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Latest From FDA The final policy, announced January 2, now includes a number of exceptions that the US Food and Drug Administration says are the result of new data about which products are commonly used among children. However, critics have called it a "hollowed-out" policy that ended up "watering down the flavor ban." Link To Original Article »»

USA Vaping Ban The Trump administration is expected to announce this week that it will ban mint-, fruit- and dessert-flavored e-cigarette cartridges popular with teenagers, but allow menthol and tobacco flavors to remain on the market.



Flavored liquid nicotine used in open tank systems can continue to be sold, according to two administration officials who have been briefed on the plan. It is an important concession to vape shops that have thrived alongside the booming e-cigarette business in recent years.



President Trump acknowledged late Tuesday that the ban would be announced “very shortly.” But he indicated that it might be short-lived and he didn’t say which flavors were involved. Link To Original Article »»

New Zealand New Zealand first is invoking the 'agree to disagree' provision of its coalition agreement with Labour because it doesn't support the announced 11.46 percent increase in tobacco excise from January 1.



The increase will still go ahead because it has been passed by regulation. He said the policy of automatically increasing tobacco excise has "reached the limit of its effectiveness". Link To Original Article »»

Trump's course correction on e-cigarettes Annie Karni, Maggie Haberman, and Sheila Kaplan of the New York Times describe U.S. president Donald Trump’s proposed ban on flavored e-cigarette products as “a swift and bold reaction to a growing public health crisis affecting teenagers” that Trump backed away from “under pressure from his political advisers and lobbyists to factor in the potential pushback from his supporters.” Maybe they’re right about Trump’s motivations, but they’re wrong about pretty much everything else. E-cigarettes are not a “public health crisis.” That supposed crisis is not “growing.” And to the extent that teenagers are negatively affected by e-cigarettes, the very “bold reactions” the three writers seem to favor are far more culpable than e-cigarettes themselves. E-cigarettes are, according to all credible evidence, safer than burning sticks of tobacco — sorry, Food and Drug Administration, you don’t get to tell me I can’t say so. A few cases of lung injury from black market “street vapes” have been reported, the cause (use of vitamin E in the “juice”) seems to have been identified, and that problem is already disappearing in the rear-view mirror. Who buys “street vapes?” People who can’t buy the e-cigarette products they want legally, either because of content (cannabis) or age (the teenagers the Times authors imply they care about so much). Banning flavored e-cigarette products wouldn’t stop teenagers, or anyone else, from getting flavored e-cigarette products. It would just send even more of them to the “street vape” market for those products. If Trump reconsidered his proposed ban due to political pressure and the desire to be re-elected, so what? A good decision is a good decision. Link To Original Article »»

Trump changes position on E-Cigarettes Trump announced a ban on non-tobacco flavored vapes on Sept. 11 and expressed concern for the health of "kids" including his teenager Barron. But last week, he reportedly stalled plans to implement this policy on concern that it would alienate some voters ahead of the 2020 elections. Link To Original Article »»



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