California governor acts to stem 'epidemic' of youth vaping
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[September 17, 2019]
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's
governor on Monday ordered a public awareness campaign on health risks
posed by a "youth epidemic" of vaping, but said he lacked authority to
unilaterally ban flavored e-cigarettes that he said were deliberately
marketed to children.
Governor Gavin Newsom, acting a day after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
announced such a ban, became the latest politician seeking to crack down
on e-cigarettes and other electronic inhaling - or vaping - devices,
which have exposed a new generation of young people to nicotine hazards.
Public health officials have said fruit- and candy-flavored e-cigarettes
are luring millions of teenagers into using vaping products and becoming
addicted to the nicotine they contain.
The clamor for action has been spurred by a recent nationwide spate of
severe lung illnesses that U.S. health officials have linked to vaping
of both nicotine and cannabis products.
Nearly 400 cases have been reported, six of them fatal, according to the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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NEW YORK STATE AND CHICAGO
On Sunday, Cuomo said New York state's health commissioner would
formally ban all flavored e-cigarettes besides tobacco and menthol later
this week.
President Donald Trump's administration last week announced plans to
remove flavored e-cigarettes from store shelves nationwide.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Monday she was leading a move to
ban the sale of flavored vaping and tobacco products in the
third-largest U.S. city.
At a news conference in the state capital, Sacramento, Newsom urged
state legislators to send him a bill in its next session banning
flavored e-cigarettes in California, saying he lacked the power to
impose such restrictions outright.
Instead, he outlined a series of immediate steps "to meet the urgency
behind this public health crisis and youth epidemic," including a $20
million social media campaign to educate young people about health
dangers from vaping nicotine and cannabis products.
His executive order also directs agencies in the most populous U.S.
state to devise plans to remove illegal vaping products from sale and
recommend health warnings that retailers and advertisers of vaping
products would be required to post.
In addition, state officials were directed to recommend nicotine
standards and uniform packaging for purposes of including nicotine
content in the calculation of existing e-cigarette taxes. The governor
also signed legislation tightening age verification requirements for the
sale of tobacco products.
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![](../images/091719pics/news_b3.jpg)
A man uses a vape as he walks on Broadway in New York City, U.S.,
September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
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SURGE AMONG HIGH SCHOOLERS
Newsom said the advent of flavored e-liquids was part of a
deliberate strategy to market to children and had essentially
reversed gains previously made by public health authorities in
curbing tobacco use by young people.
"You don’t have bubble-gun flavor, or mango flavor unless you’re
targeting a young audience," he told reporters.
Newsom cited data showing vaping devices were the most commonly used
tobacco products in California and that more than 80% of high school
students who consume tobacco do so by vaping.
He also said nearly 87% of California teens who consumed tobacco
products reported using a flavored product, and that more than
15,500 e-liquid flavors were on the market.
The share of high school students using e-cigarettes has more than
doubled over the past two years, with 27.5% reporting they had tried
an e-cigarette in the past month, according to preliminary federal
data released last week.
The surge has coincided with the rising popularity of e-cigarettes
made by San Francisco-based Juul Labs Inc, now the leading U.S.
distributor.
Juul Labs has insisted that it "never marketed to youth, period,"
although the company has said it regretted that some of its early
advertising "was executed in a way that was perceived as appealing
to minors."
On Monday, Juul Labs spokesman Ted Kwong said the company agreed
with the need for “aggressive category-wide action on vapor
products,” adding that it had taken “the most aggressive actions of
anyone in the industry to combat youth usage.” He said the company
pulled many of its flavors from retail stores and suspended its
social media accounts last year.
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(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by
Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing
by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney)
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