Tag: flavor ban

43 Lawmakers Pen Letter to FDA Supporting Flavor Ban
Lawmakers in the US House of representatives have sent a letter to the head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the agency to pull all flavored e-cigarettes and other vaping products from the market. The 43 House Democrats sent the letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock as the agency continues to review thousands of premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs).
Credit: Office of Debbie Wasserman Schultz
“Flavored e-cigarettes are putting a new generation of kids at risk of nicotine addiction and the serious health harms that result from tobacco use,” states the letter drafted by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), according to The Hill.
The lawmakers want the FDA to ban all flavored e-cigarettes upon further review and nix the exemption the FDA has for menthol and disposable products.
Along with a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, lawmakers want a ban on premarket tobacco applications and the marketing of e-cigarettes that target minors. “Today, e-cigarette use by youth remains at what FDA calls ‘epidemic proportions’ and e-cigarettes have been the most commonly used tobacco products among youth since 2014 – and flavors are a key reason why,” the letter states.
The FDA has already put a ban on fruity e-cigarettes, however, brands such as Puff Bar are sidestepping the ban by selling fruit-flavored disposable vaporizers that use synthetic (tobacco-free) nicotine. “We strongly recommend that FDA’s premarket review process require manufacturers to provide convincing evidence that their products do not increase youth use of nicotine and tobacco in ways that increase the risk of abuse and addiction among youth,” the lawmakers stated.
March 25, 2021
Montana State Bill Aimed at Preventing Local Vape Laws
The Montana Senate heard a measure to limit local government and the Department of Public Health and Human Services from regulating vaping products this week. Bill sponsor Rep. Ron Marshall (R-Hamilton) says vaping and alternative nicotine products are meant to get people away from tobacco.
Proponents say House Bill 137 would keep small businesses open by stopping counties from introducing flavor bans on vape products, according to NBCMontana. Opponents say these products aren’t any less dangerous than cigarettes and are too easily accessible to minors.
The bill Marshall proposed is House Bill 137. According to the official legislation, House Bill 137 will prevent and stop any further regulation on nicotine and vapor products by local and county governments. Health Boards and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services are also prohibited from further regulating flavored e-cigarettes and vapor products unless the policies match entirely different regulatory standards that deal with non-tobacco and non-combustible nicotine-containing products.
Marshall, a vape shop owner, and his business partner are former members of the Montana Smoke-Free Association. This bill moves to executive action, when the committee will vote whether to send it to the Senate floor.
March 19, 2021
Puff Bar Tests FDA Power Over Tobacco-Free Nicotine
In July 2020, Puff Bar announced that it would cease all online sales and distribution in the U.S. until further notice. However, the brand resumed sales on its website last month with a changed product. To get around the ban, Puff Bar is now using tobacco-free nicotine, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Credit: Puff Bar
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has started investigating Puff Bar’s redesigned fruit-flavored disposable vaporizers because of the changes, reports The Hill. The regulatory agency said it was aware of Puff Bar’s actions but would not say whether the agency’s ban was still applicable, citing the ongoing investigation.
In mid-2020, the FDA told Puff Bar to stop selling its fruity vaporizers as part of a broader crackdown on underage vaping. In a letter to Puff Bar, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said Puff Bar products hadn’t been authorized for sale by the agency and that the company had made unauthorized claims on its website that its vaporizers were less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
In early 2020, the Trump administration banned fruity flavored e-cigarettes in reusable devices like Juul, the blockbuster brand that helped trigger the teen vaping craze in the U.S. Under that policy, only menthol and tobacco flavors were allowed for those devices. But the flavor ban did not apply to disposable vaping products like Puff Bar, which is offered in more than 20 flavors, including pina colada and pink lemonade.
Following the ban, Puff Bar quickly emerged as the vape of choice among young people. Puff Bar has fallen to No. 3 in the disposable category this year, after Bidi Stick and Blu, according to Nielsen data.
It’s unclear who owns Puff Bar. Previous owners include Cool Clouds Distribution in California and DS Technology Licensing in China.
