A congresswoman in Colorado, US, Diana DeGette, is introducing legislation that, if passed, would ban electronic-cigarette flavors on a national level, according to a story by Michael Nedelman for CNN quoting a Monday announcement by DeGette’s office.
The bill was expected to be introduced to the House of Representatives yesterday.
Nedelman described flavors as being at the center of the regulatory debate, with some people saying they were an important tool in getting adults to switch from combustible cigarettes, while others wanted to ban them entirely because in their view they appealed to young people and minimized how harmful and addictive vapes were perceived to be.
“To me, there is no legitimate reason to sell any product with names such as cotton candy or tutti fruitti, unless you are trying to market it to children,” DeGette, a Democrat, said in a statement on Monday.
“Most experts agree that the kid-friendly flavors that e-cigarette manufactures are selling with these products are one of the leading causes of this spike in use among our high school and middle school students.”
If DeGette’s bill becomes law, it will ban these flavors within a year unless companies can prove to the US Food and Drug Administration that flavors are not implicated in the rise in vaping among young people.
It would require companies also to show that flavors are instrumental in getting smokers to quit combustible cigarettes and that they don’t make vapes ‘more harmful to the user’.
The bill could ban flavors in cigars on the same timeline.
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