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E-cigarette vaporizers on display at Artisan Vapor in Burlington. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

As states around the country take steps to restrict the e-cigarette market, Vermont is poised to move forward with a ban on flavored vaping products in 2020.



Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, will be proposing a bill in January that would ban flavored e-cigarette and tobacco products — including menthol cigarettes.

“Overall, the research demonstrates that flavors are what attract kids,” Lyons said.



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The push to ban e-cigarettes in Vermont and other states around the country is tied to the emergence of lung illnesses apparently caused by vaping.



The Vermont Department of Health has investigated 30 lung injuries and illnesses this year possibly tied to e-cigarette use. So far, it has determined three were caused by vaping.



Health officials have said that most of the patients reporting the lung illnesses have used vaping products to consume THC, the psychoactive chemical in cannabis.



But the outbreak has placed the e-cigarette industry under heightened scrutiny from policymakers around the country. At the federal level, President Donald Trump initially called for a ban on flavored e-cigarettes in September after reports of deaths linked to vaping, then backed off the proposal because he believes a ban will foster sales on the black market.

On Wednesday, Massachusetts lawmakers passed what the Boston Globe called “the nation’s toughest restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products.”



Like Lyons’ proposal, the Massachusetts bill, which is awaiting action from Gov. Charlie Baker, would ban all flavored e-cigarette products and menthol cigarettes.



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Lyons said she is also open to looking into restrictions around THC vaping products next year.



“I can’t answer the questions about whether and how THC will fit into the conversation, but it may well,” she said.



Even before Massachusetts state lawmakers took action this week, Baker had been one of several governors to issue vaping bans by executive order this fall. Governors in New York, Rhode Island and Washington state have also moved to ban flavored vaping products.



Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, plans to introduce a bill banning flavored tobacco products. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

Gov. Phil Scott said in September that while he is interested in banning flavored e-cigarette products, he wanted to enact the policy by working with lawmakers, not issuing the order himself.



In 2019, Vermont passed laws to curb e-cigarette use among young people: increasing the age to purchase vaping products to 21, banning online vape sales and levying a 92% tax on vaping devices.



The governor said that with those measures in place, a ban through an emergency measure wasn’t urgent. “We’ve taken steps already,” Scott said at the time. “It’s not as though we’re asleep at the switch here.”

In September, the chair of the House Human Services Committee, Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, said she was in favor of banning all vaping products, not just flavored ones.



But this week, she said that she has concerns that a categorical ban could bolster the black market for vaping products.



“In terms of an all-out ban of all vaping products, the question is does that get us the results that we want? And if it doesn’t, how else could we curb access?” Pugh said.



Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, said she is waiting to discuss the details of a bill banning flavored vaping before deciding what she will support. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

She believes the state should ban flavored vaping products, but wants to hear testimony from experts before she determines the exact legislation she’ll support.



“Then we get into the weeds. All flavors? Some flavors? Flavors that are only directed towards kids?”



This year, e-cigarette companies Altria, which owns a large stake in the popular e-cigarette company Juul, and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, which owns the vape brand Vuse, lobbied against the proposals to levy a 92% tax on vaping products and ban online sales.



The companies also lobbied in favor of the bill that increased the legal age to buy the products to 21.



Altria declined a request for comment on a possible flavored products ban. R.J. Reynolds did not respond to request for comment in time for publication.



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Juul decided to pull its flavored products from the market in October, until the liquids are reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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