{"id":17811,"date":"2025-12-14T14:18:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T17:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/14\/b-c-files-civil-claim-against-e-cigarette-giant-alleges-company-fuelled-youth-addiction\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T14:18:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T17:18:50","slug":"b-c-files-civil-claim-against-e-cigarette-giant-alleges-company-fuelled-youth-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/14\/b-c-files-civil-claim-against-e-cigarette-giant-alleges-company-fuelled-youth-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. files civil claim against e-cigarette giant, alleges company fuelled youth addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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B.C. files civil claim against e-cigarette giant, alleges company fuelled youth addiction<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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British Columbia\u00b7NewBritish Columbia has filed a civil claim against e-cigarette giant Juul Labs, saying the company fuelled youth nicotine addiction with \u201cdeceptive marketing practices.\u201d Juul Labs denies the province\u2019s allegations.San Francisco-based Juul denies the allegations, says it has adhered to all regulatory requirementsCBC News \u00b7 Posted: Dec 13, 2025 9:29 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.The B.C. government\u2019s new legislation allows the province to recover health-care costs from companies it says use \u201cdeceptive practices\u201d to sell vaping products. (Darryl Dyck\/The Canadian Press)British Columbia has filed a civil claim against e-cigarette giant Juul Labs, alleging the company developed highly addictive nicotine products and fuelled youth nicotine addiction with \u201cdeceptive marketing practices.\u201dAttorney General Niki Sharma announced Friday that the claim was filed in B.C. Supreme Court under the new Vaping Product Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act (VPRA).The legislation, modelled after similar laws used by government to sue tobacco and opioid companies, was passed earlier this month. It allows the government to seek damages from vaping companies for alleged public health harms.The lawsuit marks the first civil claim launched under the new law.\u201cIt will not be the last,\u201d Sharma said in a written statement.Other manufacturers and wholesalers are also under consideration for possible litigation, she added.\u201cB.C. has never shied away from standing up to powerful corporations when their actions put profits ahead of people\u2019s health,\u201d she said.The province alleges Juul was an early and significant contributor in the vaping market and engaged in deceptive marketing practices aimed at young people. Sharma accuses the company of prioritizing profits over health by promoting products that were highly addictive and appealing to youth, including through the use of nicotine salts and flavours.B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma says it\u2019s the first civil claim launched under the new Vaping Product Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)\u201cThe Province is taking action to hold Juul accountable for its role in fuelling an epidemic of youth addiction,\u201d Sharma said.None of the claims have been proven in court. Juul denies allegationsJuul Labs denied the province\u2019s allegations and said it is focused on helping adult smokers transition away from combustible cigarettes.\u201cJuul Labs is on a mission to transition the world\u2019s billion adults who smoke away from combustible cigarettes, eliminate their use, and combat underage use of our products,\u201d a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.The company said that earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the sale of its products in the United States. A woman walks by a Juul advertisement in a convenience store in Toronto on August 26, 2019. (Craig Chivers\/CBC)In June, the FDA authorized the marketing of five of the company\u2019s e-cigarette products after an \u201cextensive scientific review.\u201d The agency says the products met legal standards, including providing benefits to adults who currently smoke cigarettes and switch to \u201ca potentially less harmful product.\u201dThe San Francisco-based company says it has complied with or \u201cexceeded\u201d all Canadian regulatory requirements since launching in Canada in 2018, including restrictions on marketing and labelling under the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act.It claims to provide a \u201csmokefree\u201d alternative to the 3.5 million Canadian adults who still smoke, while also preventing those under age from using the product.Vaping use not harmless: BCCDCThe B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) says vaping continues to raise serious public health concerns, particularly for young people.\u201cVaping or using e-cigarettes is not harmless,\u201d the BCCDC\u2019s population and health promotion team said in a statement Friday, adding that e-cigarettes can also contain harmful chemicals and metals that can damage people\u2019s lungs.\u201cWhile it may be a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes for adults who already smoke, vaping can still lead to nicotine addiction.\u201dWATCH | New study looks at at long-term effects of vaping in Canada:New cross-Canada study to look at long-term effects of vaping on lungsA new study is looking at nicotine vaping and its long-term effects on our lungs. It\u2019s underway at six academic hospital centres across the country. Laura Struik is one of the researchers involved in B.C.\u2019s Okanagan and tells us about the study. The centre says rising e-cigarette use among youth and young adults is especially concerning because they are more susceptible to the harmful effects of nicotine on brain development.\u201cYoung people who vape are more likely to transition to smoking cigarettes.\u201dPremier David Eby says B.C. is the first in Canada to introduce a law that holds vape companies accountable.\u201cCompanies should pay for the harms that they\u2019ve caused by addicting a generation of young people,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big issue in our schools, big issue for parents.\u201dEby says B.C. was the first province to sue the tobacco companies as well.\u201cIt\u2019s a pattern\u2026all the provinces eventually signed on.\u201dA recent settlement of $32.5 billion by tobacco companies for Canada will give B.C. $3.6 billion over the next 18 years. Earlier this year, B.C. received the first payment of nearly $1 billion from that tobacco settlement. The province is also leading national class actions against consultancy firm McKinsey & Company, alleging the company advised opioid manufacturers and helped design advertising campaigns that led to the over-prescription of opioids. With files from Katie DeRosa and Shaurya Kshatri<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

B.C. files civil claim against e-cigarette giant, alleges company fuelled youth addiction British Columbia\u00b7NewBritish Columbia has filed a civil claim against e-cigarette giant Juul Labs, saying the company fuelled youth nicotine addiction with \u201cdeceptive marketing practices.\u201d Juul Labs denies the province\u2019s allegations.San Francisco-based Juul denies the allegations, says it has adhered to all regulatory requirementsCBC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,118,1],"tags":[120,116],"class_list":["post-17811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-british-columbia","category-indigenous","category-uncategorized","tag-british-columbia","tag-indigenous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}