If implemented, SB 1009 would ban “tastes or aromas relating to any candy, chocolate, vanilla, honey, fruit, cocoa, coffee, dessert, alcoholic beverage, menthol, mint, wintergreen, herb, or spice.” The aim of the bill is to “reduce tobacco-related health disparities and address the youth vaping epidemic.”
Last June, San Francisco became the first city in the US to ban flavored e-liquids, and other cities and states were bound to start following suit. Meanwhile, public health experts are deeply concerned about the repercussions that these bans may have on local smoking rates.
Most adult smokers vape flavoured e-liquids
In line with previous research, a recent large scale peer reviewed study published in the Harm Reduction Journal last Summer, seemed to confirm that restricting e-liquid flavours may discourage smokers from switching to the proven safer alternatives which could save their life.
This study was conducted by the Centre for Substance Use Research (CSUR), and looked at data gathered from over 20,000 adult frequent vapers in the US. “The results show that non-tobacco flavours, especially fruit based flavours, are being increasingly preferred to tobacco flavours by adult vapers who have completely switched from combustible cigarettes to vapour products,” said Dr Christopher Russell, Deputy Director of CSUR, who led the research.
Read Further: The Heartland Institute
