COLUMBUS, Ohio — Doctors and researchers have been raising a red flag about vaping products, like Juul, for years now.
In recent weeks the FDA launched an action plan to curb vaping use. But late Tuesday, the saga took another turn.
Last month the FDA ordered Juul off the market. One day later, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the government ban allowing the product to stay on shelves, for now.
Then Tuesday the FDA said it suspended the order, “pending further scientific review.”
A statement from Juul Labs following the initial FDA decision says in part, "we have provided sufficient information and data based on high-quality research to address all issues raised by the agency."
Juul argues its product is used as a way for smokers to transition away from traditional cigarettes.
Loren Wold, from The Ohio State University College of Medicine has published research on vaping's harmful effects on the heart and lungs.
"We need to invest in understanding what the health effects are of the use of these products, immediately,” he said. “Because for a long time, there just really wasn't no data to show what was happening to the users.”
He explained research has been done using mice and the data from those studies show health impacts on the heart and lungs are long-lasting. However he said we don’t have similar studies done in a clinical situation for adolescent youth, who he says make up the majority of vape device users.
“We just don't know what the long term and short term for that matter, health effects are in this very sensitive population,” he said.
Wold said the solution isn’t just banning one brand off the market. He’s concerned other brands will see the opportunity and we’ll see sales increase. And there’s also this:
"If they are totally taken off the market, my fear is that people will start making their own juices,” he said. “And I know this is actually something working in a college setting. I have students who will tell me, 'oh my friend sells those.'"
He said there also needs to be a crackdown on the marketing of all vape products and the education about harmful effects needs to be amped up.
The FDA said it's only suspending the order, not withdrawing it altogether. It's unclear how long its review process will take.