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A Bad Summer for Vaping
VAPING
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A Bad Summer for Vaping
By Bob Crew, London Correspondent
Electronic cigarettes took a beating from June to September, with the discovery of THC contamination, Michigan’s ban on flavored e-cigarettes and the President Trump’s announcement that vaping has problems and he thinks something has to be done about them. But the Ban on the Bay back in June started it all off, and there are still some lessons to be learned from it. TI Contributor Crew shares his insights as to the attempted prohibition of vapes last June in San Francisco.
The San Francisco, Cal., board voted (unanimously) in June to seek a ban on local stores and other retail outlets from selling vaporizers. At the same time, the board made it illegal for online retailers to deliver to addresses in the city.
The ban did not go into immediate effect. It has to be supported by asyet unwritten legislation, and that is expected to take seven months under Californian state law. In that time, there could be legal challenges; You would certainly expect one to come from Juul Labs, which has been embarrassed by this action taking place in the city that is Juul’s corporate home.
Juul has responded that an e-cig ban will drive smokers back to less healthy tobacco-cigarettes and also “create a thriving black market.” But San Francisco’s
Mayor, London Breed, has said that she will sign off on the proposed legislation come what may, and she has been praised for this.
Anti-vaping activists argue that e-cig firms are deliberately targeting young people by offering them flavored products designed to appeal to them, whilst others contend that more scientific investigation into the health effects is needed. There is also the objection that vaping encourages young people to switch to cigarettes when they might otherwise quit smoking altogether. But the industry is waiting for evidence to support this.
FDA Paved the Way
Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued newly proposed guidelines for giving e-cig companies until 2021 to apply to have their e-cigarette products evaluated. So it is perhaps hardly surprising that there is still some question and/ or concern about the possible health effects of vaping, seeing as the FDA has made it clear that it is still not sure, and needs more testing and evaluation.
London Breed, the self-proclaimed “phenomenal” mayor of San Francisco in the American West.
The FDA has paved way and provided a very convenient excuse for the City of San Francisco (and others in due course) to legitimize its concerns.
As a result of which, there is now a stalemate situation between e-cig providers and the critics who are out to get them, and that will continue until 2021.
Although Juul has previously said that it supports cutting vaping among young people, this has been with the proviso that its agreement comes only in conjunction with tougher measures generally to stop them accessing regular cigarettes as well, not measures aimed only at e-cigs alone.
There will be a lingering vaping cloud hanging over the head of vapes and e-cigs and casting doubts about their future in this way.
Let’s not forget the enormous investment that has been made in e-cigs as an alternative to tobacco products. Well, as the song says, the show is not over until it’s over and it remains to be seen if the lady mayor will put investors off.
Her proposed ban has been campaigned for by the San Francisco’s City Attorney, Dennis Herrera, who has praised the legislation. He has declared that it is only necessary because of what he has described as an otherwise “abdication of responsibility” by the FDA in regulating e-cigarettes.
“This temporary moratorium wouldn’t be necessary if the federal government had done its job,” says Herrera. “E-cigarettes are a product that, by law, are not allowed on the market without FDA review. For some reason, the FDA has so far refused to follow the law. If the federal government is not going to act, San Francisco will.”
He bragged of the courage shown by his board. “This is a decisive step to help prevent another generation of San Francisco children from becoming addicted to nicotine,” he says.
Tobacco Deaths
According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of U.S. teenagers who admitted using nicotine products has risen from approximately 36 percent in 2018, and this has been attributed in part to a growth in e-cigarette use.
Although Juul has previously said that it supports cutting vaping among young people, this has been with the proviso that its agreement comes only in conjunction with tougher measures generally to stop them accessing regular cigarettes as well, not measures aimed only at e-cigs alone.
Juul’s small-vaping device—that is a bit longer than a flash drive—reportedly has about 70 percent of the U.S. vaping market. So there are big bucks at stake here for Juul and its investors.
Juul’s spokesman, Te Kwong, has warned full prohibition will:
• drive former adult smokers who successfully switched to vapor products back to deadly cigarettes,
• deny the opportunity to switch for current adult smokers, and
• create a thriving black market instead of addressing the actual causes of underage access and use.
Juul has already taken the most aggressive actions in the industry to keep its products out of the hands of those under age.
