China stopped sales of JUUL products on its websites mere days after the products became available on JD.com and Tmall at a time when the U.S. government is focusing on JUUL effects on health.

JUUL Labs Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, launched sales of vaporizing tools and JUUL pods on China’s two biggest e-commerce websites between Sept. 9 and 13, but both sites have since pulled the ads. CNBC said neither JD.com Inc. nor Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Tmall provided comment on why the ads were pulled.

In China, state-owned China National Tobacco sells most of the country’s cigarettes. The World Health Organization says more than 300 million people in China are cigarette smokers, including 59 percent of men.

JUUL Effects on Health Prompt FDA Criminal Investigation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reportedly announced on Sept. 19 that the agency is conducting a criminal investigation into a severe lung illness related to vaping. According to Fox News, more than 500 people have been diagnosed with the rare illness and at least eight deaths have been linked to it.

The FDA’s tobacco director, Mitch Zeller, said the agency is desperate to find the chemical makeup of vaping products and how potentially illegal black market products are being produced and sold to consumers. He emphasized the agency is not looking to prosecute individuals who use such products, but is trying to find out what exactly is making people so seriously ill and find the supplier.

The CDC has confirmed 530 lung illnesses related to vaping as of Thursday, Sept. 19. People in 38 states and one U.S. territory have reported suffering from the lung condition. The CDC said in two-thirds of the ill population, the patients are between 18 and 34 years old. Nearly three-fourths are male.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported a man in his 40s from southern Missouri became the eighth person to die of the vaping-related lung illness on Sept. 19.

According to news reports, he began vaping in early May of this year and started to have mild respiratory issues weeks later. His condition deteriorated, which led to his initial hospitalization on Aug. 22. He was transferred to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis on Sept. 4. He was on life support during his entire stay at Mercy.

Doctors said they don’t know what the unidentified man inhaled, but he reportedly started vaping to combat chronic pain. Vaping juices that are sold in the general marketplace contain nicotine, but nothing that would treat pain. In some cases, people try vaping marijuana products to treat pain.

The family has not consented to an autopsy, but Missouri health department investigators went to the man’s house to look for vaping cartridges they could test. Nothing was found, but doctors suspect he was vaping something possibly oil-based to treat his pain.

During his stay in the hospital, lab tests on lung samples confirmed he was suffering from the mysterious vaping-related illness that has taken seven other lives in the country since the start of the summer.

The White House recently announced concerns over JUUL effects on health and said it plans to ban flavored e-cigarette products within the next year.

Join a Free JUUL E-Cigarette Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you or your child suffered seizures after vaping with a JUUL e-cigarette, you may benefit from participating in a free JUUL class action lawsuit investigation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented 
for informational purposes only.