Posted on 10/26/2019 4:29:34 AM PDT by Kaslin
Recently, the Trump administration took the laudable step of announcing a proposed ban on all flavored e-cigarettes in the United States. Recognizing that we are in the midst of a youth vaping epidemic, as well as the sudden explosion of vaping-related lung illnesses and deaths, the president rightly sprung into action. Flavors are a gateway to vaping, addiction, illness and even death, and by removing them from the market, we can take a serious bite out of this tragic crisis.
Predictably, vaping giant Juul, who is more than one-third owned by tobacco giant Altria, is quietly trying to chip away at the flavor ban to protect its own profits. Juul notably took pre-emptive action last week to stop selling its flavored vapor pods online. Notably, this action excludes “menthol-based” products, which includes mint and traditional menthol.
Now, the rumor mill in Washington suggests that the administration may relent and carve these flavors out of the federal regulation, clearly as a result of Big Tobacco’s pressure campaign.
If this were to happen, it would completely undermine the purpose of the flavor ban. Mint is every bit as much a flavor as mango or cotton candy. Stand at any gas station counter and watch the Juul flavors kids are buying.
The only people suggesting that mint is not a flavor, apparently, are Big Tobacco lobbyists, who have been upping their lobbying game to keep these flavors on the market. In fact, in 2018, Juul spent $1.6 million on lobbying to fight the FDA, and that number is only increasing; from April-June 2019 alone Juul spent $1.01 million – its most expensive quarter to date – to protect these flavors.
In fact, mint and menthol aren’t just flavors – they’re the flavors young people most prefer. So far this year, they have accounted for two-thirds of youth use.
They’re also highly profitable for Juul – to the tune of $2 billion annually and 70 percent of the company’s total sales. This is an existential issue for Juul, hence the quiet lobbying campaign.
So, we have a situation where the 800-pound gorilla in the e-cigarette market is pushing to reinstate the flavors most popular with youth and most profitable to its own bottom line. Yet the company claims to be a partner with the government in combating youth use. Who on earth could believe them? Is the cynical public relations move of preemptively ending sales of non-mint and menthol vapor supposed to convince us of anything? Why in the world would we trust their PR efforts at all?
Earlier this month, a number of conservative organizations released a letter supporting the president’s proposed flavor ban. In it, they wrote, “Until e-cigarette companies are willing to abide by current restrictions on youth sales and further research is conducted by the CDC and FDA regarding the health consequences associated with e-cigarettes/vaping, we approve of the Trump Administration’s decision to halt flavored e-cigarettes to protect consumers, particularly youth.”
The goal is obvious, and stated at the end of that passage: Protect consumers, particularly youth. The objective of Juul and Big Tobacco is also obvious: Protect profits, period. The Trump administration should not be duped by this shameless ploy to pad e-cigarette company profits. The Administration must stand strong, and commit to a true, all-encompassing flavor ban that protects young people.
Welp, there goes all those automobiles. 44,000 deaths a year.
They are getting sick after trying to Vape home brew marijuana, cocaine, meth, and opioid products.
I think so. At least, I would want to hear his plan first...
Let’s not forget Goldschlager and all the different Schnapps flavors.
Yea!!! The nanny staters have shown up. Y’all sleep in this morning?
Yep. That too.
Can’t have the chillun getting their chubby little paws on these.
Vodka. Schnapps. Spiced rum.
Ban it all.
While we’re at it, all cough syrup must taste like sewage that’s been lit on fire. No more of that tasty cherry flavored stuff.
Because, “The chillun!!!!”
Who the hell are these people to tell me what I can and cannot put into my body..... nanny state at it’s highest.... and whenever I hear “It’s for the children” I know it is a bunch of crap
Thank you.
Love the tagline, BTW.
I don’t mind being called a nanny stater by those who pimp death and addiction.
You are still a liar pretending that an outright ban is the only way to prevent children vaping. You know better.
I guess I’m lucky. The vape juice I like is tobacco flavored. I refill a disposable pod about a dozen times before the coil burns out. This is after I dump out the tobacco flavored juice that comes in it because it tastes like dirt, just like every other prefill tobacco flavor pod I’ve tried. Works out cheaper too. Less than a dollar per refill which lasts 1 - 1 1/2 days.
And no more mornings hacking up phlegm or getting winded walking uphill.
You still pimp death and addiction.
American Carnage.
So says the arbiter of conservative values. Slow down,dude,have a coffee or is that pimping death and addiction too.
Parents: Tell your kids vapong is bad, and dont do it in your presence.
Adults? Your body, your choice. You can put whatever animal, vegetable, mineral or other ADULTS body part into whatever orifice, vein or lung you want. Non of my bizness.
If they do it and die, too effin bad.
Its just G-ds way of cleansing the planet of faulty DNA.
I smoked cigarettes for 40 years.
Vaping got me off that poison when nothing else worked. Patches, gum, pills... Nothing.
I don’t use a JUUL or any other gas-station e-cigarette, but I do use flavored liquid.
I guess I can’t imagine using tobacco flavored juice as a way to quit tobacco. It sounds like an idea Phillip Morris would support.
Should we be worried about secondary vape? :-)
“It’s not a conservative value to turn kids into addicts.”
Its not a conservative value to compel others by force of law. YOU lead by example and convince others to follow.
Dont have Big Brother do your dirty work for you and let you off the hook.
Stoopid parents making stoopid kids making stoopid decisions should not be a driving force for any goobermint policy.
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