Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed suit on Monday against e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL Labs for risking the health of Pennsylvanians’ and deceiving consumers.

The lawsuit states that Pennsylvania’s youth face a significant public health crisis with the epidemic in nicotine addiction caused by electronic cigarettes, driven in large part by a single product that “was developed and marketed to appeal to youth–the JUUL e-cigarette.” One quarter of Pennsylvania high school students have reported current use of e-cigarettes and more than one-in-ten middle school students reported use.

Shapiro claims that the creators of JUUL “utilized the playbook of Big Tobacco from the last century by cynically lying to, deceiving, and manipulating the American Public.”

Defendant leveraged tobacco industry marketing and design research to market JUUL to youth despite knowing about the unique vulnerability of youth to nicotine addiction. These tactics included promoting JUUL as a hip lifestyle product, heightening JUUL’s addictive potential, using sweet, fruity, chocolatey, and minty flavors that appeal to youth, and minimizing awareness and concern over its safety. JUUL’s creators found it acceptable for an entirely new generation of
Pennsylvania’s lawsuit follows an increase of vaping related illnesses that led to nearly 3,000 deaths in the US.