Tag: flavor ban

Washington DC’s 2nd Reading for Flavor Ban Tomorrow
The District of Columbia’s City Council will have the the second reading on its bill to ban flavored vaping products tomorrow. If the resolution passes, it will be sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s desk to be signed into law. The mayor has indicated that she intends to sign the bill.
Credit: Makcoud
This ban would apply across the full spectrum of tobacco products, including combustible, non-combustible and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). Notably, the Council skipped holding a public hearing on the bill, which is a departure from governing body’s standard processes.
The bill includes a provision that allows the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute suspected violations of the ban as well as fines associated with the sale of flavored products. The Council Office on Racial Equity reviewed the bill and determined that while it “has the potential to advance racial equity by improving health outcomes, enforcement of the bill has the potential to exacerbate racial inequity in economic and social justice outcomes.”
A recent study showed that after San Francisco banned all flavored tobacco products there was a significant increase in youth use of combustible cigarettes compared to cities without flavor bans. The Council voted 9-3-1 during the bill’s first reading during its June 15 legislative session. Bars and restaurants that offer hookah will be exempt.
June 28, 2021
Health Canada: Flavor Ban Could Boost Smoking

Photo: jedsadabodin
Health Canada has made a “startling admission” that its recent policy to ban the sale of flavored vapor products could contribute to a rise in cigarette consumption, reports Filter, a publication owned and operated by The Influence Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for rational and compassionate approaches to drug use, drug policy and human rights.
Into its regulatory impact analysis statement on the intended flavor ban, Health Canada acknowledges that its legislation could lead to an increase in smoking, according to Filter.
“It is anticipated that some dual users who currently use flavored vaping products would not substitute their purchases with tobacco[-flavored] and mint/menthol-flavored vaping products. They would choose to purchase more cigarettes,” the statement reads.
“The statement is very direct. It’s basically saying, ‘We’re Health Canada, and we’re going to do something that kills Canadians,’” said David Sweanor, an industry expert and chair of the Advisory Board for the Centre for Health, Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa.

