Two months ago, with his wife seated beside him, President Trump vowed to ban flavored e-cigarettes that appeal to kids because “innocent children (are) coming home and saying, ‘Mom, I want to vape.’”

Since then, the death toll related to vaping has soared from 6 to 47, and nearly 3,000 others (their median age: 24) have suffered vape-related lung damage.

This would seem to be another break-glass moment, but all indications are that this is no longer a presidential priority — even with NJ Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) moving pioneering legislation, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell supporting a 21-year-old age limit.

The reason it was dropped, according to the New York Times and Washington Examiner, is that Trump’s campaign manager told him that the proposed vaping ban is not polling well, and reminded him that his former aides are drawing checks from tobacco giants like Reynolds American and Altria.

Fortunately, some states still take responsibility for managing risks to public health, and it just so happens that New Jersey is poised to be the national trendsetter for tobacco reduction policies.

Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) ushered four major bills through his Health Committee recently, and is preparing to tee them up for a receptive Gov. Murphy. They represent an all-out blitz against the tobacco scourge: One bill bans vape flavors, which is always the first reason why kids try e-cigarettes; another bill takes vape products out of gas stations and convenience stores, where most underage sales take place.

There is also a ban on vapes that contains more than 2 percent nicotine — effectively cutting Juul Labs, the $40 billion monster that has marketed toward children, out of the NJ market entirely.

The most significant bill, however, bans the sale of menthol tobacco products. This has been a five-year effort by Vitale, who had faced opposition from those who think a ban would target African Americans smokers (88 percent of which smoke menthols), but after years of resistance, the New Jersey chapter of the NAACP announced its support after acknowledging that the bill punishes the seller, not the smoker. Menthol is also the flavor of choice among kids: 54 percent of smokers under 17 smoke menthol.

Trump is reneging on his promise to take on e-cig manufacturers that are using flavors to addict millions of young people.



This is a time for bold action - instead @POTUS is once again siding with the special interests. Talk about a failure of leadership. https://t.co/MBy7fBujmG — Rep. Frank Pallone (@FrankPallone) November 18, 2019

“With the dereliction of duty in the White House, New Jersey will be as good as it gets when it comes to states making sure kids are protected,” said Kevin O’Flaherty of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “It pulls up the ladder of addiction. Just because big tobacco has hooked kids for 50 years doesn’t mean we have to let it continue. That means not only banning flavored e-cigarettes, but all flavored products. This package stops all points of entry.”

It’s still a national crisis. More kids will get hooked by candy-flavored nicotine, because all those MAGA vapers and Trump surrogates want the e-cigarette industry to keep its talons attached to 27.5 percent of the country’s high-school population — which, terrifyingly, represents a 135-percent increase in just two years.

And the president’s decision to ignore that reality manifests everything that is wrong, venal, lazy, and mendacious about his administration.

As Vitale put it, “If you care about generations of kids being addicted to nicotine and the harm caused by this epidemic, you’d at least order studies to examine the long-term effects. But the president has obviously moved on to the next shiny object.”

Vitale has refused to let go of the rope on this. Teen smoking was in palpable decline before the vape craze struck, but now 9.6 percent of New Jersey high school kids in New Jersey use e-cigarettes, and 2,500 kids under 18 become new daily smokers every year.

In other words, one of the great public health achievements of the last 20 years has been reversed by the vaping industry and government indifference. This is a crisis that demands a reaction from the grownups, and New Jersey is fortunate to have them.

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