Conn. health officials want lawmakers to ban flavored tobacco products
Leaders at the state’s public health department are asking the General Assembly to ban flavored tobacco and vaping products during the upcoming legislative session.
Pressure to pass reform at the state level has ramped up since the Trump administration backed away from its pledge to outlaw flavored vaping products nationwide. In November, antitobacco advocates called on lawmakers in Connecticut to take action in the wake of Trump’s reversal.
Barbara Walsh, a program manager at the state’s public health agency, made a formal recommendation to legislators that they take up the issue when the legislative session begins Feb. 5. The proposal is backed by Renee D. ColemanMitchell, Connecticut’s health commissioner.
“Flavored tobacco products were developed by the tobacco industry as a way to mask the harsh taste of tobacco, and make the product more appealing to children and youth,” Walsh wrote in her recommendation, posted on the state Office of Policy and Management’s website. “Eliminating flavors in all tobacco products, including [ecigarettes] and vapor devices, will help to prevent additional and future youth initiation.”
In September, as hundreds of people across the country contracted a mysterious lung disease linked to vaping, President Trump announced from the Oval Office that he would pursue a ban on most flavored ecigarettes.
The plan would have pulled flavored vaping products, including mint and menthol, from the market. The flavors would not have been allowed back without specific approval from the Food and Drug Administration.Officialsatthetime said the policy was being finalized and that it probably would go into effect a month later.
But in November, the president backed off his proposal, saying he didn’t want to move forward because he feared the prohibition would lead to job losses. He also warned that a flavor ban could spawn more counterfeit vaping products.
White House and campaign officials said Trump balked because he worried that angering vape shop owners and their customers might cost him at the polls.
In the absence of federal change, advocates doubled down on their push to enact a statelevel prohibition.
Walsh mentioned the outbreak of lung disease and pointed to national figures showing an increase in teen vaping in her proposal to legislators.
“Data from the 20132014 Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study found that 80.8 percent of 12 to 17yearolds who had used a tobacco product initiated utilizing a flavored product,” she wrote. “At least twothirds of youth reported using that product ‘because they come in flavors I like.’”
Nationally, more than one in four high school students use ecigarettes, according to federal data. Among that group, 27.5 percent reported vaping during the previous 30 days, up from 20.8 percent in 2018, preliminary results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual National Youth Tobacco Survey show. Fruit, menthol and mint were the most popular flavors, with more than 60 percent of teens who vaped saying they used them.
Lawmakers in Connecticut have vowed to explore barring the sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products during the 2020 session.
“Clearly, this is something we should do if there is not going to be federal action on it,” Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney told The CT Mirror in November. “I think there’s broadbased support for it. It should pass.”
The effort appears to have some bipartisan support. Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, RNorth Haven, also said he would back a flavor ban.
“It’s a health issue. We need to get rid of it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to shut down those 24hour gasoline stations. They sell a lot of different things. I just think it is a sin, what’s happening to our kids.”
Legislators debated the issue in 2019, but held off on imposing a flavor ban. Concerns raised at the time, including that some people rely on the vaping flavors to help them quit smoking or that a prohibition would drive more people to buy goods on the unregulated marketplace, are likely to resurface, lawmakers said.
“If we ban flavors, but Montana doesn’t and you go on the internet and order it – can you really prevent that?” House Majority Leader Matthew Ritter, DHartford, asked. “These are the kinds of things that are always easier when they’re regulated at the federal level, but that doesn’t mean Connecticut can’t be a leader and take a look at it.”
There are also financial implications. While examining the issue last year, state officials estimated they would need to spend about $525,000 more annually for enforcement. Fiscal analysts projected revenue from violations to be $60,000 during the first year and $30,000 in the second year after the law took effect.
Therealsowouldbean unspecified loss in tax revenue from the banned products, though officials at the state’s public health department pointed out that vaping and tobacco use have driven up the cost of health care. Walsh said estimates show that tobacco is costing Connecticut more than $2 billion per year.
Neighboring states and major cities have already enacted flavor bans.
The General Assembly in Massachusetts passed a sweeping prohibition on flavored ecigarettes and tobacco goods, including menthol cigarettes, that made it the first state in the nation to ban all flavored vaping and tobacco products. The New York City Council also voted to outlaw all flavored ecigarettes and eliquid vaping products, including menthol.
That has added some urgency to Connecticut’s effort.
“The debate on flavors is going to continue because the dangers of vaping have proven to be deadly,” Ritter said.