In an interview on Tuesday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she ordered the ban after the state health department found youth vaping constituted a public health emergency. The action was officially announced Wednesday, according to the Washington Post.
While the ban does go into effect today, retailers will have 30 days to comply, reports the Huffington Post. “My number one priority is keeping our kids safe and protecting the health of the people of Michigan,” the governor told the paper. The ban also restricts the use of misleading descriptions of E-cigarettes, like “safe” and “healthy” to advertise vaping products.
One of Governor Whitmer’s aides said the ban will cover flavored e-cigarettes with sweet flavors, such as bubble gum and “fruit loops,” used to entice teenagers into vaping, as well as mint and menthol flavors. The ban does not cover tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes, the governor’s aide said.
Michigan may be the first state to initiate a ban on e-cigarettes, but a number of cities and communities have moved to restrict or ban sales of e-cigarettes. In June, San Francisco, California became the first city in the U.S. to ban e-cigarettes. The city is also the headquarters of e-cigarette market leader, Juul.
“There is so much we don’t know about the health impacts of these products, but we do know that e-cigarette companies are targeting our kids in their advertising and getting them hooked on addictive nicotine products,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a statement.
“The real issue is that ads for #cigarettes aren’t allowed and yet we allow ads for Juul and other #ecigarette and #tobacco products,” says Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, Stanford developmental psychologist and professor of pediatrics. August 28, 2019
In a further development on the e-cigarette ban in San Francisco – Juul said while it shared the city’s goal of keeping vapor products out of the hands of people under the age of 21, “the prohibition of vapor products for all adults in San Francisco will not effectively address underage use.”
Juul says it already has the required number of signatures needed to take the ban to the ballot in November in hopes of overriding the ordinance. So this will be an interesting story to watch.