“The statement is very direct. It’s basically saying, ‘We’re Health Canada, and we’re going to do something that kills Canadians.”
David Sweanor, chair of the Advisory Board for the Centre for Health, Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa
Matt Culley, a board member of the U.S.-based CASAA, a consumer advocacy nonprofit that promotes smoke-free alternatives to combustible tobacco, said, “The fact that a government can brazenly admit their policy will lead to more smoking and death is wild. It really goes to show how demonized vaping remains.”
The policy appears to be at odds with Canada’s intention to reduce its smoking rate to 5 percent by 2030.
Our policies have not aligned with the country’s goals,” Darryl Tempest, the executive director and chief advocate of the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA), told Filter. “It is not a public policy that relates to adults or harm reduction or small businesses.”
The country amended its tobacco laws to include vaping products in 2018, and some Canadian provinces have already enacted their own flavor bans.
June 27, 2021
Lawmakers Press Acting FDA Chief on Flavored Vapes
The acting US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock on Wednesday was pushed by members of the U.S. Congress to ban all flavored e-cigarettes, saying the sweet and fruity flavors are attracting too many children and teens.
Credit: Kurgu 128
However, Woodcock would not assure lawmakers on whether the agency plans to ban or otherwise limit the sale of flavored vapes later this year. The agency has until September 9 to decide. When pressed multiple times over the course of the hearing, Woodcock would not commit to denying premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) for flavored vaping products at this time, according to CNN.
“While I can’t predict the future, I think that might be likely. We also would have to, regardless, limit advertising and sales in targeting children and other practices,” Woodcock said, adding that the FDA will look at the scientific evidence. “As I have said already, I can’t prejudge the scientific,” she said, before being cut off.
During the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing, Rep. Katie Porter asked if the FDA banned all flavored e-cigarettes, would less kids continue to vape, among those who have started. “If kids have the choices of any tasty flavor, they’re going to go for it, and I’m speaking to you from experience here as a mom of three school-aged kids,” Porter said. “If there were no watermelon snow cones, my kids are happy with blue raspberry. No blue raspberry? They’ll take mango. No mango? They’ll take strawberry. But if their only choice was a brown, tobacco-flavored snow cone, they are going to walk away.”
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, said after the hearing he felt Woodcock would do as Democratic members of Congress wished. “I am more optimistic than ever that Commissioner Woodcock will do the right thing and deny the premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA) for all flavored vaping products, and all high-nicotine vaping products,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement.
Woodcock also suggested at the hearing that e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. played a significant role in creating a youth vaping epidemic. When asked if Juul was “the e-cigarette company most responsible for creating this epidemic.” Woodcock replied that it does “appear” to be the case.
Woodcock would also not commit to removing menthol-flavored e-cigarette products from the US market, even though she said she believes menthol flavoring could heighten the effects of nicotine.
“I was so pleased that you banned menthol combustible cigarettes, which was the right thing to do,” Krishnamoorthi said during the hearing. “Will you pledge to clear the market of menthol e-cigarettes?”
“I can’t prejudge our decisions,” Woodcock replied.
June 25, 2021
Senator Durbin Blasts FDA Over E-Cigarette Oversight
U.S Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin yesterday testified at a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy hearing that focused on youth vaping and the role of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in regulating e-cigarette products.
