Juul fired back at the FDA ban on its vapes, filing for an extension to sell its products on Tuesday and stating that the agency overlooked data it contends shows that its vapes have been a significant help for those looking to quit smoking. However, critics have argued that the vaping epidemic among children invalidates their response. James Frantz, a trial attorney at James Frantz Law Group representing Californians who claim to have been harmed by the company, joined Cheddar News to talk about what he sees as the benefits of banning Juul. "My beef is if Juul hadn't have targeted minors in middle school and high school, we wouldn't have all these young smokers now smoking Juul," he said. "And once Juul's not here, they're gonna be smoking cigarettes."

Closing Bell

Attorney Isn't Buying Juul Claim That FDA Mishandled Data in Banning Its E-Cigs

closing bell here on cheddar news. Now the FDA moved to ban Juul products and now Jewel Well, they're fighting back after appealing the decision. A federal court ruled yesterday that jewel can still sell its e cigarettes for now. And in court filings today, jules said the documents it submitted to the FDA to save its product from getting ripped off shelves were mishandled by the agency. Jules says the FDA overlooked more than 6000 pages of data that shows people's exposure to cigarette smoke was greatly reduced by the use of its products. Meanwhile, the biden administration proposed the rule today to restrict nicotine levels in tobacco products everywhere in the US. So joining me now is James France trial attorney for James France law Group, which offers legal aid to residents of California who claim their health has been impacted by Juul products. So, James, what is your reaction to jules attempt to challenge this order by the FDA and its claims that the agency overlooked all this data it offered. Okay, I'll have a couple of comments about that. Our law firm represents 768 school districts nationwide, which comprises approximately 50,000 schools and two million students. So a huge population of kids that are using Juul, approximately 400,000 of those students are using Juul. So my clients have a significant stake in this duel product and I think that uh, as far as whether the FDA misguidedly banned the product. I think that's absolutely incorrect. The harm the irreparable harm is taking place is against the schools and all their damages that they're incurring on a daily basis because of the chaos, the havoc that the jewel product is caused in the school system itself and to the health of all these students. So for Juul altria to say, oh poor us, we're being irreparably harm. While you need to look at the harm that you're causing And you're causing a great amount of harm to the communities in the United States of America throughout all the schools in the 34 states that we represent. So I don't think that the FDA got it wrong at all. They're very conscientious. I've dealt with them on many other cases. I've been in Congress and testified their by products safe Bad. They have the best experts in the world looking at these products. So jules making a last ditch in my view a last ditch effort to try to get it back on the market And I'm not sure what will happen, but I'm hopeful that this appeal will go down in flames. Really, I really am hopeful that it will. Now let me ask, let me ask you something. I want to show you a graphic to talk about something else, not only about the students and we'll get to the younger users later, but I just want to show you this. A 2021 survey of tobacco Found 28% of people who use vapes every day were able to quit smoking altogether And 45.5% stop smoking on a daily basis. While only 5.8% of those who did not use vapes were able to quit smoking altogether. So what do you think about vaping and jewel when it comes to getting people off smoking in general? Well, first of all, I'd like to know who sponsored the survey to determine the reliability of it because when we deal with some other products that were banned by the FDA, these companies would use surveys and studies that were all fraudulent and not based on science. So that's number one. Number two, there are many other ways that you can quit smoking without harming Children that now are using the product. My beef is if Jewel hadn't of targeted minors in middle school and high school, we wouldn't have all these young smokers now smoking jewel. And once Jewel's not here, they're gonna be smoking cigarettes. And frankly, there's good evidence that jewel is more harmful than cigarettes. The nicotine level and some of the pods is as much as two packs of cigarettes and one pot. So I I don't think that those statistics don't do anything for me. Go buy some Nicaragua or find another device to quit smoking or just quit smoking. But we don't need to have the kids being harmed because you need the Juul Vape right now. Jewel blew it by marketing to minors. Now we've got these out of the bottle. They got almost five million new smokers, They got what they wanted, Philip Morris. Altria got what they want and now they've got all these new smokers, they're gonna make a lot of money off of them. But they're, you know, it's terrible what they did now. It was the german network and the Health journal when it came to that study just for clarification as well. But jules said that their vapes, this is their argument on mine jules said that their vapes had less harmful ingredients that an FDA approved Vape made by Philip Morris. So the question is why Ban one and not the other. It depends on what data that was provided. And I would um I would believe that the data that jewel provided to them was not enough to show that it was safe. The FDA doesn't really nearly make decisions. We're gonna ban it because we think this is uh it's outweighed by the arms of the kids. They have evaluated this for over two years, two years, Juul Altria had the time to give them the information to show their product was not unreasonably unsafe to Children and other users. Now remember people that are using Juul are adults, they may be exposed to the same hazards. It causes lung disease and kids, why wouldn't do that to adults? It causes cognitive impairment and it certainly causes addiction. So I don't know that it's such a great product to use to quit smoking and frankly now in jewels court filings. They said the FDA decision on jewel was influenced by political pressure from lawmakers. While the FDA says the decision was based solely on scientific data. Do you agree with one or the other? I absolutely disagree about political pressure. If anyone was putting political pressure on the FDA would have been Juul and altria, they have the money to do it. Understood the FDA is looking at the harm to the Children. They're listening to the school districts. They're listening to the facts. The evidence from physicians, from neurologists, from pulmonologist nationwide that are telling them there's lung disease going on with these kids right now there's cognitive impairment, there's addiction. So that's what they're looking at. So for jewel to say, oh there's some political that is a hokey pocus argument. I don't I don't agree with that at all. Alright, James. Now let me ask you, do you think the jewel band will stop kids from vaping or not have much of effects because there are other vaping options out there. Jewel, from what I understand is the predominant vaping device. The predominant pod is the jewel pod and the vaping device. So the fact that it won't be around in my view and our view will will will dissuade Children and youth from using those products altogether. I believe if they're not available are readily available and it may be that all the other vaping devices outside of jewel and pods will be banned as well. Right now. It's an epidemic in the schools. The schools are districts are telling us it's terrible how much money it's costing them to curtail this in schools, all the added staff and all the rest of it and the kids are getting harmed. I mean it's so clear. So not only are the kids in your, what you're saying getting harmed, but I also want to talk about the the addiction level. Because what do you think about biden's maximum nicotine level proposal for tobacco products sold in the U. S. Do you think that'll have any effect on smokers? Either regular smokers or just hobby smokers? I think it's a great idea because it's obvious that what the ramification will be, they will be less addicted when they smoke, it would be easier to quit, right? It's pretty clear. So that's a great idea. And without banning cigarettes altogether and they're not going to do that. We know that the cigarette lobby has that one wired but they're not if they reduce the nicotine level, it will curtail smoking. But you know the cigarette companies in Juul Altria are not gonna like that because they're going to sell less product notwithstanding the harm they cause James France, Trial attorney for France law group James. I love your passion. I appreciate you coming on the show and thank you for sharing your expertise