Michigan Ban on Flavored E-Cigarettes is a Terrible Policy with Devastating Public Health Consequences

Yesterday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmersigned into law an executive order that bans the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes in the state. The ban includes both retail sales and online sales of all e-cigarettes, with the sole exception of tobacco-flavored products. In doing so, Michigan becomes the first state in the nation to promulgate a complete ban on the sale of the overwhelming majority of vaping products.In defending the ban, state health officials " pointed to studies indicating that young people who vape are more likely to start smoking regular cigarettes. "The Rest of the StoryI cannot overemphasize how insane this policy is. From a public health perspective, it makes absolutely no sense to ban these fake cigarettes, but to allow the real ones to remain on the shelves. If electronic cigarettes, which have not been confirmed to have caused a single death, are so dangerous that they cannot be sold anywhere in the state, then certainly real tobacco cigarettes which kill more than 400,000 Americans each year should not be sold in Michigan.And if the chief concern of the governor and health officials is that e-cigarette use may lead to youth smoking, then how ludicrous is it to allow the sale of cigarettes to continue while thousands of kids in the state are apparently at high risk of starting to smoke?Certainly, if youth vaping is a public health emergency then youth smoking is even more of an emergency and so is youth alcohol use, especially youth binge drinking. Bu...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs