Tag: flavor ban

  • Columbus, Ohio Vows to Sue State Over Flavor Ban

    Columbus, Ohio Vows to Sue State Over Flavor Ban

    Ohio State House in Columbus (Credit: Mandritoiu)

    The City of Columbus is drafting a lawsuit against Ohio for the legislature’s recent decision to ban cities from regulating tobacco sales, continuing a long battle between state and city government officials.

    Last week, the Ohio Senate followed the House’s lead and voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto on a provision prohibiting local governments from enacting regulations on the sale of tobacco, including banning flavored tobacco products, according to media reports.

    Starting on April 24, when the law goes into effect, cities with flavored tobacco bans will no longer be able to enforce the legislation. Columbus, Grandview Heights, Worthington and Bexley will be among the cities barred from enforcing their flavored tobacco bans.

    Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein is now looking to file a lawsuit in response to the veto override.

    “The governor was right to veto legislation undermining local efforts to reduce tobacco use and long-term adverse health effects, especially among young people,” Klein said. “Now that Republican lawmakers have chosen to override the governor’s veto, the City is weighing all options, which certainly includes filing a lawsuit challenging this legislative overreach.”

    Klein said his office must defend the Ohio Constitution’s home rule authority, which has existed for more than 110 years. Municipal home rule grants cities the constitutional right to establish laws; as long as a rule or regulation doesn’t interfere with the laws in the Ohio Revised Code, cities have the right to make their own policies.

    Republican state lawmakers have tried multiple times to prohibit local governments from restricting the sale of tobacco, only to be thwarted by DeWine’s vetoes.

    In 2022, he struck down such a proposal. Last July, he struck the provision from the rest of the state budget, saying that local bans were “essential” to curb nicotine use, especially among children, without a statewide ban in place.

  • UK Flavored Vape Ban Likely to Become Law

    UK Flavored Vape Ban Likely to Become Law

    Credit: Mapix

    Proposals to ban disposable vapes and gradually phase out the sale of tobacco to people of all ages in the UK are likely to become law soon. Only a few Conservative MPs have objected to the plans, so they are expected to pass with little opposition.

    Both measures will be voted on in parliament, Downing Street confirmed. While Conservative MPs will be given a non-whipped free vote on the smoking ban, it remains to be decided whether this will also happen for vaping products.

    The ban on disposable vapes, along with action to combat the sale of some child-friendly, fruit-flavored varieties and restrictions on packaging and in-shop displays, would come into force late this year or in early 2025 via a mixture of a bill and secondary legislation, according to media reports.

    The already announced ban on selling tobacco products to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009 will also be introduced as a law, potentially in the same bill as that connected to vaping.

    Although Labour is likely to back both measures, meaning they are guaranteed to pass, Sunak might have expected a significant pushback from libertarian-minded Tory MPs. However, only Liz Truss publicly denounced the plans, calling the date-based tobacco ban “profoundly unconservative” and an extension of the “nanny state.”

  • Quebec Urged to Crack Down on Flavored Vapes

    Quebec Urged to Crack Down on Flavored Vapes

    Eric Gagnon, Vice-President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at Imperial Tobacco Canada, urges the government to buckle down on enforcing its law during the press conference. (Photo: Imperial Tobacco Canada)

    Imperial Tobacco Canada is urging the government of Quebec to crack down on illegal flavored vaping products.

    Three months after the law banning flavors in vaping products came into force, flavored e-cigarettes remain available at a large number of retail outlets that either infringe on the law or are using a variety of tactics to circumvent the law, according to Imperial Tobacco Canada, which is part of British American Tobacco.

    “We are aware of the growing concern with the proliferation of products that circumvent the regulations, resulting in the creation of an illicit market,” said Imperial Vice-President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Eric Gagnon in a statement.

    “We recently identified over 200 sales outlets that sell non-compliant vaping products. These stores have not adjusted to the new regulations and continue to offer a wide range of flavored products, including those that exceed the maximum permitted quantity of 2 ml.”

    According to Imperial, these stores now also sell flavor enhancers as a way to circumvent the new regulation. “Given that these enhancers are not intended to be vaped, they can pose serious risks to consumers who use them,” the company wrote in a press note. “It is also because of a similar illegal market that a wave of lung diseases spread between 2019 and 2020 in the U.S., claiming 68 lives.”

