Juul Will Be Off The Shelves In Five European Countries By The End Of The Year
The once popular vaping company Juul has been struggling from low sales and tight legal regulations within the past year. As a result, it is expected that these products will be off the shelves entirely in five European companies by the end of the year. These countries include Austria, Belgium, Portugal, France, and Spain, according to BuzzFeed News.
The San Francisco, California-based company once had astronomical sales, easily landing itself a spot as one of the most successful and well known companies in the vaping industry. They are now expected to cut down their 3,000 person staff by about one-third. As a result, hundreds of people will be out of work by the end of the year.
While the vaping company is ending sales in these five countries, Juul products will still be offered in other European countries, including Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, and the U.K.
Despite rumors that Juul’s cutback in sales is related to the coronavirus pandemic, employees of the company claim this is not the case. Rather, the reason is reportedly because the company has been struggling with low profits for months.
Juul sales across Europe were extremely low in 2019. It’s estimated that the company brought in around $107 million in sales last year from Europe and the Middle East. This is dramatically below their intended goal of $600 million.
The European Union has also established much stricter laws regarding the sales of e-cigarettes in recent years, further causing the vaping industry to suffer. In Europe, the most nicotine that is allowed per e-cigarette is 20 milligrams per milliliter of fluid. Juul pods are extremely high in nicotine, containing approximately 59 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter, around as much nicotine that exists in an entire pack of cigarettes. Meanwhile, in the U.S. there is not a nicotine limit law like this.
While the U.S. has seen an increase in teen vaping as a result of Juul, researchers claim this is not the case in Europe.
“No EU country has experienced the rise in popularity of e-cigarettes among youth that has been observed in the US,” said Filippos Filippidis, a public health researcher at Imperial College London.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, vaping laws have become stricter in the U.S. as well. While those 18 years old and up used to be able to purchase nicotine products legally by showing their ID, that age has since been raised to 21 years old. This law includes not just vaping products, but cigars and cigarettes as well.