March 3, 2021
P.E.I. Flavor Ban for Vapor Products Starts Today
Flavored vaping products are banned on Prince Edward Island in Canada. The regulation changes were passed by cabinet in August of last year. It comes as part of a private members bill from PC MLA Cory Deagle, which received unanimous support from the legislature in 2019, to crack down on nicotine use among young people.
Manager J-K Thorne holds some of the flavored products that are no longer available at Wild Impulse vape shop. (Shane Hennessey/CBC – image credit)
“The only flavor you’ll be able to use would be tobacco flavored so all those other flavors will be gone,” Deagle said. “This is probably one of the biggest steps that we’re going to see trying to get rid of, or at least reduce, the amount of youth that are vaping.”
Vendors were notified of the upcoming ban on flavored products in August 2020, in a letter distributed by the Department of Health and Wellness, according to the CBC. The letter said the department believed that with six month advance notice, “tobacconist shops have sufficient time to deplete their inventory of flavored electronic smoking device products.”
At Wild Impulse, a vape shop in Charlottetown, the shelves were still full of flavored products last Friday afternoon, with the ban just days away. Manager J-K Thorne said the store carries more than 45 flavors for vaping, but as of March 1st, they will only be able to sell ones that are tobacco flavored, flavorless or labelled clear, adding that the flavor ban is also pushing former smokers back to combustible cigarettes.
“Customers are a little disappointed. They feel that they have something to lean on if they wanted to get off cigarettes,” Thorne said. “They found that the tobacco flavor actually reminded them of cigarettes, but it wasn’t good enough, and it actually brought them back to buying cigarettes, which is a little unfortunate.”
March 1, 2021
U.S. Senator Romney Calls for Federal Flavor Ban
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney on Thursday pushed for flavored vaping products to be pulled from shelves across the United States. Romney introduced legislation in Sept. 2019 that would have banned the sale of all flavored vape products except tobacco flavors, but it was never taken up for a vote.
Credit: Office of Mitt Romney
Romney’s comments during the confirmation hearing for President Joe Biden’s nominee for surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, echo similar statements the senator has made in the past, according to kutv.com.
“The analysis shows that nearly one fourth of high school kids are vaping on a regular basis — tobacco products — and in many cases marijuana, as well,” Romney said, adding that the government needs to do everything it can to stop the sale of flavored vaping products and implement a robust public education campaign to warn kids about the dangers of vaping.
In Oct. 2019, the Utah Department of Health issued an emergency order banning the sale of flavored vape products in Utah, which was met swiftly with a lawsuit from tobacco retailers. The products remain available for sale today.
In 2019, the legal age to purchase tobacco products in the U.S. was raised from 18 to 21.
February 26, 2021
Vermont Revives Bill to Ban Flavored Vape Products
The U.S. state of Vermont is once again floating the idea of proposing legislation that seeks to ban the sale of flavored vaping products. Support for the bill is gaining traction in the state’s senate and would also ban flavored combustible tobacco, including menthol cigarettes.
The ban was originally proposed in early 2020 as a way to prevent youth use, but was sidelined after the Covid-19 pandemic began to impact the country. Ginny Lyons, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, said in an interview this week that she’d like the Senate to pass the bill, S.24, “as quickly as possible.” She said use of nicotine products by young people has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to vtdigger.com
If Vermont approved a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, it would be the third state to do so. Massachusetts banned flavored vapes and tobacco products in 2019, and California followed suit last year. However, California’s law was blocked after the tobacco industry moved successfully to have voters decide on the ban in a statewide referendum next year.
“During the pandemic, we’ve seen a real fallback from all the progress we’ve made on limiting youth access to tobacco and other flavored products, so it seems more important than ever to move forward with this bill,” Lyons said. “If we were only to eliminate all the other flavors and leave menthol on the market, we would see a transition of people to those menthol products, and we would be backsliding again.”
February 25, 2021
New Jersey Wants to Ban Vape Sales in Pharmacies
New Jersey is one step closer to banning pharmacies in the state from selling any deemed tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee approved legislation the legislation sponsored by Senator Joe Vitale, S-1144, would prohibit the sale of all tobacco products and electronic smoking devices at pharmacies, however, department stores and food retailers licensed to operate a pharmacy on its premises or lease space to a third party to run a pharmacy would not be subject to the prohibition.
