Washington (AFP)

It took less than a dozen deaths to completely shake up the electronic cigarette industry in the United States. Juul, the undisputed market leader, changed hands on Wednesday and decided to keep a low profile in an attempt to secure his future.

Also the mega-merger attempt between the two world's leading tobacco companies - Altria and Philip Morris International - because of the uncertainty surrounding the future of vaping.

Juul, who has conquered three-quarters of the US e-cigarette market in a handful of years, has replaced his co-founder CEO with a veteran from Altria and has announced that he will suspend any publicity and government lobbying. .

Kevin Burns, the co-founder of the San Francisco-based company, which has had amazing success thanks to his "designer" cigarette-like cigarettes and scented nicotine "juices", has been replaced by KC Crosthwaite.

He was previously responsible for diversification to e-cigarette at Altria, which made a huge bet on the future of Juul by investing $ 13 billion at the end of 2018.

- Chain reaction -

The vaping epidemic that hit young Americans had already worried parents and pushed the authorities to look into the matter last year.

But an epidemic of pulmonary diseases linked to vaping appeared this summer precipitated things. It now affects more than 500 people and has killed nine, according to the latest assessment.

The authorities are very cautious about the possible cause of the diseases, be it a brand, a product, or a source but the emotion is generalized and the measures taken are abundant, in a country which however does not manage to legislate on the firearms that cause tens of thousands of deaths each year.

On Tuesday, Massachusetts went farthest among the federated states by announcing the total ban on the sale of vaping products for a period of four months. The city of San Francisco had taken the first similar step. Michigan and New York have suspended only flavored products as the city of Los Angeles.

On September 11, Donald Trump had seized the subject and took a similar step on flavored electronic cigarettes in the coming months, at the federal level.

These scattered initiatives are the worst case scenario for the vaping industry, who prefer to have to deal with a regulatory framework that applies to everyone and that does not change constantly.

- "Erosion of trust" -

The new CEO of Juul summed up the problem well. "I have long believed in a future where adult smokers massively choose alternative products like Juul".

"Unfortunately today, the future is threatened because of too many young users and the erosion of confidence in our industry," he added.

He promised to work with the regulator, elected officials and all stakeholders to "win the trust of the companies in which we operate".

Juul had already put in place important safety devices to prevent young people under 21 from buying his products. He had also completely changed his communication strategy to only promote his product as an alternative to smoking for adult smokers.

Wednesday, Juul went even further to try to get in the good graces of the public and federal authorities, who are investigating its marketing practices.

It has suspended all advertising for its products and put an end to all lobbying efforts to try to influence future regulations. He also pledged to "fully support and respect the new regulations" when it is in place.

Altria has invested $ 13 billion in Juul to diversify its business, with conventional cigarette sales in the United States steadily declining from 5% to 6% in 2019.

Juul now has thousands of employees and operates in some 20 countries.

- Warm tobacco -

After ending their attempt to remarry, Altria and Philip Morris International (PMI) - who had separated 10 years ago - decided to focus together on the development of IQOS, an electronic cigarette that works with real tobacco but without combustion.

According to PMI CEO André Calantzopoulos, IQOS is the only product in its category already licensed by the federal health authority.

"The global data collected in four years of use shows that IQOS does not particularly attract young people or non-smokers," he said.

PMI estimates that as of June 30, 2019, eight million adult smokers had switched to IQOS, which is available in 48 markets.

© 2019 AFP