Trump Administration Proposes E-Cigarette Ban

After several mysterious vape-related illnesses, the Trump administration is trying to take a stand against e-cigarettes.

On September 11, the Trump administration said it would ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes, after hundreds of people have become sick as lung illnesses and teenage vaping continues to rise.

President Trump acknowledges there is an epidemic. The health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II, says the FDA would outline a plan removing flavored e-cigarettes and pods from the market. The ban would include mint and menthol, popular types of pods that manufacturers argue should not be considered flavors, and therefore allowed on markets.

The government has faced rising pressure from lawmakers, public health officials, parents and many others who are alarmed by the popularity of vaping among teens. With about 500 cases in over 30 states and six possible linked deaths, concerns and demands for a total ban of e-cigarette and cannabis vaping products have become louder and more numerous. In early September, Michigan became the first state to prohibit the sale of flavored vapes, with several states currently talking about following their lead.

Last year, the FDA began to feel pressure to prohibit e-cigarettes. The public began to accuse Juul Labs of deliberately targeting youth with the sale of flavored pods, such as mango and cucumber. The result was Juul Labs pulling back the shipping of these pods to thousands of retail locations across the U.S.

In a recent survey, five million minors, mostly high schoolers, reported they had recently used e-cigarettes. About one-fourth of the nation’s high school students reported vaping in the last 30 days, up 20 percent from last year.

“What we’ve seen has been, and it may be connected, a huge spiking of children’s utilization of mint and menthol e-cigarettes, which remain, by all manufacturers, available in retail stores,” Azar said.

Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, called the administration’s decision “historic.”

“President Trump’s announcement that the government will remove flavored e-cigarettes from the market is an extraordinary and necessary step. This is a public health crisis, and we cannot afford more delays in confronting it,” Myers said.

Harold Wimmer, president and chief executive of the American Lung Association, said the group had long advocated removal of products that appealed to teenagers.

“Flavors have been shown to initiate kids to tobacco use and a lifetime of addiction and tobacco-related death and disease. We are anxious to review all of the details of the administration’s plan,” Wimmer said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged people, especially nonsmokers and teenagers, not to vape at all. And the C.D.C. has even recommended that cigarette smokers trying to quit should consult a doctor rather than take up e-cigarettes.

Although the Trump Administration has not put anything into effect quite yet, the United States should expect to see changes to vaping both in state and nationwide laws.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/health/trump-vaping.html