E-cigarette giant Juul stops sales of fruity flavors when banning looms

Juul announced on Thursday that it will immediately suspend sales of the popular fruity e-cigarette flavors ahead of a Trump administration policy that is expected to remove all flavored e-cigarettes from the market.

Juul last year stopped selling its flavored e-cigarettes in stores amid pressures from the Food and Drug Administration. Customers could only get the flavors – cream, mango, fruit, cucumber – on its age-restricted website.

Trump administration officials said they would remove all flavored buns, including mint and menthol, leaving only tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes on the market. Juul said it will continue to sell angry and menthol nicotine pads in the meantime. The company said the new policy is effective immediately.

"We continue to review our policies and practices ahead of the FDA's taste guide and have not made any final decisions," Juul spokesman Austin Finan said in a statement. "We refrain from lobbying the administration with draft taste guidance and will fully support and abide by the final policy when it is effective."

In the midst of a youth gun epidemic and an outbreak of a deadly gun-related lung disease, last month the Trump administration said it was ready to remove all flavored e-cigarettes from the market to the FDA reviewing them and authorizing them to return to shelves. Administration officials said at the time that the plan will be released within weeks. They have not yet produced one.

Correction: This article was updated to correct that the Trump administration was asking to remove all flavors except tobacco from the market.