New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
As CT considers banning flavored e-cigarettes, resistance remains strong
A push for Connecticut to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, which has drawn fierce resistance from the vaping industry and concern from some lawmakers, faces a key vote in the General Assembly this week.
Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, co-chair of the public health committee, said he expects the bill to pass out of the committee, which is meeting Wednesday to decide which legislative proposals on its agenda should move forward.
For several years, Connecticut lawmakers have sought to ban flavored vaping products as use has skyrocketed among youth. Previous proposals would have banned all flavored tobacco items, including menthol cigarettes, but this year’s bill would just prohibit the sale of flavored vapes. Gov. Ned Lamont supports the proposal and included a ban on flavored vaping products in his budget plan two years ago that failed to pass.
E-cigarette use more than doubled among high school students and tripled among middle school students between 2017 and 2019, according to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey. In Connecticut, 27 percent of high school students reported using ecigarettes in 2019 compared to 1 in 20 middle school students, according to the survey.
While supporters said the ban is key to addressing the youth vaping epidemic, the industry and others have argued that doing away with the products entirely could be harmful to adults who use them to stop smoking traditional cigarettes. State Rep. Jaime Foster, D-Ellington, a member of the committee, said that’s a concern of hers and she would prefer to restrict the sale of vaping products to those 21 and older.
Connecticut raised the minimum age to buy ecigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 21 several years ago. Steinberg said the law was the first step in getting flavored vapes out of the hands of youths. But Connecticut remains an outlier as one of the few states in the Northeast to still allow the sale of the flavored vaping products.
“There’s been a tremendous amount of pressure put on legislators to try to water down this bill,” said Kevin O’Flaherty, director of advocacy for Connecticut Campaign TobaccoFree Kids.
Last year, Democrats tried to include the flavored vape ban in the end-of-theyear budget implementer bill, but advocates said it contained too many loopholes and they removed it.
A previous proposal to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products failed largely over the $100 million in tax revenue that would have been lost annually. By comparison, this year’s bill covering only flavored e-cigarettes would cost the state about $2 million per year.
O’Flaherty said if “after three years of talking about it and after neighboring states doing it,” the governor and state lawmakers can’t get the bill passed this year, it could “very easily become a voting issue for parents and teachers this fall.”