FDA and New York Take Aim at Flavored Vapes

After much saber-rattling with JUUL and other leading vape manufacturers, the FDA now plans to ban the sale of most flavored vape products (except mint and menthol) in retail stores and gas stations to reduce availability to young people.   Flavored vapes would only be allowed to be sold in vape shops and tobacco shops, and online sites with strict age verification measures.  New York State plans to go even further, banning the sale of flavored vapes entirely, much like San Francisco has already done.

Oh, and the FDA also apparently wants to ban menthol combustible cigarettes as well, because they are believed to be harder to quit than non-menthols (though that is probably due to their generally higher nicotine content, the harsher taste of which is masked by the menthol).  All other flavors have already been banned as of 2009.  This particular ban, however, will likely take much longer to finalize and longer still before it is actually enforced.

Twenty-One Debunked has mixed feelings about these bans.  On the one hand, they are in some ways still better than hiking the age limit to 21, and there is some truth to the idea that fruity flavors may make nicotine-containing vapes seem more benign than they actually are, increasing the likelihood of accidental addiction among young people.  On the other hand, these bans, though modest, can also be a slippery slope and even perhaps a boon to Big Tobacco.  So while we do not oppose these bans, we are still a bit wary about them nonetheless.

What would probably have the largest effect in terms of reducing the number of young people getting hooked on vaping is capping the maximum allowable nicotine content of vape products down to European and Israeli levels.  Over there, JUUL reduced their nicotine content so they can be sold in those markets, and such products remain effective smoking cessation devices with a somewhat lower likelihood of accidental addiction happening quickly  among young experimenters.  Meanwhile, in the USA, there is a joke that the unusually high-nicotine JUUL products sold here are kinda like the horror film The Ring: you will get hooked in seven days.  Not really far off the mark.

The best thing to stop the "epidemic" of teen vaping, of course, is to stop fanning the flames of moral panic.  After such modest bans like the ones discussed above are in place, hopefully the mainstream media will finally STFU about this supposed "epidemic".

UPDATE:  On November 13, 2018, JUUL announced that they will no longer restock any orders to retailers for any flavored vape pods other than tobacco or menthol, and will only continue selling them online to people 21 and older, and will also end all social media promotions as well.  So it looks like 18-20 year old vapers who prefer such flavors will need to stock up very fast at their local stores before they run out.

And as of November 15, the FDA will go ahead and pursue the aforementioned regulations.  The new regulations may not be fully implemented for months in the case of flavored vapes, and years in the case of menthol combustible cigarettes, but are essentially a foregone conclusion now.  Flavored vapes, except for mint, menthol, and tobacco, will only be sold in stores that do not allow people under 18 to enter or have separate sections that disallow people under 18. 

Thus, in their zeal to pre-empt regulators, it looks like JUUL is being unnecessarily ageist towards 18-20 year olds.  And why can't JUUL just offer a nicotine-free option for pods, and reduce their sky-high nicotine content in their current ones to European levels?