    Imperial says that instead of meeting its objective of tackling vaping among young people, the government has created a thriving illicit market.

    During a Jan. 21 appearance on the talk show Tout le monde en parle Health Minister Christian Dubé blamed tobacco companies for the situation.

    Imperial Tobacco Canada said it strongly refutes the allegations. “As a responsible company that fully complies with the regulations in place, we denounce these abuses and reiterate our call for stronger enforcement of the law,” said. Gagnon. “We warned the minister’s office several months ago about the inevitable collateral damage that would result from such a regulation being implemented. Unfortunately, nothing was done, and the situation persists as a result.”

  • Ohio Veto Override Bans Local Tobacco Rules

    Ohio Veto Override Bans Local Tobacco Rules

    Credit: Lucitanija

    Local governments in Ohio cannot enact tobacco and nicotine rules. Those regulations must come from the state level.

    The Ohio Senate on Wednesday voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto on a provision prohibiting local governments from enacting regulations on the sale of tobacco — including by banning flavored vaping products.

    The policy, which will go into effect in three months, means that newly enacted flavored tobacco bans in Columbus, Worthington and other central Ohio cities cannot be enforced.

    Republican state lawmakers have tried multiple times to prohibit local governments from restricting the sale of tobacco, only to be thwarted by DeWine’s vetoes.

    In 2022, he struck down such a proposal. Last July, he struck the provision from the rest of the state budget, saying that local bans were “essential” to curb nicotine use, especially among children, without a statewide ban in place.

  • VTA: CTP Continues ‘De-Facto’ Flavor Ban With MDOs

    VTA: CTP Continues ‘De-Facto’ Flavor Ban With MDOs

    Tony Abboud
    Tony Abboud, director of the Vapor Technology Association.

    When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) issued marketing denial orders (MDOs) for Suorin and Blu PLUS+ e-cigarette products, Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA), said the decision was just the latest installment of the FDA and CTP’s efforts to implement its de-facto ban on e-cigarettes in the U.S.

    “The constant refrain from CTP is that e-cigarette manufacturers are not providing ‘sufficient scientific evidence’ in their PMTAs, yet CTP refused to answer the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s most fundamental criticism of CTP’s entire regulatory process: that CTP has not clearly articulated what is required to prove what is appropriate for the protection of the public health (APPH) or how it is interpreting what is APPH,” Abboud stated in a release.

    He stated that the FDA has failed to objectively define the APPH standard while simultaneously using it to deny marketing authorization to critical smoking cessation and harm-reduction products, which is a “gross overreach” for any governmental institution whose mandate is to follow the science.

    “Courts have found that the process has become ‘arbitrary and capricious’ in practice, with CTP leadership choosing on a case-by-case basis how the standard ought to be defined,” he stated. “Meanwhile, companies are simply trying to do the right thing by complying with and adhering to the PMTA process set forth by the FDA.”

    Abboud stated that the actions of the FDA and CTP do nothing to protect public health or help Americans who smoke. “VTA once again calls on CTP to reverse course on its misguided actions and restore scientific integrity to its regulatory and decision-making process. Enough is enough,” he wrote.

  • Spain Bans Flavors for Heated Tobacco Products

    Spain Bans Flavors for Heated Tobacco Products

    Credit: Weyo

    The government in Spain has approved a decree that equates the regulation of heated tobacco products with that of traditional cigarettes, prohibiting products with flavorings. The rules do not apply to all vaping products, such as e-cigarettes.

    In addition, it will now be mandatory for labels to contain warnings for heated tobacco products that they products are harmful to health, according to Catalan News.

    The Ministry of Health is considering further regulations.

    “The ban will cover tobacco products with an aroma or flavor in their components (such as filters, papers, packaging, or capsules) or any other technique that allows modifying the smell or taste of the products or intensify the smoke. Filters, papers and capsules cannot contain tobacco or nicotine,” the report states.

    Heated tobacco products must include the following informative message on their outer packaging: “Tobacco smoke contains more than 70 carcinogenic substances,” with relevant accompanying photographs.

    This decree will enter into force three months after its publication in the official state gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado).

