Author: Bill Tarling

“Some Montana vape and e-cigarette retailers are once again squaring off with the Bullock administration over the state’s temporary ban on the sale of flavored vaping products. This time they disagree on when it ends. Flavored vape and e-cigarette product sales are currently off limits in Montana, but a vape industry association vows to resume those sales next week. Now, the Marshalls and the state of Montana aren’t even a little close to consensus on the effective end date of that emergency rule banning the sale of flavored e-cigarette and vaping products. “It ends on February 20th,” Marshall says. Not so, according to Governor Steve Bullock’s Chief Legal Counsel, Raph Graybill, who says the ban actually ends: “April 15 , 2020,” Graybill says. That’s a 55-day difference of opinion.”

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Questions Remain Over Montana Vape Ban’s End Date, Effectiveness

“A federal court in Washington dismissed e-cigarette manufacturers’ First Amendment claims challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to deem e-cigs “tobacco products,” which are subject to regulation under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.”

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Courthouse News Service

COURT RULING (pdf)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

“Newfoundland and Labrador is contributing $75,000 to an advertising campaign intended to raise awareness about the risks of youth vaping. The Newfoundland and Labrador Alliance for the Control of Tobacco, which receives $210,000 annually from the province, announced the campaign called “The New Look of Nicotine Addiction” in St. John’s today. Advertisements will appear on billboards, online and on social media. It will include information about vaping products such as chemical contents, types of devices, effects of nicotine on brain development and youth being targeted by the vaping industry.”

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Campaign launched in Newfoundland and Labrador to raise awareness about risks of youth vaping

“Vape shops would have to be permitted and regulated by the state, under a Florida House effort to combat an “epidemic” of electronic-cigarette use by teens. Under the proposal, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees sales of tobacco products, would also have authority over retail establishments that sell e-cigarettes and other vape products. The House Health Market Reform Subcommittee on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the measure (PCB HMR 20-04), despite the objections of the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association. A group representing vape shops, however, supported the legislation.”

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Florida House Seeks Regulation Of Vape Shops

“Lorna Rosen, deputy minister of Alberta Health, gave the latest available figures for teens from grades 10 to 12 in an answer during the Public Accounts Committee meeting Tuesday morning. The use of e-cigarettes or vaping products is not covered under the current version of Alberta’s Tobacco and Smoking Reduction Act, legislation the government has said is due for changes this year. Jeremy Nixon, the UCP MLA for Calgary-Klein, led a review of the act last fall with an aim of regulating vaping. Nixon submitted his report to Health Minister Tyler Shandro at the end of 2019. He said he will meet with Shandro soon to discuss his recommendations.”

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Teen vaping rates rise as Alberta set to make legislative changes

“The age to purchase tobacco and electronic smoking devices on P.E.I. will increase to 21 as of March 1 of this year. In the letter the province describes a “transition period,” meaning anyone who turned 19 before March 1 will still be allowed to purchase the products. The letter also states that as of March 1, electronic smoking or vape products can only be sold in “tobacconist shops,” described as an “age-restricted location” where, “at least 50 per cent of the retailer’s product display space is devoted to the sale of tobacco, electronic smoking devices, or a combination of both.” Restrictions on vape flavours will not come into effect immediately, according to the letter. On Tuesday, the province posted on its website a draft copy of an amendment to the regulations for the Tobacco and Electronic Smoking Devices Sales and Access Act. That document, labelled “consultation draft,” would prohibit the sale of any flavouring agent “added to tobacco or an electronic smoking device to produce an aroma or taste other than the aroma or taste of tobacco, including the aroma or taste of candy, chocolate, fruit, a spice, an herb, an alcoholic beverage, vanilla or menthol.”

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Age to buy tobacco, vapes on P.E.I. to increase March 1

“Aviation security regulator BCAS has banned e-cigarettes and similar products on all airports and aircraft in India. “Upon the prohibition of electronic-cigarettes by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it has been decided that e-cigarettes includes all forms of electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS), heat not burn products, e-hookah and the like devices,” stated the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security circular dated January 10. Distribution, sale, storage and advertisement of such products is prohibited on any airport premises or any aircraft departing or arriving in India, the regulator added.”

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BCAS bans e-cigarettes in airports and aircraft

“A House committee advanced a bill on Tuesday that would increase taxes on vaping products and other items like cigars and chewing tobacco, which is estimated to raise $50 million of new tax revenue over the next two fiscal years. The House Appropriations and Revenue committee voted to approve House Bill 32, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Miller, R-Louisville, by a 21-1 vote. House Bill 32 would add vaping products to the list of smokable tobacco products like cigars and cigarillos that are subject to a wholesale tax, with that rate increasing from 15% to 25%”

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Kentucky House committee advances bill to increase taxes on vaping

“The study, led by the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow and published today in BMC Public Health, also found that while disadvantaged adult smokers were less likely to have quit smoking, this inequality was smaller among those who vaped, suggesting vaping may be helping this group of smokers to quit. Dr Michael Green, lead author of the study said: “Whether someone smokes is important because, while vaping among those who have never smoked might be a concern, vaping among smokers and ex-smokers is more desirable because it can involve people switching away from smoking. Our findings suggest that e-cigarettes may be helping disadvantaged smokers to quit. This could potentially have a big impact on inequalities in health, because giving up smoking is very beneficial for people’s health.”

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E-CIGARETTES MAY BE HELPING DISADVANTAGED SMOKERS TO QUIT

“Among environmental advocates the increasingly popular products pose another challenge — how to get rid of them after they’re used. E-cigarettes and pods for e-cigarettes or vapes can be both hazardous and electronic waste — depending on the product — and the plastic poses the same concerns as other plastic products that can add to overall waste and break down into microplastics that harm ocean ecosystems. There’s very little data available about e-cigarette waste, but Jeremiah Mock, an associate professor who researches tobacco use at the University of California, San Francisco, conducted a study surveying high schools in the San Francisco area and the kind of waste found around the building. He said the nicotine residue, liquid and flavor in the cartridge or device could pose environmental concerns as well as the plastic itself as it degrades. The lithium ion batteries in electronics can also pose a fire risk in waste and recycling facilities, causing expensive damage and putting workers’ safety at risk. “Now we have the fourth generation of devices with built-in lithium ion batteries that, you know, people are told by the manufacturer is disposable, it’s the thrown in the garbage or wherever. You know, there’s no, there’s no information about how to dispose of them properly,” Mock said.”

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E-cigarettes highlight the challenges of dealing with plastic waste