E-cigarette companies fined over false claims about toxic chemicals
Australia’s competition regulator has become the first in the world to successfully take legal action against e-cigarette companies for making false and misleading claims about the carcinogens in their products.
We have no long-term data on e-cigarettes to show that they’ve helped people quit for good or that they’re safe
Federal court Justice John Gilmour ordered three online e-cigarette retailers – the Joystick Company, Social-Lites and Elusion Australia – and their individual CEOs and directors to pay penalties for breaching consumer law.
In separate proceedings the court found each of the companies had claimed their products did not contain harmful carcinogens and toxins, when this was not the case. It also found that the directors of Joystick and Elusion and the CEO of Social-Lites, were knowingly involved in this deception.
Joystick and Social-Lites have been ordered to pay a penalty of A$50,000 (US$37,000), while the company heads have been ordered to pay A$10,000. Elusion has been ordered to pay A$40,000 and its director A$15,000.
All three retailers admitted the conduct alleged by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and consented to the amounts of the penalties.
According to the case brought by the ACCC, statements on the company websites led consumers to believe they would not be exposed to the harmful chemicals found in ordinary cigarettes.
However independent testing commissioned by the ACCC identified the presence of carcinogens and toxic chemicals, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein in the products of Joystick, Social-Lites and Elusion, as well as acetone in Social-Lites’ products.
Formaldehyde is classified by the World Health Organisation International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 1A carcinogen, meaning it causes cancer, while acetaldehyde is classified as possibly carcinogenic. Acrolein is classified as a toxic chemical.