Michigan Bans Flavored E-Cigarettes

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]I[/dropcap]n order to protect smokers, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made a decision on Sept. 4 to ban flavored e-cigarette sales.

According to CNBC, Michigan is the first state to officially take this action, and it is mainly doing so to try and keep teens from vaping.

Whitmer asked the state health department to issue emergency rules that would ban the sale of flavored vaping products containing nicotine in stores and online. She also wants to keep companies from marketing these products as “clean,” “safe,” “healthy” and with other terms that make vaping nicotine seem “harmless.” So far, she has imposed a six-month ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, and she hopes the ban will be written into law. “As governor, I’m going to do it unilaterally until I can get the legislature to adopt a statute and write it into law,” Whitmer told MSNBC. “This is too important.”

Currently, U.S. health officials are investigating 215 possible cases of severe lung disease associated with vaping across 25 states. This is concerning to many, and it’s one of the reasons the governor has decided to impose an emergency ban.

“This situation, and the rising tide of youth tobacco use, is a top public health priority for the Trump administration,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement last week.

Michigan isn’t the only state currently trying to ban flavored vaping products, which many health officials claim attract kids. Recently, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to prohibit the sales of flavored e-cigarette products. Still, the issue is not clear-cut. Some feel that vaping should be allowed, as it helps people quit highly addictive cigarettes, and many are also concerned that going after vaping nicotine will have a negative effect on cannabis vaping. Clearly, laws on vaping and nicotine and cannabis consumption via vape still have a long way to go.