VAPING NEWS: CONSEQUENCES OF RUSHED BAN LEGISLATION

“Recent news about e-cigarette misuse has fueled both public misperception and policy responses that are likely to have unintended consequences. As the US vaping market continues to evolve, policymakers face the tricky challenge of safeguarding the potential for positive public health outcomes from e-cigarettes, which offer a lower-risk alternative to traditional cigarettes, while ensuring reasonable protections against youth use. In the latter half of 2019, public health officials rushed to issue broad warnings against e-cigarettes in response to a surge in vaping-related hospitalizations and deaths that grabbed national headlines. The broad warnings proved to be unfounded, as the hospitalizations and deaths were determined to be unrelated to anything found in typical e-cigarettes. eliminating flavored e-cigarette products, outright e-cigarette bans, or another popular local policy, e-cigarette taxes, have a major downside: more cigarette smoking. Because e-cigarettes are a less harmful alternative to cigarettes, public health advocates and officials must appreciate the impact of e-cigarette restrictions on smokers.”

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Efforts to Combat E-Cigarette Misuse Could Backfire