During his testimony, Durbin blasted the shortcomings of the FDA’s tobacco oversight over the last several years and urged the agency to rectify its missteps and put public health and the safety of children at the forefront of its mission, according to a press release.
“Flavored e-cigarette products have exploded in popularity among our kids—nearly four million now vaping, a 361 percent increase in just eight years when only 800,000 kids were vaping,” Durbin said. “Who is the cop on the beat to whom we entrust our children? It’s the Food and Drug Administration. And this agency has been timid and reluctant for way too long.”
All e-cigarette manufacturers were required to submit Premarket Tobacco Product Applications (PMTAs) to FDA by September 9, 2020, in order to legally stay on the market. FDA is now evaluating those applications based upon a public health framework and is required to complete review by September 9, 2021. FDA’s decisions on the PMTA applications will determine the course of the youth vaping epidemic.
In his testimony, Durbin urged the FDA to finally apply the public health standard that Congress passed in 2009 under the Tobacco Control Act and evaluate whether a product can stay on the market if it is, “appropriate for the protection of public health.” Durbin said he feared the FDA will over-value the unproven potential benefit of cessation for adult smokers, while under-valuing the clear evidence and experience we’ve had over the past several years on how flavored products hook kids.
“Only four percent of adults use e-cigarettes [compared] to 20 percent of high-school students. Kids who never would have picked up a tobacco product are vaping. It’s simple: any product with a history of increasing youth use must be rejected by FDA—especially flavored products that we know hooks the kids. This is the Super Bowl for the FDA’s tobacco effort and I’m afraid they aren’t ready for primetime. I hope they prove me wrong,” Durbin said.
Durbin went on to describe how despite promises from the Trump Administration to crack down on kid-friendly e-cigarette flavors, the FDA still left loopholes that have been exploited by the vaping industry to continue to hook kids onto new and illegal products.
“The result? Kids migrated…to the products that remained unregulated on the market: menthol flavored e-cigarettes and disposable vaping products. The use of disposable e-cigarettes… which were exempted from FDA’s January 2020 action, increased 1,000 percent last year. Make no mistake: kids get it. If we don’t take this seriously they will find those loopholes continue their addiction,” Durbin said. “And because FDA allowed menthol-flavored cartridges from JUUL and others to stay on the market, their use…increased from 11 percent to 62 percent of the [cartridge] market. Another failure by the FDA.”
June 24, 2021
House Committee to Question Acting FDA Leader Today
Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock is set to testify before a House subcommittee on Wednesday morning about youth vaping. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, chair of the panel, plans to press Woodcock to do more to stop kids from vaping and becoming addicted to nicotine.
“We still have a youth vaping epidemic, even amidst our pandemic,” said Krishnamoorthi, in a story for Yahoo Finance.
Krishnamoorthi has been an advocate for cracking down on the vaping industry over the past several years. In 2019, amid an outbreak of vaping-related illness linked to black market THC products not nicotine, there was bipartisan support for a crackdown — leading the Trump administration to issue a vaping flavor ban in an effort to curb teenage use.
The ban covered flavors that critics argued targeted children — like fruit, mint and candy flavors — but allowed menthol and tobacco flavors to remain legal. The ban only applied to cartridges or pre-filled pod devices, like the ones sold by Juul, not disposable e-cigarettes. Some critics argued the move wasn’t enough.
“You’ve got to get rid of all the flavors. Secondly, you have to make sure that disposable cigarettes are subject to the same flavor ban that all other products are subject to — and then third, we have to regulate the nicotine content,” said Krishnamoorthi. “These vapes that are currently on the market are so addictive.”
June 23, 2021
Critics Lambast Canada’s Proposed Flavor Ban