  • Colorado Bill Would Allow Counties to Ban Flavors

    Colorado Bill Would Allow Counties to Ban Flavors

    Credit: Marek Photo Design

    A Senate bill in Colorado would grant counties the power to regulate or ban the sale and distribution of flavored vaping, cigarettes and other nicotine products.

    Senate Bill 24-022 defines flavored nicotine and tobacco products as anything with a scent or flavor other than tobacco, including products that induce a cooling or numbing sensation. 

    Citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rep. Kyle Brown, a sponsor of the legislation, said nearly 9 out of 10 adults who smoke every day first tried smoking “before they turned age 18.”

    He said tobacco products are linked to negative health effects, including cancer, and that e-cigarettes and other vape products are “highly addictive and can harm adolescent brain development.”

    A similar bill was introduced during the 2022 legislative session but died in the Senate. At the time, Gov. Jared Polis said he opposed the bill because he thought the matter should be handled at a local level.

  • Virginia Proposes Flavor Ban, Approved Product List

    Virginia Proposes Flavor Ban, Approved Product List

    Credit: FotoMak

    Virginia has long been the epicenter of the tobacco industry, Now, two bills that would ban flavored vaping products have been filed with the state’s General Assembly.

    Sponsors say Virginia should step in where Washington has been ineffective in blocking unregulated flavored e-cigarettes, such as Elf Bar disposables, off of store shelves.

    The bills, House Bill 1069 and Senate Bill 550, call for a fine of $1,000 a day for each product sold that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not authorized to be marketed in the U.S.

    The Attorney General would maintain a directory of legal products, much like Alabama and Louisiana. Products not listed in that directory could not be legally sold in Virginia.

    The bill states any retailer and wholesaler that sells or distributes any liquid nicotine or nicotine vapor product in the state is subject to scheduled or unscheduled compliance checks carried out by the Attorney General’s Office for enforcement purposes.

    Manufacturers must certify, in a filing with the Attorney General, that their product is covered by an FDA marketing authorization order, or is exempt from that because it was sold in the U.S. before 2016 or subject to a premarket tobacco product application dating from before 2020.

    “It’s a public health issue,” said Del. Rodney Willett, who sponsored the House of Delegates bill.

    “They’re targeting kids with the flavors,” he said, according to media reports. “When I walk into a convenience store, I’m just stunned by the number of these products that are for sale.”

  • Tobacco Tax Not a Factor in Singapore’s Vaping Ban

    Tobacco Tax Not a Factor in Singapore’s Vaping Ban

    Credit: Andreykr

    The Singapore government said that the potential loss in revenue from tobacco tax was not a factor in its decision to ban the use of e-cigarettes in 2018.

    In his reply to a question by a Workers’ Party and Sengkang Member of Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also the Minister for Finance, said, “The Government’s decision to ban the use of e-cigarettes in 2018 was based on public health considerations, to protect our population from the harms of these products. The potential loss in tobacco tax revenue from the reduced consumption of tobacco products was not a factor in this decision.”

    … our priority is to protect the health of our population and prevent e-cigarettes from causing harm to our people, especially to younger Singaporeans.”

     

    Lawrence Wong

    Wong added that if the government were to legalize and tax e-cigarettes “the challenges would be similar to those we encounter for cigarettes and other tobacco products today.

    “In any case, the government has no plans to change our current approach, as our priority is to protect the health of our population and prevent e-cigarettes from causing harm to our people, especially to younger Singaporeans.”

  • Another Maine City Seeks Ban on Flavored Tobacco

    Another Maine City Seeks Ban on Flavored Tobacco

    Credit: Ianm35

    The city of Hallowell seeks to become the latest community in Maine to ban the sale of flavored vaping and other tobacco products.

    Monday night, the city held a public hearing on an ordinance that would do exactly that. During the meeting, 300 signatures supporting the flavored tobacco ban were delivered to the council, according to local media.

    During the hearing, people argued both for and against the ban, with those against saying the city should be looking at the bigger picture and consider enacting a smoking ban citywide. Those in favor cited not only the negative health effects, but also that it’s intentionally marketed to young people.

    If Hallowell does pass a ban, they will join the towns Falmouth, Portland, South Portland, Brunswick, Bangor and Bar Harbor in passing similar bans on selling flavored tobacco products.