Michigan has become the first US state to ban flavoured e-liquids in an effort protect youth from using the products.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) said in an interview that she was forced to ban flavoured e-liquids as youth vaping had become a public emergency.
Whitmer said:
“My number one priority is keeping our kids safe and protecting the health of the people of Michigan”
Whitmer argued that vape companies use sweet flavours to get kids addicted to nicotine. However, she did not acknowledge the role flavours play in helping adult smokers switch from tobacco.
The ban, which effects online and retail sales, will last six months and could be extended for another six. Tobacco flavours will not be affected.
Meanwhile, state officials will develop regulations to ban flavoured products permanently.
The governor also ordered that the ban on e-cigarette advertising billboards be enforced. She is also cracking down on adverts that promote vaping as ‘safe’ or ‘healthy.’
In June, San Francisco became the first major US city to prohibit the sale of all vape products. The ban goes into effect next year.
Vaping has come under a sustained attack from the US media in the past week.
E-cigarettes have been linked to a number of cases of teens ending up in hospital with severe lung problems.
However, many of these cases have since been attributed to either THC or black market vape products.
Michelle Minton of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has written extensively about media and government attacks on vaping.
In a recent article published on the institutes website, she wrote:
“When the legal market fails to supply people with the products they want at the prices they want, illegal purveyors are always happy to step in. We have seen this before with alcohol, drugs, and now with vaporized marijuana.
“Even with nicotine e-cigarettes, still legal in most of the U.S., an underground market has emerged to supply consumers with the flavors that have been removed from the legal market.”
Header Image by lucas clarysse on Unsplash
