Massachusetts State Senate Votes to Ban Almost All E-Cigarettes, But to Leave the Real Deadly Ones on the Shelves

In a move that defies public health logic, the Massachusetts Senate today voted for a bill that would ban the sale of virtually all e-cigarettes, but would allow non-mentholated real cigarette brands to remain on the shelves of all stores, including convenience stores and gas stations where youth have easy access to these products.There is simply no public health justification for taking e-cigarettes off the market but allowing youth to continue to have unfettered access to real tobacco products. The average annual death toll of these products is starkly different:Flavored e-cigarettes: 0Real cigarettes: 480,000Given the morbidity and mortality burden differential between these two products, how can the state Senate ban the former, but leave the latter free to addict and eventually kill the youth of the Commonwealth?The Rest of the StoryI ' m sorry, but there is simply no justification for banning the sale of most electronic cigarettes but allowing real cigarettes, which kill more than 400,000 Americans each year, to remain on the shelves, almost completely unregulated.One of the major arguments that supporters of the bill offered to support their call for a ban on all flavored e-cigarettes is that when JUUL pulled its flavors other than mint and menthol from store shelves, youth simply switched to mint and menthol flavors. But if that ' s true, then shouldn ' t we be concerned that if flavored e-cigarettes are banned, youth will simply switch to tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs