Louisiana Lawmakers Take Flavor Out of Vaping
Baton Rouge, capital of Louisiana (Credit: Fang)
In the U.S. state of Louisiana, the House Judiciary Committee voted 7-3 Thursday to advance a bill prohibiting flavored nicotine-based e-liquid products.
House Bill 179, was authored by Rep. William Wheat who is concerned with the rising use of vapor and tobacco products by younger people. He described it as being “in epidemic proportions.” Brian King, the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco center, recently said that there is currently no vaping “epidemic.“
Witnesses testified about the dangers of vaping. One witness was the mother of a Baton Rouge boy who died after using vapor and nicotine products, according to media reports.
According to Wheat, 52 percent of high school students have tried e-cigarettes — three times as many as in a study done in 2015.
The most recent data available from the Louisiana Department of Health’s 2019 youth tobacco survey found that 15 percent of middle school students and 32 percent of high school students currently vape. The trend of youth vaping has declined dramatically since 2019. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2022 only 14 percent of high schoolers vape nationally, according to the AP.
Wheat said a bill was passed in a prior session making it illegal for someone under 21 years old to buy tobacco and nicotine products. However, that has not stopped younger people from obtaining them.
He went on to say he was trying to “make sense of that and get things headed in a different direction.”
“HB 179 is not a perfect answer,” Wheat said. He added: “But it is our job to make the first step.”
