Lying in marketing is pretty common. Stickers on products that claim to be environmentally friendly may be misleading. If you read the fine print, you may learn those products actually use sulfates that destroy the environment. But companies wouldn’t lie about products that go into people’s bodies, right? Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. This is especially true in the nicotine and tobacco industries. In particular, JUUL lies in their advertisements saying that their products are “99% safer than cigarettes,” “totally safe” and “a safer alternative to smoking.” What’s even worse is that these flagrantly incorrect ads are being marketed to teenagers and placed in places younger children are exposed to. According to the New York Times, “The F.D.A. also said it was especially concerned that testimony before Congress indicated that company representatives had appeared at schools, telling students that its e-cigarettes or ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery systems) were safer than tobacco products. ‘Our concern is amplified by the epidemic rate of increase in youth use of ENDS products, including JUUL’s products, and evidence that ENDS products contribute to youth use of, and addiction to nicotine, to which youth are especially vulnerable,’ the agency wrote in the letter.” According to the New York Times, “The state of New York, where 34 people have become ill, said on Thursday that vaping samples from eight of its cases showed high levels of a compound called vitamin E acetate. Investigators there are focusing on the possibility that the oily substance might be playing a key role in the illness.” So far, there have been over 400 cases of illnesses related to vaping and Juuls, and five confirmed deaths. The company that makes these incorrectly labelled “modified tobacco products” are still claiming the products are safe even though they have not been thoroughly researched. An illness caused by vaping is causing flu and pneumonia-like symptoms and sending individuals to emergency rooms all over the country. One patient in Utah had to be hooked up to a machine that supplied oxygen directly to their bloodstream since their lungs had filled with fluid containing a mixture of adipose tissue and white blood cells due to the break down of the inner lining of the lungs caused by vaping. Vaping has become a major problem now, and not enough is known about it for people to claim that it is safe. Before companies make false claims about the safety of their products, they should be thoroughly researched. Remember, it was just a few decades ago that people didn’t realize just how bad smoking was.
