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LOS ANGELES – California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Monday that the state would step up its efforts to regulate electronic cigarettes – known as electronic cigarettes or vapes – with new warning standards regarding health and a $ 20 million product awareness campaign. "Adverse health effects and increased application of counterfeit flavored products sold on the black market.
This decision is part of the growing national interest in the dangers of electronic cigarettes, which heat liquids to produce an inhaled aerosol. Fluids often contain nicotine; some contain THC or CBD derived from marijuana plants.
Nearly 400 cases of lung disease in 36 states have been linked to vaping, according to data released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least six deaths have been linked to electronic cigarette products in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota and Oregon.
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Political leaders at all levels of government faced increasing demands for action as the news of vaping-related diseases spread and the federal government considered a ban at the national level. But there is still little information on the cause of the diseases. Governments' efforts to respond at local and local levels have been disparate efforts and the effectiveness of regulation remains uncertain.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday in Chicago that she would be calling for a ban on all flavored electronic cigarette products, highlighting the negative effects of nicotine on children. A Chicago alderman went further by saying that he would introduce a measure to ban the sale of all electronic cigarettes in the city..
In June, San Francisco became the first city in the country to prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes, citing the growing rate of nicotine addiction among adolescents.
Electronic cigarettes have become increasingly popular, as are counterfeit products manufactured in unregulated environments and suspected of being the source of many vaping-related diseases. According to the governor's office, there has been at least one death related to vapor inhalation in California and 63 cases of respiratory illness.
Mr Newsom said he would have liked to go further in his actions against vaping products during a speech in Sacramento on Monday. But he said that it did not seem that he could impose a total ban on e-cigarette products without legislative action.
"The fact is that they should be banned," he said. "I would like to see this bill on my desk and sign a bill to eliminate the legal use of flavored electronic cigarettes."
Newsom also said his administration was investigating how much it could raise taxes on electronic cigarette products through the executive branch, in order to bring the tax closer to traditional tobacco products. Nick Maduros, director of the California Department of Taxation and Tax Administration, said the governor had instructed him to look for a process of certifying e-cigarette products similar to that of tobacco. (California does not regulate electronic cigarettes in the same way as traditional cigarettes and there is no certification process for products manufactured safely.)
"In the absence of substantive bills to be signed in this space, we think it's appropriate that we take action on this," Newsom said. "We want to see where we can go in this business."
"As a parent, I understand the anxiety caused by misleading marketing tactics and flavored options designed to target our children," Newsom said in a statement. "With mysterious lung diseases and an increasing number of deaths, we need to educate our children and do everything in our power to deal with this crisis."
In Washington State, health officials on Monday announced two new cases of serious pulmonary disease related to vaping products with symptoms corresponding to what the federal authorities have described as being common for cases in any the country. New cases, which involve a teenager and a patient in their twenties, add to those previously announced by the state.
"It's now a statewide epidemic," said Kathy Lofy, the state's health officer.
The state said that it had not been able to identify a product, device or additive linking the three cases. He urged medical staff to report any hospitalizations related to the inhalation of lung diseases to the public health services.
Last week, the Trump administration announced it intended to prohibit the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes in the coming weeks. The Food and Drug Administration, which supports the development of such a plan, said this month, according to Alex M. Azar II, secretary of health and social services, that Juul Labs, the most famous Country electronic cigarette company, had illegally marketed its products claiming that they were less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
Newsom, a Democrat, applauded the Trump government's announcement but said political leaders across the country should also pursue their own actions.
Several States intervened to put in place immediate prohibitions.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan has banned the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes this month. On Sunday, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced that his administration intended to Emergency Regulation prohibiting the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes. The ban in New York, which decided this summer to raise the minimum age to buy electronic cigarettes at age 21, would have no impact on the sale of tobacco or menthol flavored products, according to Cuomo.
According to the data provided, over 80% of California high school students who use tobacco use electronic cigarettes. by the governor's officeand nearly 90% of these students use flavored products.
But while the dangers of e-cigarettes for public health have attracted attention in recent months, the products are seen by some as an important tool to help long-term smokers quit smoking, said the Dr. Steven A. Schroeder, Professor of Health at the University of California at San Francisco.
Completely eliminating flavored e-liquids would reduce the number of children who use them, but it could also cause adults to return to traditional cigarettes, he said.
"There is a large group of well-meaning public health experts who view e-cigarettes as a major public health problem," he said. "And I think they've been opportunistic to seize this disease to ban all these products without thinking about the broader implications.
"How can we get the sweet spot? How to preserve electronic cigarettes as a way for adults to stop smoking without increasing access to children? ", Did he declare. "It's like shooting a moving target."
Mike Baker and Julie Bosman contributed to the reports.
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