vaping NOT To Blame For Lung Illnesses | WOTOFO Buys OFRF and Vaping Cabbie Fine Overturned
JUUL Faces Mafia Style Law Suit!
Vape giant JUUL seems to be fighting lawsuits at every turn but the latest comes under the same legislation used mostly for organized crime and Mafia prosecutions!
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act [RICO] has been around since 1970 and has been used to smash crime syndicates such as the Gambino and Lucchese crime families – the Hells Angels and the Latin Kings street gang.
The suit was filed on behalf of 19-year-old, Christian Foss from Illinois and all minors using JUUL in the state – he claims JUUL got him addicted to nicotine at 16 and worsened his asthma.
The lawyers have been able to hook this onto the RICO act as Foss claims JUUL took its advertising campaign straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook suggesting its adverts were ‘catchy and directly aimed at children’!
The lawsuit says JUUL is guilty of:
Mimicking Big Tobacco’s past marketing practices, defendants prey on youth for financial gain.Juul adopted the same themes used by Philip Morris and other Big Tobacco companies in the cigarette industry’s long-standing, extensive advertising campaign to glamorize cigarette smoking while downplaying its addictiveness and deleterious health effects.
Not sure what to make of this one!
No matter what you may think about the company – lumping them in with street gangs and the mafia is a bit much lol.
Another crazy day from the anti-vape crowd of America!
Full details of the case: Foss v. Juul Labs Inc., 19-cv-5557, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago).
An India Vape Ban Makes “No Sense”
As the Indian Government creeps closer to an all-out vape ban a leading medical researcher says it makes “no sense”.
Pro vaping doctor, Konstantinos E. Farsalinos M.D, is a specialist in cardiac medicine as well as a researcher in a number of fields.
In an article published in Health Times – part of the Economic Times – he urges the Indian authorities to do the right thing and accept vaping as a viable and much safer alternative to smoking.
India is home to 12% of the world’s smokers equating to the death of 1 million smokers per year from lit tobacco-related diseases.
Dr Farsalinos says it’s worrying just how many in the Indian health world are anti-e-cigarettes adding:
The government’s rigidity is also coupled with unfounded scepticism within the medical community with respect to ENDS.
It is worrisome that sometimes prejudice and predisposition prevails over the unbiased review of the exhaustive literature on ENDS which overwhelmingly suppose the strong risk reduction associated with ENDS use as smoking substitutes.
I was particularly concerned by claims from reputed doctors that ENDS are as harmful as cigarettes.
Nothing could be farther from the truth and the medical community should protect its reputation and respect their ultimate duty to provide reliable and balanced information about currently available evidence on ENDS (and any other medical subject in general).
Absolutely!
He also suggests banning e-cigarettes as harmful is ridiculous given lit tobacco will still be on sale adding:
ENDS and their potential impact should be viewed in relation to cigarettes, and when viewed as such, it is clear that there is no sense in outlawing ENDS when cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are legally available.
You could say the same thing for very many countries out there…
E-cigarette Sales Boom Forecast
Despite governments across the globe banning or threatening to ban vape products, market experts say the industry is expected to grow at a phenomenal rate.
Finacial website Business Wire reckons vape will hit a staggering $41.7 billion globally by 2024 – despite the USA inching towards an all-out or limited ban.
The UK, France and Russia are currently the world’s largest vaping countries and as more and more positive scientific reports on the safer aspects of vaping are known, more countries are expected to follow.
Finance experts have run the numbers and reckon African and Asia-Pacific regions, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, India, South Africa, and interestingly enough Australia, will all adopt e-cigarettes and see huge rises in numbers.
Good news, however, larger countries currently operating a total ban such as Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil, and Singapore really need to remove the bans for the health of their nation.
Illicit THC Cartridges To Blame NOT Vaping
Just a very quick word on the cluster of lung illnesses currently being reported across America.
The media would have you believe it’s down to vaping – it isn’t.
The common denominator is believed to be street bought cartridges containing THC – the active ingredient in cannabis – the bit that gets you high.
Please note ‘street bought’ as in off the black market or from unlicensed street vendors.
No doubt when the current crop of anti-vape scare stories stop and the lab results come in the media won’t report that 😉
Let’s hope the cops get this dangerous stuff off the streets and folks stop buying such crap.
And sadly I guess this will become a recurring problem should the FDA bring in a total clampdown on vape products.
Wotofo Buy Out!
Wotofo is one of the better ‘mass market’ vaping brands out there and has now bought out another extremely popular company.
Wotofo now owns OFRF makers of the hugely successful Gear RTA, nexMesh Coil and nexMesh sub-ohm tanks.
Wotofo CEO Sky Zhang said:
The OFRF team are world-class and are passionate about the same things we are – creating the best vape and flavor experience.
By combining our teams and engineering and design talents we can now accelerate the development of our vaping technology to deliver the next generation of world-leading vaping products.
Chris Hopkins, co-founder and CEO of OFRF said:
Wotofo is the perfect fit for us.
They have some of the world’s best vape engineering and manufacturing talent so combining our teams just makes sense. We are united by a common culture based on a passion for innovating and driving the consumer experience.
For the past 6 months the OFRF team has been developing coils and hardware specifically designed for use with CBD products and this will now be the main focus.
and finally…Not My Fag Says Cabbie!
A Liverpool taxi driver didn’t think it was fair when he was fined £600 for allegedly dropping a cigarette butt.
Cabbie Chris Jones was accused of dropping a lit cig despite showing the enforcement officer he was vaping!
He appealed the decision and this week had his case overturned or should that be stubbed out!
He told his local newspaper:
He knew it was an e-cigarette I had been smoking – he just wanted to get his bonus.
And the judge agreed leaving Chris £600 better off to spend on more vape gear 😉
More vape news on Sunday!
