Some tobacco policy experts fear new restrictions on vaping products could have damaging consequences, including driving adults who vape back to cigarette smoking.
FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2014, file photo, a patron exhales vapor from an e-cigarette at a store in New York. Only two years ago e-cigarettes were viewed as holding great potential for public health: offering a way to wean smokers off traditional cigarettes. But now Juul and other vaping companies face an escalating backlash that threatens to sweep their products off the market.
New restrictions at the local, state and federal level are poised to wipe out thousands of fruit-, candy- and dessert-flavored vapes that have attracted teens. But experts who study tobacco policy fear the scattershot approach of the clampdown could have damaging, unintended consequences, including driving adults who vape back to cigarette smoking, which remains the nation’s leading preventable cause of death.
Federal investigators say that nearly 80 percent of people who have come down with the vaping illness reported using products containing THC, the high-inducing chemical found in marijuana. They have not traced the problem to any single product or ingredient. But investigators are increasingly focused on thickeners and additives found in illegal THC cartridges sold on the black market.
“The problem here is we have convinced adult America that vaping is as dangerous as smoking — and nothing could be further from the truth,” said Kenneth Warner, professor emeritus at the University of Michigan’s school of public health. More than 30 countries prohibit vaping products. In contrast, the United Kingdom has fully embraced them as a public health tool, urging doctors to promote them to help smokers quit.
Further complicating the picture is the fact that no e-cigarette brand has yet been shown to help smokers quit in rigorous studies. But large-scale surveys suggest smokers who use e-cigarettes daily are up to six times more likely to quit than those who don’t use them.The statistics favoring e-cigarettes are bolstered by the experiences of people like Laura Adams, 52, of Battle Creek, Michigan.
As Michigan stores pull their flavored products to comply with the state ban, Adams has been researching out-of-state suppliers and even do-it-yourself kits for mixing flavors. That’s exactly the opposite of what public health officials have been trying to achieve, noted former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who stepped down in April.
“This was always a package deal, and it’s become even more critical than ever to advance that entire policy agenda,” he said. Industry observers say few, if any, of the thousands of vape shops that mix their own custom flavors and solutions will be able to meet the threshold.
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