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  • New York Bans Flavored Vape Products  

    New York Bans Flavored Vape Products  

    New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says that flavored vaping products, which range from cotton candy to fruit flavors, target teens.

    In hopes of stemming the use of vape products among high schoolers, New York State has banned the sale of flavored e-cigarettes on Wednesday (Sept. 18). 

    The ban, which takes effect immediately, makes it illegal to sell vapes that have flavors other than tobacco or menthol. All other flavors need to be removed from stores within two weeks, Time reported. 

    Targeting Teens

    In New York, 27% of high schoolers and 40% of high school seniors use e-cigarettes. Flavored products, which range from cotton candy to fruit flavors, target teens, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday, when he proposed the ban. 

    He said, “These are obviously targeted to young people and highly effective at targeting young people.”

    The state Public Health and Health Planning Council approved the ban on Wednesday. 

    Regulating Vaping

    Lawmakers across the country are scrambling to regulate use of vapes, especially among teenagers. Although sale of e-cigarettes is limited to people 18 and older, the use of vapes among high school students has skyrocketed.

    Officials say this is driven by the promotion of flavored products. With a recent spate of lung disease, and several deaths, linked to vape use, officials have become even more concerned. 

    Last week the Trump administration announced that it had plans to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. 

    Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement, “The Trump administration is making it clear that we intend to clear the market of flavored e-cigarettes to reverse the deeply concerning epidemic of youth e-cigarette use that is impacting children, families, schools and communities.”

    Prior to that, on September 3, Michigan became the first state to ban the sale of flavored vape products, but the new policy has yet to take effect. “My number one priority is keeping our kids safe and protecting the health of the people of Michigan,” Governor Gretchen Whitmer said at the time. 

    Although there is clearly a public health concern, people who sell vapes say that lawmakers are overstepping. Some of them are even considering a legal challenge to the new bans, said Mike Kruger, who owns an Albany, New York vape shop. 

    “We are bypassing the legislative process,” Kruger said. “Vaping has been around for 12 years. And now this.”

    However, the e-cigarette manufacturer Juul, which dominates the vape market, has said that it will comply with regulations, and it recognizes the need to better control flavored products.

    “We strongly agree with the need for aggressive category-wide action on flavored products,” Juul spokesman Austin Finan said in response to the proposed federal ban. He noted that the company “will fully comply with local laws and the final FDA policy when effective.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Trump Administration To Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes

    Trump Administration To Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes

    There are currently more than 450 reported possible cases of lung illness associated with vaping in the US.

    The Trump administration is moving toward a ban of flavored e-cigarette products as reports of vaping-related illness and even a handful of fatalities have surfaced across the United States.

    “The Trump administration is making it clear that we intend to clear the market of flavored e-cigarettes to reverse the deeply concerning epidemic of youth e-cigarette use that is impacting children, families, schools and communities,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in a statement.

    18 With The Lungs Of A 70-Year-Old

    Increasingly, new cases of severe lung damage and lung disease related to vaping have emerged. The symptoms are severe. One 17-year-old woman in Texas came down with a fever and “pneumonia in both lungs,” forcing her on life support. She had vaped for two years in lieu of smoking cigarettes, her mother told Fox4News.com.

    Another 18-year-old man from Illinois was hospitalized in late August after falling ill with “nonstop” vomiting. A review of his lungs revealed “the full damage.” Now his lungs resemble those of a 70-year-old person, he was told. He had vaped both nicotine and THC cartridges for more than a year and a half.

    These are just two examples of the slew of reports coming in.

    Tobacco-Flavored Products Are Okay…For Now

    Azar said that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently finalizing a compliance policy to remove flavored e-cigarettes, including mint and menthol, from the market. Tobacco-flavored products will not be affected, unless “we find that children start surging into tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes or if we find marketing practices that target children and try to attract them into tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes,” said Azar. In that case, “we will engage in enforcement actions there also.”

    This month, Michigan became the first state to ban flavored e-cigarette products. Boulder, Colorado did the same this summer as well as San Francisco, which became the first city in the U.S. to ban the sale and distribution of all e-cigarette products.

    As of Thursday morning, CNN reported a sixth person dead, a woman from Kansas, from lung disease related to vaping. The other fatalities were reported in California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Oregon.

    As of last Friday, there were more than 450 reported possible cases of lung illness associated with vaping across 33 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

    “The tremendous progress we’ve made in reducing youth tobacco use in the U.S. is jeopardized by this onslaught of e-cigarette use,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless, MD. “Nobody wants to see children becoming addicted to nicotine, and we will continue to use the full scope of our regulatory authority thoughtfully and thoroughly to tackle this mounting public health crisis.”

    View the original article at thefix.com