Case 1:20-cv-00393-LO-TCB Document 1058-6 Filed 02/25/22 Page 1 of 4 PageID# 29416
`Case 1:20-cv-00393-LO-TCB Document 1058-6 Filed 02/25/22 Page 1 of 4 PagelD# 29416
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`EXHIBIT 6
`EXHIBIT 6
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`Case 1:20-cv-00393-LO-TCB Document 1058-6 Filed 02/25/22 Page 2 of 4 PageID# 29417
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`BUSINESS
`Puff Bar Has Overtaken Juul as the Favorite E-
`Cigarette for Teens
`About 11% of high-school students said they used e-cigarettes; most prefer
`fruity flavors and disposable devices
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`New survey results could inform a pending decision on which e-cigarette products will be allowed to
`remain on the U.S. market.
`PHOTO: ERIK S. LESSER/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
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`Disposable vaporizers are now the most popular type of e-cigarette among middle- and high-school
`students, overtaking reusable devices like Juul, according to new federal data. And the most
`commonly used brand—Puff Bar—is one that has remained on the market despite an order by the
`Food and Drug Administration last year to halt its U.S. sales.
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`About 11% of U.S. high-school students—an estimated 1.7 million children—said they had used e-
`cigarettes at least once in the past 30 days. The data are based on a national survey conducted online
`between Jan. 18 and March 21.
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`Last year, about 20% of U.S. high-school students, or about three million, said they had used e-
`cigarettes at least once in the past 30 days. The annual study is conducted by the FDA and the U.S.
`Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said changes in methodology this year because of
`the pandemic made it difficult to compare with prior years.
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`The most commonly used flavors among young people were fruit, candy and desserts, mint and
`menthol, according to the survey. More than half of young e-cigarette users said they used disposable
`devices. Some 26% of high-school vapers said they used disposable brand Puff Bar, which was
`followed in popularity by Reynolds American Inc.’s refillable Vuse brand with 11%, Smok with 10%
`and Juul with 6%. Among middle-school e-cigarette users, 30% reported that their usual brand was
`Puff Bar.
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`“Youth usage of Vuse products is unacceptable, and we will continue investigating how youth are
`accessing our products,” a Reynolds spokeswoman said. Vuse is intended for adults and remains “an
`important option for those adult smokers seeking an alternative to cigarettes,” she said.
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`Juul Labs Inc. in 2018 landed in regulators’ crosshairs when its sleek, flash-drive-shaped vaporizers
`became a teen status symbol. It has been the most commonly used e-cigarette brand among U.S.
`high-schoolers for the past three years. Under pressure from regulators and facing investigations into
`its marketing practices, Juul halted most of its U.S. advertising, shut down its Facebook and Instagram
`accounts and stopped selling all of its flavors in the U.S. except for tobacco and menthol. It remains
`the top-selling e-cigarette brand in the U.S. but has lost market share to Vuse and others.
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`Joe Murillo, Juul’s chief regulatory officer, said that the company had undertaken a reset. “While
`millions of adult smokers have converted to our products from cigarettes, we will only be trusted to
`provide alternatives to adult smokers if we continue to combat underage use,” he said.
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`Puff Bar’s sales jumped in early 2020 when federal restrictions barred the sale of sweet and fruity e-
`cigarette refill pods like those of industry leader Juul Labs Inc. Because Puff Bar devices couldn’t be
`refilled, the FDA’s initial flavor restrictions didn’t apply to them. Underage vaping dropped after those
`restrictions were implemented, but disposable e-cigarette use among children and teens jumped.
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`In July of last year, the FDA ordered the company to halt its sales, saying its products hadn’t been
`authorized by the agency.
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`The brand stopped sales on its website but continued selling in retail stores with flavors such as
`Watermelon, Blue Razz and Lemon Ice. Puff Bar resumed sales on its website in February of this
`year, saying it had changed its ingredients and now used nicotine that wasn’t derived from tobacco.
`The change might allow it to sidestep the FDA.
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`The FDA since last year has been concerned about Puff Bar’s popularity among youth, an agency
`spokeswoman said. She added that the agency is considering how to address Puff Bar and a number
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`of other brands claiming that their products contain synthetic nicotine and therefore don’t fall under the
`FDA’s jurisdiction.
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`It isn’t clear who owns the brand. Puff Bar didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for
`comment.
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`This year’s survey was the first to be fully conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of the
`changes in the way the survey was conducted this year, the results aren’t comparable to findings from
`previous surveys. Students this year answered questions through an online survey from their
`classrooms, homes or other locations. Before the pandemic, the survey was conducted in person in
`school classrooms.
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`Health officials said a significant number of young people vaped this year despite the fact that many
`were learning remotely and might have had less access to e-cigarettes from friends or classmates.
`Some 2.8% of middle-school students, or an estimated 320,000, reported e-cigarette use in the past
`30 days.
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`“These data highlight the fact that flavored e-
`cigarettes are still extremely popular with kids,” said
`Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco
`Products.
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`The results could inform the FDA’s pending decisions
`on which e-cigarette products it will allow to remain
`on the U.S. market. Some lawmakers and public-
`health groups have called on the agency to ban all e-
`cigarette flavors other than tobacco.
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`Among the FDA’s decisions so far, the agency has
`ordered off the market more than a million flavored
`products—including vaping liquids with flavors such
`as apple crumble, cola and cinnamon toast cereal—
`saying the manufacturers hadn’t provided sufficient
`evidence that their products benefited adult smokers
`to an extent that outweighed their potential appeal to
`young people.
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`Write to Jennifer Maloney at jennifer.maloney@wsj.com
`
`https://www.wsj.com/articles/puff-bar-has-overtaken-juul-as-the-favorite-e-cigarette-for-teens-
`11633021209
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