Photo: Deyan
Health advocates and vapor industry groups criticized Canada’s proposal to ban all flavored vaping products except for tobacco, mint and menthol. Published June 19 in the Canada Gazette, the draft legislation was criticized for falling short by tobacco control advocates and for going too far by the Canadian Vaping Industry Association (CVA).
The CVA warned that if the flavor ban is implemented, it may push hundreds of thousands of consumers back to smoking or to the black market. “There is mounting evidence that flavors reduce cravings and increase smoking cessation success,” the organization wrote in a press note. “Research from Yale School of Public Health finds that smokers that quit using a flavored product are 2.5 times more likely to be successful.”
“We have repeatedly shared the science on vaping,” said Darryl Tempest, executive director of the CVA. “Regulators are aware of the important role flavors play in the adoption of vaping by smokers. A flavor ban will reduce the appeal of the product and will sentence many smokers to their death. There is sufficient data from regions with flavor bans to provide a clear understanding of the consequences. Flavor bans do little to protect youth and instead increase smoking rates and strengthen the black market.”

A flavor ban will reduce the appeal of the product and will sentence many smokers to their death.
Darryl Tempest, executive director, CVA
ASH Canada, by contrast, described the decision to exempt mint and menthol from the flavor ban as an unacceptable concession to the vaping industry.
“The proposed regulations will not adequately protect Canadian youth from flavored vaping products” said Les Hagen, executive director of ASH, in a statement. “Menthol is the second most popular flavor among youth vapers. A partial ban on flavored vaping products in the U.S. resulted in massive switching to menthol flavored products. We expect a similar result in Canada if these regulations are approved.”
“There is no scientific justification for exempting menthol vaping products,” says Flory Doucas, co-director and spokesperson for the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control. “Menthol is the second most popular flavor among youth, tied with mango. We know that flavors are one of the main factors that attract young people to vaping, causing all kinds of health risks in addition to being one of the most addictive substances on the planet.”
The health groups decried the influence of the vaping industry on the debate. The CVA has been the most active of all lobbies on Parliament Hill in May, wrote ASH, citing The Lobby Monitor.
Over 400,000 Canadian youth are using vaping products, according to Health Canada’s latest survey conducted in 2019.
Stakeholders can comment on Canada’s draft flavor regulations until Sept. 2, 2021.
Health Canada is also publishing new restrictions on the nicotine concentration in vapor products. These regulations set a maximum nicotine concentration of 20 mg per mL in vaping products to make them less appealing to youth. The regulations also prohibit the packaging and sale of vaping products if the nicotine concentration of the products exceeds this limit. Manufacturers must adhere to this limit by July 8, 2021; retailers may not sell products that exceed this limit after July 23, 2021.
June 21, 2021
Canada Planning to Ban Flavored Vapes by 2022
Canada said Friday it intends to ban most flavored vaping products in an effort to deter young people from consuming electronic cigarettes. According to the Canada Gazette, a weekly publication that outlines pending government regulatory orders (much like the Federal Register in the U.S.), the Liberal government said it would restrict e-cigarette flavors to tobacco, mint and menthol. Fruit flavors, like cherry, melon and mango, would be prohibited.
Credit: Toptop54
Restricting fruit-based flavors and the use of sweeteners as an ingredient are expected to make e-cigarettes less appealing to younger people, the government said, according to press release. Canadian data, as presented in the Gazette, indicated vaping rates among youth remain high. Further, over 60% of youth aged 15 years to 19 years used fruit-flavored e-cigarettes, versus 40% for those 20 and older who vape.
The government said Canada’s proposals would be among the strongest in the developed world in curbing vaping, and generally in line with Denmark’s rules on flavored vaping products. The government said stakeholders can submit thoughts on the rules until Sept. 2, although Ottawa is eyeing implementation starting in 2022.
In Canada Gazette, Part II that will be published on July 23, 2021, Health Canada is announcing the new Nicotine Concentration in Vaping Products Regulations (NCVPR), which set a maximum nicotine concentration of 20 mg/mL for vaping products marketed in Canada. They also prohibit the packaging and sale of vaping products if the nicotine concentration stated on the package exceeds 20 mg/mL.
The NCVPR prescribe a laboratory method, ISO 20714 E-liquid – Determination of nicotine, propylene glycol and glycerol in liquids used in electronic nicotine delivery devices – Gas chromatographic method, for determining the nicotine concentration of a vaping substance. Health Canada will use this method to determine compliance with the maximum nicotine concentration.
As well, the NCVPR amend the Vaping Products Labelling and Packaging Regulations, which until now allowed vaping products to contain up to 66 mg/mL of nicotine; this limit will now only apply to products intended for export. Vaping products authorized under the Food and Drugs Act (FDA) are not subject to these regulations.
The NCVPR goes into force on July 8, 2021. Retailers have until July 23, 2021 to comply with these Regulations.
Enforcement actions to address non-compliance may include issuing warning letters, seizures, and/or prosecutions. The penalties for not complying with the NCVPR are set out under Part VI of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act.
Proposal to further restrict vaping product flavours
Flavored vaping products are highly appealing to youth. In Canada Gazette, Part I to be published on July 19, 2021, Health Canada is proposing measures that would:

