Crime Writers On...2 Sep 2024

Backfired: The Vaping Wars

A pair of Stanford students turned their senior project on making a new kind of clean e-cigarette into the multi-billion dollar company known as JUUL. But a product envisioned as a way to give adults an alternative to smoking soon contributed to a new epidemic of teens getting hooked on nicotine.

Though public outrage, bad press, and legislative action has largely gutted JUUL’s market share, new vape products have taken its place - many with dubious quality and questionable ingredients. And while advocates and regulators continue their fight against sales to minors, one controversial question remains unanswered: is vaping actually safer than smoking cigarettes?

From Prologue Projects and exclusively on Audible, “Backfired: The Vaping Wars” chronicles the rise and fall - and rebirth - of a multi-billion dollar industry laser focused on satisfying customers’ nicotine cravings. Hosts Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes go beyond JUUL’s cautionary tale and explore the current marketplace. It features an extended interview with JUUL founder James Monsees. It also follows Neyfakh’s own struggle with vaping and his quest to learn what the early science actually says about the hazards of the product.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BACKFIRED: THE VAPING WARS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL NINE MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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