Nanny-state politicians in Washington already raised the legal age to purchase tobacco and vaping products to 21. Now, as if they’re determined to make things worse, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives just passed a bill to outright ban flavored e-cigarette products.
The bill, the “Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2019,” was sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey. It bans the online sale of vaping products and generally prohibits the sale and use of flavored e-cigarettes. With 124 Democratic co-sponsors, the bill has the broad backing of the Democratic Party.
But two House Republicans, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Rep. Peter King, have backed the bill as well. So much for individual liberty and free markets, huh?
All this in response to the “youth vaping crisis,” an overhyped and exaggerated disaster led by misleading media reports. Yes, teenagers increasingly use vaping products, and that’s not exactly ideal. But vaping is 95% healthier than traditional cigarette smoking, and almost all of the much-hyped “vaping-related deaths” come from black-market vaping products, which will only become more prevalent as legal products are restricted. Plus, current law already makes teenage vaping 100% illegal.
Banning flavors is just regulatory overkill that won’t do much to discourage teenagers from vaping, but it will irreparably harm adult cigarette smokers trying to quit the much deadlier habit.
Don’t forget that roughly 480,000 people die in the United States every year from health problems related to traditional cigarette smoking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 16 million people live with illnesses related to cigarette smoking. Thankfully, though, e-cigarettes have helped mitigate and reduce smoking-related deaths in the U.S., as they’ve assisted thousands if not millions of cigarette smokers in quitting or transitioning onto less-harmful nicotine products — vaping products dispense nicotine, but they do not contain the same cancer-causing chemicals as traditional cigarettes.
Writing in USA Today, one former smoker who used e-cigarette products to quit then started a vaping store, told his compelling story:
I’ve met many adults in my personal life who have helped quit smoking through the use of vaping products. Several have told me they literally believe vaping saved their lives and that it would have been much more difficult to quit without good-tasting flavored vapes available.
Ample research confirms this anecdotal evidence.
House Democrats’ latest regulatory push may be well-intentioned, and there’s little doubt that most folks who support flavor bans are genuinely concerned about youth vaping. But good intentions inside, this proposed flavor ban would only make matters worse — and leave more adults hooked on dangerous, life-threatening traditional cigarettes.