further restrict the promotion of flavors to tobacco, mint, menthol or a combination of mint and menthol (mint/menthol), including through indications or illustrations on packaging;

prohibit all sugars and sweeteners as well as most flavoring ingredients, with limited exceptions to impart tobacco and mint/menthol flavors; and

prescribe sensory attributes standards to prevent a sensory perception other than one that is typical of tobacco or of mint/menthol.
Flavors other than tobacco, as well as sugars and sweeteners in vaping products, increase product appeal, decrease perception of harm and heighten intention to try or use vaping or tobacco products. Youth also tend to perceive flavored vaping products, such as fruit and candy, as less harmful to health than tobacco-flavored vaping products.
Health Canada is aware of the important role flavors can play in helping people who smoke transition from smoking. The proposed measures would leave some flavor options for adults who smoke and wish to transition, or have transitioned to vaping, which is a less harmful source of nicotine than cigarettes for those who switch completely to vaping.
June 20, 2021
Mixed Results from San Francisco Flavor Ban

Photo: Can Balcioglu
Sales of flavored tobacco products decreased significantly in the wake of San Francisco’s ban, but teenagers were also more likely to take up smoking relative to their peers in other cities, according to two separate studies.
In the summer of 2018, San Francisco residents voted overwhelmingly to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including nicotine vaping products and menthol cigarettes. By January 2019, when the prohibition took effect, almost every retailer in the city was immediately compliant.
A study from researchers at RTI International, Stanford University School of Medicine and the California Tobacco Control Program, published in Tobacco Control, measured changes in tobacco sales before and after San Francisco’s law prohibiting flavored tobacco products. The study found that sales of all flavored tobacco products—including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes—were virtually eliminated in the city after implementation of the policy, with no evidence of widespread substitution of non-flavored products.
Sales of all flavored tobacco products decreased by 96 percent in San Francisco after implementation of the city law in early 2019. Total tobacco sales also significantly decreased over the same period, suggesting consumers did not broadly switch to unflavored tobacco products.
“A reduction in total tobacco sales in SF suggests there was not a one-to-one substitution of tobacco/unflavored products for flavored products,” the authors wrote.
However, a recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics, found that teenagers in the San Francisco’s high schools were more likely to take up smoking than teenagers in other U.S. school districts after the city’s flavor ban took effect. (San Francisco later became the first U.S. city to ban sale of all e-cigarettes, but the effects of that were not the subject of the study.)
Prior to the flavor ban, smoking rates in San Francisco paralleled many cities across the country, showing fewer teens using combustible cigarettes over time. After the city enacted its policy, the odds of smoking among its high school students, relative to trends in comparison school districts, more than doubled.
The findings come as other cities are acting against flavored tobacco products. On June 16, the Los Angeles City Council voted to end the sale of flavored tobacco products in the city. The measure covers flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars but exempts certain hookah products.
In California alone more than 100 cities and counties that have cracked down on flavored tobacco products. In 2020 the state acted to end the sale of flavored tobacco products, but the law is on hold because of an effort to overturn it through a November 2022 referendum.
June 18, 2021
Loopholes Bury Connecticut Flavored E-Liquid Ban
A measure that would have banned flavored e-cigarettes in Connecticut died in the state Senate late Tuesday after its main advocate said the ban was “riddled with major loopholes,” leaving tens of thousands of children and teens unprotected.
Credit: Christopher Boswell
“The Connecticut Legislature is making it quite clear that it will sell out Connecticut’s kids to do the bidding of Juul and Altria instead,” Matthew Myers, president of the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a written statement earlier Tuesday, according to The Telegraph.
Earlier this year, the legislature’s Public Health Committee passed a bill that would have banned all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, but that bill was diluted. Then over the last few days, it was gutted further. In the General Assembly’s special session this week, the measure was added to the 857-page budget “implementer” that lawmakers adopt at the end of each spring session.
Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, co-chair of the public health committee, said earlier Tuesday he and fellow Democratic co-chair Sen. Mary Abrams were not consulted about the changes, and that he was first alerted to them by “one of the interested parties.”
June 17, 2021
Washington D.C. Flavor Ban Passes First Reading
Flavor ban bills have been a hot topic. The day before the Los Angeles City Council voted to draft a flavor ban bill, the District of Columbia Council voted to ban the sale of flavored vaping and tobacco products including menthol cigarettes.
Credit: JHVE Photo
The Council voted 9-3-1 during the Tuesday, June 15, legislative session. L.A. voted Wednesday. Bars and restaurants that offer hookah will be exempt from the ban in both cities. The bill still has to go through second reading and get the Mayor’s signature, and it is moving forward with many pieces of discussion left with the Council, according to localdvm.com.
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing more than 200 African-American owned community newspapers from around the United States, have joined together with a group of Black and Hispanic law enforcement executives to oppose the Washington, DC City Council proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, calling the law racially discriminatory.
“Banning menthol is not going to make the demand for menthol products go away. We know this because illegal drugs are used by people in every community in every state across this country,” said Anthony Miranda, national chairperson, National Latino Officers Association, in an email. “When there is a high demand, an illegal market will fill the void, if a legal, regulated market does not. Bans and prohibitions don’t work. They actually create crime.”
Originally, the bill focused on e-cigarettes and vapes, and was created in an effort to keep teenagers and kids from becoming addicted to smoking. Councilmembers who proposed the bill said that is still the focus. Business owners who sell the flavored products are concerned over the impact the ban will have on their businesses.
The District’s Chief Financial Officer estimates the ban will cost the city $13.9 million over the next four years, but McCauley thinks it will be much more than that. McCauley noted the high tax already in place on menthol cigarettes has led to a drop in revenue, as neighboring states Maryland and Virginia have much cheaper prices. He also noted that many people buy and sell cigarettes on the street, which is unregulated.
Council Chair Phil Mendelson was one of the no votes for the bill. He said, “This is not the right approach, for us to be prohibiting, creating other problems, collateral problems by taking this approach, and I think there are other approaches that can promote public health.”
June 17, 2021