Credit: CVS
“Pharmacies have the important responsibility of making and dispensing medicine to patients in the community and providing them with health advice to help them get well,” said Senator Vitale (D-Middlesex), who is chairman of the Senate’s health committee. “With tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the nation, it’s antithetical that pharmacies sell tobacco products and smoking devices.”
Research shows most smokers begin using tobacco products as minors and that pharmacies are an important point of access for young users, Senator Vitale noted in a press release. It also suggests that banning tobacco sales in pharmacies can reduce “tobacco retail outlet density,” which is associated with higher rates of youth usage as well as racial and economic disparities in tobacco use.
The owners of any businesses caught violating the ban would be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $250 for a first violation, $500 for a second violation, and $1,000 for a third or subsequent violation.
The bill exempts food and department stores because previous versions of the bill had stalled in the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee because they had not included that exemption. CVS has not sold tobacco in its stores nationwide since 2014 while Wegmans stopped selling them in 2008.
February 14, 2021
Chicago Files Suit Against Vapes.com for Illegal Sales
The City of Chicago has filed a lawsuit against Equte LLC, parent to Vapes.com, for “marketing and selling flavored vaping products.” The company allegedly marketed its products to youth, alongside selling flavored products. Four months ago, the Chicago City Council banned the sale of flavored vaping products favored by teens, but exempting flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.
Credit Emily Ralph
The latest in a string of city lawsuits against the e-cigarette industry follows an investigation by the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. It identified the two companies as having violated the flavored tobacco ban, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
“E-cigarettes are unhealthy and addictive, and businesses deliberately target young people in the hope they’ll develop lifelong customers,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot was quoted as saying in a news release. “The City of Chicago’s message to vaping companies is clear: If you break the law, we will go after you, especially if you try to sell to our youth.”
O’Shea originally championed a much stronger, citywide ban on all flavored tobacco products. He was forced to settle for less — a ban on “flavored liquid nicotine products” — after running into a buzz-saw of opposition from gas stations, convenience and tobacco stores. They accused O’Shea of kicking them when they’re down, with their businesses hurting during the pandemic.
O’Shea could not be reached for comment. The press release quoted him as saying that this lawsuit “not only takes these companies to task, but sends a clear message to anyone who thinks they can push vaping products onto our kids and get away with it.”
February 2, 2021
Connecticut’s Largest City Seeking to Ban Flavored Vapes
The beatdown of vapor products goes on as Connecticut’s largest city is now looking to ban flavored vaping and other tobacco products. City lawmakers announced the intent to ban flavors at a press conference last week.
In addition, state Sen. Marilyn Moore said she will address new legislation before the Connecticut General Assembly’s Public Health Committee, on which she serves, to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes.
If passed, Bridgeport would join more than 100 cities in the nation and two states that have enacted bans on flavored tobacco products, which the group said have been proven to be more attractive to children.
Earlier this year, Connecticut lawmakers announced they wanted more vapor industry legislation.
February 1, 2021
Lawyer Says Loveland Council Illegally Texted Over Flavor Ban
Some Loveland City Council members deliberated on a proposed ban on flavored vaping and other tobacco product sales in private text messages, possibly violating Colorado state law, a Dec. 8 text message thread shows.
Credit: Pixabay
Steve Zansberg, a Denver attorney and president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, called the thread an “extremely clear-cut” violation of state rules.
The Loveland Reporter-Herald obtained the messages from Mayor Jacki Marsh after the paper received a confidential tip. All nine council members and City Manager Steve Adams were included in the thread, though not all council members participated.
Time stamps on the text thread show that 13 of the messages were exchanged by councilors during their regular meeting that evening, which was held virtually and dealt mostly with the proposed ban and the problem of youth vaping.
In the text conversation, council members Kathi Wright, Steve Olson, Don Overcash and John Fogle deliberated on how they would respond to calls for a ban on selling the products.
“Looks like another special meeting this month,” Wright said at 9:17 p.m., reviving a thread that Adams began earlier in the day to let councilors know about a scheduling change.
“yup. but don’t cave,” Overcash replied.
After Olson asked whether Wright was interested in “working with business to find a win win solution,” Wright said she “still believe(d) we have another step, talking with local business.”
February 1, 2021