Fayette school board votes to sue Juul, other companies over youth vaping ‘epidemic’

The Fayette County Public Schools board on Thursday night unanimously voted to file a lawsuit against Juul and other e-cigarette manufacturers for causing a youth vaping “epidemic” that is leading to addiction and health issues for Lexington students.

“Fayette County Public Schools is recognized as a leader on issues of health, safety and wellness, not only in the Commonwealth, but also across the nation,” said Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Manny Caulk. “It is wholly appropriate that we continue to lead in this space.”

On Dec. 2, Bullitt County Public Schools became the first school system in Kentucky to file such a lawsuit. Attorney Ron Johnson of Louisville, who filed that lawsuit, said he expected to file Fayette County’s by Monday.

After meeting with board members in closed session, Johnson said he would file the lawsuit in federal court in Lexington and then it would be transferred to federal court in California.

“This is part of a multi-district litigation that has already been established by the federal courts ... it will be one of several other cases that other school districts around the country have filed,” said Johnson.

He said the lawsuits were important “because these companies have insidiously marketed these products to children and by doing so they’ve gotten a whole new generation of children addicted to nicotine.”

Fayette school officials have been working to curb student vaping for at least a year. The national increase in teenagers smoking e-cigarettes has been a problem at Lexington high schools, with all tobacco disciplinary incidents in the district increasing by 310 percent between 2015-16 and 2018-19 and adults struggling to address the health concerns.

“The targeting of school children by these companies, both with their products and marketing campaigns, has led to an unprecedented rise in nicotine addiction among our young people,” said Caulk. “As a champion for children, I was compelled to ask our school board to take this extraordinary step of filing a lawsuit to stop the insidious marketing practices of these companies and demand resources to fight this epidemic.”

Bullitt’s Board of Education unanimously voted on Nov. 25 to give that district permission to file the suit against “manufacturers, distributors and sellers” of e-cigs and vaping products, specifically California-based JUUL Labs, Inc., the nation’s largest e-cig manufacturer.

Bullitt County school officials said those companies were enticing young people into inadvertent nicotine addiction, and forcing the school district to dedicate a disproportionate amount of time and money to support those students.

As of Dec. 2 in Kentucky, 38 cases of potential vaping-related illnesses were being investigated by the CDC. Five cases have been confirmed, and 10 are considered probable. Of the five confirmed cases, one involved a boy under the age of 18.

The use or possession of e-cigarettes is prohibited by the Fayette student code of conduct and is subject to the same action as is taken when any other tobacco product is used.

The district’s first approach includes confiscating the contraband and offering smoking cessation programs. An out of school suspension is for more serious offenses, such as trafficking or repeated infractions, officials said Thursday.

The district does not keep separate data on e-cigarette incidents among students. But all tobacco incidents increased from 98 incidents with 11 out-of-school suspensions in 2015-16 to 402 events with 50 resulting in out-of-school suspensions in 2018-2019.

So far in the 2019-20 year, there have been 116 tobacco-related disciplinary incidents, with six out-of-school suspensions.

Board member Tyler Murphy, a teacher at Boyle County High School, said on social media Thursday night that he was proud “to support this with our board team.

“As a teacher, I see the scourge of these products and their negative impact on our children all too often. We must take a stand against manufacturers who are taking advantage of our youth,” he said.

There has been a dramatic increase in the use of vaping products by children and teens in the United States, Fayette school officials said.

Preliminary results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual National Youth Tobacco Survey – publicly released in September – showed that 27.5% of teenagers reported using an e-cigarette in the previous 30 days, up from 20.8% in 2018.

In the resolution they approved, Fayette board members said district employees invest a significant amount of time and resources confiscating vape-related contraband and counseling students.

“As advocates for our students, Fayette County Public Schools is compelled to take legal action against manufactures, distributors and sellers of electronic cigarettes and vaping products in order to protect the health, welfare and education of our students,” the resolution said.

This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 9:15 PM.