Controversial e-cigarettes ‘aimed at teens’ to be sold in 1,400 Sainsbury’s stores
Sainsbury's will start selling the controversial Juul e-cigarettes later this month but the company has come under fire for seemingly appealing to youngsters
THE firm behind the controversial “iPhone of e-cigarettes” which are said to be “aimed at teens” has struck a deal to supply all of Sainsbury’s stores.
San Francisco-based vaping giant Juul, which has 70 percent of the e-cigarette market in the US, will supply all 1,400 of the supermarket’s outlets from November 4.
Juul managing director Dan Thomson said the deal was “a ringing endorsement for our product from a major UK supermarket”.
However the company has come under the spotlight lately over sales of vaping products to youths.
A report by Tobacco Control published this week said Juul use was much higher among young people.
The e-cigarettes industry is also currently being investigated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“We will continue to monitor youth use but the evidence so far from our surveys is that vaping by under-18s is very rare and almost entirely confined to those who are already smokers.”
Mr Thomson said: “Our mission is to improve the lives of millions of British smokers… [The deal] will allow us to reach a wider audience of smokers, to help them to switch.
"We are an independent company that does not sell tobacco products and is not affiliated with Big Tobacco... We impose strict age verification procedures to ensure that our product only gets into the hands of current adult smokers.”
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told The Sun: “We’re expanding our vaping range to ensure we’re offering customers choice and value.”