vaping: BIG TOBACCO

from Area Woman Magazine Dec'19/Jan'20

by Lake & Home Magazine | Area Woman Magazine

December january

WORDS : TAMI NORGARD & AVERY ZASADA PHOTOGRAPHY : BRITTA TRYGSTAD

When it comes to smoking, I’m the non-smoking sandwich generation. My early years in a mobile home with two parents smoking daily killed any intrigue about smoking. My brother and I regularly rebelled, making overly-dramatic choking sounds, hiding packs of cigarettes, and even defiantly breaking all my dad’s cigarettes in half once. With maturity, I learned that smoking is a life-long addiction and a daily struggle for too many. As companies disclosed health impacts, my parents ultimately quit smoking, a few times ... at least until the addiction beckoned again.

As a new lawyer at a large Minneapolis law firm in the mid-1990s, I worked for one of the “Big Tobacco” companies sued by the State of Minnesota to recoup state smoking-related health care costs. This assignment provided me with an all-expense paid tour of duty to a windowless warehouse basement in North Carolina, pouring through confidential Big Tobacco documents for 15 hours a day. Each state sued Big Tobacco, seeking reimbursement of public health systems costs allegedly caused by tobacco-related health problems. States claimed Big Tobacco’s marketing tactics intentionally appealed to children, hooking them young to guarantee replacement smokers as the older smokers died prematurely. After years of litigation, the states settled. North Dakota spent almost half of its $600 million in settlement funds to date on public water projects, like the FM Di- version, Red River Valley Water Supply Project and area water treatment facilities. Minnesota’s settlement has netted $6.5 billion to date. In addition, thousands of smokers filed individual lawsuits against Big Tobacco, some resulting in multi-million-dollar jury verdicts.

I regularly emphasize the health impacts of smoking, and now vaping, to my kids. When they were ages 5 and 8, we visited the Minnesota Science Museum’s “Human Body” exhibit, where they experienced an impactful visual: real dead bodies with exposed healthy lungs, which resembled pink slabs of steak, versus a 70-year old smoker’s lungs, which looked like a black shriveled walnut. My inquisitive then 8-year-old daughter, Avery, asked me why smoking was legal. Why allow people to ingest toxic substances that could kill them? That led to a great discussion of civil liberties and personal freedom. She was destined for law school at an early age.

While cigarettes finally became largely passé among teens, along came vaping, along with a strong sense of de ja vu. With numerous reports of vaping deaths and respiratory illness this year, I sense history may be repeating itself, this time with a different nicotine delivery method.

Big Tobacco’s early marketing efforts framed cigarettes as health products to relieve digestive ailments and respiratory conditions. E-cigarette marketing is promoted as a healthier alternative to smoking. Like early Big Tobacco marketing, vape product advertising is argued to not-so-subtly target America’s youth. Liquid nicotine flavors like Bubblegum and Cotton Candy appeal to teenage consumers. Research establishes that these efforts are creating a new nicotine addicted generation.

In 2019, 1 in 4 high school seniors reported e-cigarette use in the past month, along with 1 in 11 eighth graders. As vaping use has increased, so have incidences of possible vaping-related lung illnesses. The U.S. Surgeon General recently took an extraordinary action, declaring vaping a public health epidemic.

What’s next for the multi-billion-dollar e-cigarette industry? A number of states recently banned fruit-flavored nicotine pods. Cities like San Francisco have banned Juul brand devices altogether. Juul discredits such actions, emphasizing that their products are meant for adults and that no single e-cigarette product has been tied to lung ailments. Numerous class action lawsuits have now been filed in relation to e-cigarette abuse and addiction, claiming Juul engaged in false advertising, failure to warn users about health concerns, and negligent marketing to minors. Numerous individuals have also sued the e-cigarette companies, claiming personal injury and wrongful death.

As federal investigators launched a criminal investigation this fall, Juul’s CEO stepped down from this $38 billion company and Juul stopped all advertising. Congress recently asked Juul to hand over internal documents on marketing strategies and health impacts. Is this the beginning of the end for e-cigarettes? Maybe my law school-bound daughter will get her own tour of duty in a windowless warehouse basement, this time in Silicon Valley. History repeats itself.

WE ALL HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON WE’RE ATTORNEYS

No other North Dakota law firm comes close to the number of women attorneys as Vogel and we work hard to assure your success. Our wide range of practice areas include: