The electronic cigarette industry has done\nmuch to make up for the decline in tobacco consumption in America by getting\nthe public to buy into its arguments that e-cigarettes are a \u201csafer\u201d\nalternative to smoking tobacco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, the electronic cigarette industry\nhas never proven their products\u2019 safety, they just assert the benefits. Now, after aggressively marketing their\nproducts \u2013 particularly their flavored products \u2013 the health damages are\nbecoming more apparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this month the federal government\u2019s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the\nnumber of electronic cigarette use \u2013 or vaping \u2013 related illnesses had\nincreased to at least 380 cases in 33 states and cautioned people about using\ne-cigarettes. In addition, the CDC\nreported five deaths from vaping-related respiratory illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the flavored vaping has had\na tremendous impact on the number of minors using these products. Five million\nminors, mostly in their high school years, reported that they had used\ne-cigarettes. About one-quarter of the nation\u2019s high school students reported\nvaping within the last 30 days in this year\u2019s annual survey, up from 20 percent\nlast year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This rapid increase in usage, as well as the\ngrowing number of reported illnesses and deaths, has pushed public officials to\nbegin to act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the federal level, the federal Food and\nDrug Administration sent a warning to the largest electronic cigarette maker \u2013\nJuul \u2013 that accused it of violating federal regulations by its promoting of its\nvaping products as a healthier alternative than traditional tobacco\ncigarettes. Next, the President has said\nthat his Administration is considering a ban on all flavored vaping\nproducts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over this past weekend Governor Cuomo announced\nthat the state\u2019s Public Health and Health Planning Council would take up\nregulations that would ban the sale of candy and fruit flavored vaping devices\nand pods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One major difference between the Trump\nAdministration\u2019s and the Cuomo plans is that the federal regulations would\ninclude a ban on the sale of mint and menthol flavors, New York\u2019s plan would\nnot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ngovernor\u2019s rationale to defend his decision to allow menthol flavors to\ncontinue to be sold was his assertion that those menthol products could help\npeople stop smoking traditional cigarettes. \nThe governor\u2019s surprising assertion is not backed up by the Food and Drug Administration which has\nnot approved e-cigarettes as smoking cessation devices. In fact, a recent study\nfound that most people who intended to use e-cigarettes to kick the nicotine\nhabit ended up continuing to smoke both traditional and e-cigarettes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Menthol\nis a particularly deadly flavor. When\nused in cigarettes, menthol poses a tremendous public health\nthreat. A 2013 FDA report on the health impact of menthol cigarettes determined\nthat menthol cigarettes lead to increased smoking initiation among youth and\nyoung adults, greater addiction and decreased success in quitting smoking. Further, FDA\u2019s Tobacco Products Scientific\nAdvisory Committee\u2019s concluded, \u201cRemoval of menthol cigarettes from the\nmarketplace would benefit public health in the United States.\u201d When Ontario, Canada banned menthol\ncigarettes in early 2017, its initial evaluations suggested that the law resulted\nin increased attempts to quit and smoking cessation among adult menthol\nsmokers. As a result, the Canadian\ngovernment subsequently banned menthol cigarettes nationwide later in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Menthol has particularly appealing qualities for novice\nsmokers. Menthol is a chemical compound that cools and numbs the throat,\nreducing the harshness of cigarette smoke, making menthol cigarettes more\nappealing to young people who are beginning to use tobacco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allowing\nthe continued use of menthol vaping products makes little sense. The Trump Administration may, or may not,\nknock out menthol flavors. The track\nrecord of the President delivering on his promises is not great, but if he\ndoes, it would supersede New York\u2019s weaker approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\nthe decision of the Cuomo Administration is only final when the Public Health\nCouncil acts. New Yorkers who care about\ncurbing the deadly impact of vaping should hope that they go further than the\ngovernor\u2019s statement and ban all flavored vaping products, including menthol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The electronic cigarette industry has done much to make up for the decline in tobacco consumption in America by getting the public to buy into its arguments that e-cigarettes are a \u201csafer\u201d alternative to smoking tobacco. Of course, the electronic cigarette industry has never proven their products\u2019 safety, they just assert the benefits. Now, after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2298"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2299,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2298\/revisions\/2299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}