But traditional tobacco products will “remain untouched by this legislation, even though they kill 40,000 Californians every year,” said Kwong. Logic, at least, would appear to be on his side, not that logic has done him or Juul any legislative good thus far!
Juul is 35 percent-owned by Altria, of course, which reports it has already withdrawn popular flavors— such as mango and cucumber—from retail stores. It has also closed its social media channels on Instagram and Facebook promoting e-cigs to the young and under-aged. But as we see, the City of San Francisco and its officials are out to get them and their products just the same!
E-Cigs in Danger of Extinction
Clearly, these alternative smokes could all go up in vapor before long, if the City of San Francisco has its way in California and carves a path to other states for a spread of anti-vaping e-cig legislation
By fanning the anti-vaping flames in California during this year’s hot summer, the Mayor and City Attorney of San Francisco obviously hoped for a brush fire with a health purpose that would wipe out e-cigs once and for all in California.
And perhaps at the same time, their conflagration would spread to other states as well, where there is already plenty of anti-tobacco and anti-vaping sentiment. All of that could of course lead to e-cig sales and profits suddenly be extinguished.
Not only is this alarming for the e-cig producers and their investors, but for those who care about the ill-effects of the black market that will certainly appear in their absence. If these
e-cig producers do not make haste and mount a legal challenge to make their case loud and clear—to save the day for them and their profitable products and to keep the black marketeers out as well—one wonders why not?
The issue needs to be pounded big time. And perhaps turn the anti-vapers’ conceit on its head: Are young and/or under-aged young people really better served by an unregulated black market, health wise and otherwise, than a legalized and controlled market?
Flavored Vape Ban: A Phenomenal Mistake?
A sympathetic cheer now from everyone in the industry in support of those who speak for vaping.
Let us hope we soon see them confront head-to-head the lady mayor of San Francisco. She proudly declares that she is a ‘phenomenal woman.’ But our side should ask if she is not making a phenomenal mistake with regard to a very unhealthy black market for young and under-age smokers.
Other Hits that Vaping Took This Summer
THC and Vaporizers: A Deadly Combination
On 6th September 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement in response to recent reports of respiratory illnesses following the use of vaping products.
This statement included a recommendation that consumers should “avoid buying vaping products of any kind on the street, and to refrain from using THC oil (tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive component of the marijuana plant) or modifying/adding any substances to products purchased in stores.”
British American Tobacco (BAT), one of the largest vapor companies, responded through its Director of Scientific Research, Dr. David O’Reilly. “We take our consumer safety responsibilities very seriously. We apply industry-leading standards of quality and safety testing to the way we develop and manufacture our products all around the world.
“Every single ingredient and component in these products has been scrutinized by our toxicologists for their suitability for vaping.
Consistent with this, oils containing THC and Vitamin E Acetate are not, and have never been, added to our vaping products.
“These tragic events appear to be a new phenomenon linked to liquids that were not sourced from reputable manufacturers and which contained ingredients, including THC and Vitamin E Acetate, which we do not use.”
Effective regulation and enforcement of this type of product will be very important to ensure product safety, he said.
BAT fully supports the FDA’s view that vapers should always:
• Source their devices and liquids from reputable manufacturers,
• Avoid modifying or adding substances to the products they purchase and,
• Should use the devices only as the manufacturer intended. “We are monitoring the situation in the U.S.,” O’Reilly said. “[We] will work closely with all relevant public health authorities around the world such as the FDA, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and Public Health England.”
E-Cigarettes “Trumped”
U.S. President Donald Trump said on September 11 that there is a problem with vaping among young people. “We’re going to have to do something about it,” he said. He instructed Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of Health and Human Services, to devise a plan within the coming weeks for removing most flavored e-cigarettes from the market.
“It will take several weeks for us to put out the final guidance that will announce all the parameters around the enforcement policy, and then there will likely be about a 30-day delay to effective date,” Azar said. “At that point all flavored e-cigarettes other than tobacco flavor would have to be removed from the market.”
Michigan’s Vape Ban
Michigan became the first American state to ban the sale of flavored vaping products after the state’s department of health and human services declared youth vaping a public health crisis.
The ban might go into effect by the end of 2019, and it could last for up to a year. Renewal might be possible if the state legislature approved.
