Wisconsin joins multistate investigation of e-cigarette maker JUUL Labs

Wisconsin has joined a multistate investigation of leading e-cigarette maker JUUL Labs, state Attorney Josh Kaul announced Tuesday.   

The probe is focused on JUUL's marketing and sales practices, including allegations that the company has targeted youth; nicotine content claims; and claims about the safety and effectiveness of its vaping product as a smoking cessation device.

"E-cigarette use has increased dramatically among young people in Wisconsin and nationally, and we must act to reduce it," Kaul said in a statement. "JUUL has been the driving force behind this increase, and we are working with a bipartisan group of AGs to investigate JUUL's sales and marketing practices."

In 2014, just under 8% of Wisconsin high school students were using e-cigarettes, but by 2018 that number had jumped to 20% or one out of every five students, state officials say.

Between 2014 and 2018, use by Wisconsin middle school students jumped 272%, state Department of Health Services statistics show.

A similar surge in youth vaping has occurred nationwide.

In recent months, federal and state officials have been investigating a nationwide outbreak of lung illnesses linked to vaping. As of Feb. 4, 2,758 people have been hospitalized with vaping-linked lung illnesses across 50 states, the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal officials say 64 deaths have been confirmed.

Most of those lung illness cases have been linked to vaping products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, federal officials say. And vitamin E acetate, an ingredient frequently added to bootleg THC vaping products, has been found to be a "very strong culprit" in the outbreak of lung injuries, according to the CDC.

Children's Wisconsin doctors helped uncover the nationwide outbreak after treating a series of teen patients this summer.

In July, Children’s Wisconsin physicians held a news conference announcing that eight Wisconsin teens had been hospitalized after vaping. The doctors warned they were seeing previously healthy teens with sudden symptoms such as extreme cough, trouble breathing, fatigue, weight loss, vomiting and diarrhea. They urged other medical providers nationwide who saw similar cases to report them.

Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS or Facebook at facebook.com/mary.spicuzza.