Last September, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer had issued an executive order banning the sale of flavoured e-liquids across the State of Michigan. “As governor, my number one priority is keeping our kids safe,” said Gov. Whitmer in a statement at the time.
“And right now, companies selling vaping products are using candy flavors to hook children on nicotine and misleading claims to promote the belief that these products are safe. That ends today.”
However, the proposed ban had been temporarily blocked by a state judge, who ruled that the emergency provision short-circuited normal law making procedures.
Whitmer calls youth vaping a “health emergency”
In response to the block, Gov. Whitmer had announced that she would be fighting it by seeking a Supreme Court ruling. “This decision is wrong. It misreads the law and sets a dangerous precedent of a court second-guessing the expert judgment of public health officials dealing with a crisis,” she said.
However two weeks ago, the Michigan Supreme Court denied Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s request to remove the lower court’s block on the ban and also denied her request that the high court consider the case before the Court of Appeals, saying that they were “not persuaded that the question should be reviewed by this court before consideration by the Court of Appeals.” Once again, Whitmer’s office called the court’s decision “deeply troubling” given the current public health crises.
CDC: curiosity not flavours is the main cause of teen vaping
Meanwhile, in line with previous arguments by several anti-smoking experts, new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have indicated that curiosity is the main motivator driving minors to try vaping, not flavours.
The CDC report suggests that all the flavour bans being set in place across the US, may do little to decrease teen vaping rates. “Among students who reported ever having tried e-cigarettes, the three most common reasons for use were “I was curious about them” (55.3%), “friend or family member used them” (30.8%), and “they are available in flavors, such as mint, candy, fruit, or chocolate” (22.4%). Among students who never used e-cigarettes, 39.1% were curious about using e-cigarettes and 37.0% were curious about smoking cigarettes.”
Read Further: The Detroit News
The FDA’s Proposed Flavour Restrictions Could Worsen Teen Vaping Rates
