State Senators Announce Intent To Ban E-Cigarette Sales To Youth

SAN MATEO, CA – California Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, led five other lawmakers in the state legislature to quell the surging vaping problem in youngsters with a pledge announced Thursday to introduce a bill prohibit sales of tobacco products in retail stores and vending machines.

When the legislature reconvenes, Hill will be joined by Steve Glazer, Anthony J. Portantino, Connie M. Leyva and Scott Wiener with Assemblyman Kevin McCarty in the effort to halt an upswing in nicotine consumption by youths. This would include menthol cigarettes.

Their bill, which would also impose age verification requirements for online sales of tobacco products, is prompted by new federal figures showing a sharp rise in e-cigarette use by youths -- the flavored variety in particular for high school students - and an increase in underage use of tobacco products overall.

“We must stop the appalling epidemic of e-cigarette use by youths,” the Democrat serving San Mateo and Santa Clara counties said. “Enticed by fruit, candy and other appealing flavors, high school and middle school students throughout the U.S. are vaping in record numbers. The surge has reversed the decline in underage use of all tobacco products.”

Another lawmakers chimed in on the trend.

“Flavored e-cigarettes are luring young people into a nicotine addiction that can lead to a lifetime of harmful health effects,” Sen. Glazer, D-Orinda said. “This needs to stop before we get another generation hooked on nicotine and tobacco.”

“One of the mayors in my district recently asked me to help stem the vaping crisis, and as a dad of a teenage daughter, I am very pleased to join my colleague Jerry Hill on this important public health effort,” said Portantino, a Democrat serving La Cañada Flintridge.

“Flavored tobacco products are extremely appealing to our youth, but we know these products are addicting and can negatively impact brain development during crucial years,” said Democrat McCarty of Sacramento. “California must set new standards to protect our youth.”

Soaring E-cigarette use by youths

Citing an alarming rise in e-cigarette use among youths, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report on Nov. 15 showing that more than 3.6 million middle and high school students are using e-cigarettes. That’s 1.5 million more than in 2017 and almost 13 times the number of students who were using e-cigarettes in 2011.

The stunning growth between 2017 and 2018 amounted to a 78 percent increase in e-cigarette use by high school students and a 48 percent increase by middle school students, according to the report. By 2018, 1 in 5 high school students were using e-cigarettes and 1 in 20 middle school students were doing the same. The year-over-year spike in e-cigarette use also drove up use of tobacco products overall to almost 4.9 million students in 2018, erasing what had been a decline.

The California Department of Public Health warns that the danger posed by e-cigarettes is not limited to their nicotine content. E-cigarette aerosol contains at least 10 chemicals on California’s Proposition 65 list of substances known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. These include acetaldehyde, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, isoprene, lead, nickel, nicotine, n‐nitrosonornicotine and toluene.

Many studies shows flavored tobacco products hook youngsters

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and authors of the federal report pointed to flavored products as the cause for increased e-cigarette use, noting that 68 percent of the e-cigarette users in high school consumed flavored products in 2018, up from 61 percent in 2017. Other federal research has consistently shown that the majority of youths and young adults say flavors are the primary reason for their use of a tobacco product, and 80 percent of young people who have ever used tobacco say they started with a flavored tobacco product.

In March, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids urged the FDA to ban all flavored tobacco products, saying that an abundance of evidence clearly identifies them as the lure for youngsters and teens to become tobacco users.

This fall, the FDA proposed a plan to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars and said it is considering restrictions on the sales of e-cigarettes in retail stores, but such proposals would have to undergo the regulatory process and could take years to become a reality.

Leading health groups voice support

The American Heart Association, the American Lung Association in California and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids were among the leading health organizations voicing support for legislation to prohibit sales of flavored tobacco products.

“Menthol, candy and fruit flavored tobacco products are a key part of the tobacco industry’s strategy to bait youth into becoming tomorrow’s addicts, and we cannot waste time addressing the skyrocketing use of e-cigarettes among California’s youth,” said American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Senior Government Relations Director Tim Gibbs. “Make no mistake—the industry shamelessly tries to maximize profits while its customers suffer death and disease, and local taxpayers continue to foot the bill for tobacco-related illnesses.”

The proposed solution for California

Under the state lawmakers’ proposed bill, retail stores and vending machines in California would be prohibited from selling flavored tobacco products. The legislation would cover flavored e-cigarettes, e-hookahs, e-pipes and other vaping devices as well as flavored smokable and non-smokable products such as cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, snuff, dissolvable tobacco and tobacco edibles.

Violators would face civil penalties ranging from $400 to $600 for the first incident to $5,000 to $6,000 for a fifth violation in a five-year period.

The bill would also require sellers and distributors of tobacco products online or by mail, phone or fax to verify that California buyers are 21 or older before the sale is complete.

“By banning retail sales of flavored tobacco products and setting stringent age verification requirements for online sales of tobacco products, we can prevent a new generation from becoming addicted to nicotine,” Hill said.

As the mayor of San Mateo, Hill championed reduction of second-hand smoke and led the way in revising a local smoking ordinance thereby banning smoking in enclosed work areas, restaurants and bars in 1994. Similar statewide prohibitions contained in Assembly Bill 13 began taking effect the following year with state smoking restrictions in bars and taverns phased in by 1998.

Twenty-six California cities, towns and counties have restricted flavored tobacco products, according to the Center for Tobacco Policy and Organizing of the American Lung Association in California. The majority are in the greater Bay Area. They include: Marin County, Saratoga, Half Moon Bay, Portola Valley, Richmond, Sausalito, San Mateo County, San Francisco, Windsor, Cloverdale, Fairfax, San Leandro, Palo Alto, Oakland, Contra Costa County, Los Gatos, Novato, Santa Clara County, El Cerrito, Berkeley, Sonoma and Hayward.

The lawmakers’ bill creates a threshold for restrictions and prohibitions regarding tobacco product sales. The bill would not prevent local jurisdictions from taking further steps.

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