The vaping industry is fighting a series of legal battles that show no signs of stopping, continuously settling in court for massive payouts before any real legal charges are brought up. According to a Halo Smart Sensor report, Juul paid almost half a billion to NY and CA each after the states filed lawsuits for advertising to teens. Juul, holding over 75% control over the E-cigarette market, could choose to settle for that money. 

 The vape industry has started a gradual decrease in revenue, reported by the FDA, dropping from 2.13 million teens to 1.63 million teens in the United States who vape. It is unclear whether this drop was caused by teaching about the risks, less social pressure, or a loss of interest. 

Regardless of the reason, vape companies are looking to gain customers. In a hard push for new users, companies are introducing more flavors appealing to youth like peach, strawberry, and cookies and milk. The fourth generation vaporizers are colorful, compared to the previous plain design of the past generation of vapes. 

Back in 2016, President Barack Obama signed an FDA guideline that forced all E-cigarette companies to apply to the government when a new product is to be released. The classical tobacco industry has been under this law since 2009.

With this in mind, the courts can deny new flavors from being added to the market. The court’s reasons for this decision are that vapes were originally advertised as a “safe alternative” to smoking, and shouldn’t be flavored in an attractive sweet manner, more appealing to younger consumers, when classic cigarettes aren’t. 

The FDA has only approved a handful of flavors, all of which are available as cigarettes. The agency has not banned flavoring entirely, so manufacturers can still add flavor to these tobacco-based products. The vape industry has climbed up the court to challenge the FDA’s rejections of new flavors. The FDA’s defense relies on flavors targeting younger groups of people. 

With the vaping industry still arising , research on the impacts of vaping are still being conducted. Cheryl Wilson, social worker, pointed out some important health risks even when not containing nicotine.

 “We still don’t know that that’s safe, because there are chemicals involved in that. That’s flavored oil going into your lungs, which can’t be good. It’s easy to be a kid smoking bubble gum, grapes, and oranges to nicotine or marijuana,” Wilson said.