Lawmakers push for e-cig flavor ban

Twilight Vapor owner Saiyam Shah, right, talks with customer Paul Clamp, of Danbury, on Tuesday. State lawmaker's are calling for new regulations on vaping. August 30, 2016, in Danbury, Conn. Twilight Vapor owner Saiyam Shah, right, talks with customer Paul Clamp, of Danbury, on Tuesday. State lawmaker's are calling for new regulations on vaping. August 30, 2016, in Danbury, Conn. Photo: H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Lawmakers push for e-cig flavor ban 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

DANBURY - Liquid nicotine that comes in kid-friendly flavors such as bubble gum, vanilla cupcake and chocolate candy bar should be banned by the federal government, lawmakers said on Tuesday.

Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty and Sen. Richard Blumenthal called on the Food and Drug Administration to ban flavored liquid nicotine, which is converted by electronic devices into an inhalable vapor.

They charge that the colorfully packaged and aromatic “juice” is aimed at hooking kids on a dangerous habit.

“These electronic cigarettes are often the entry point for adolescents to become addicted to nicotine,” said Esty, a Democrat who represents Danbury and Connecticut’s 5th District. “The industry is clearly targeting youth with these candy flavors and psychedelic colors.”

Esty and Blumenthal’s call for a ban on flavored electronic cigarettes follows a Yale University study that found 25 percent of Connecticut middle-school and high-school students have tried e-cigarettes, and 40 percent of them did so because they were attracted by “good flavors.”

“We want to ban the flavors because they are part of the addiction strategy that big tobacco has advanced over many years,” said Blumenthal, a Democrat and the former Connecticut attorney general. “The FDA should act now to ban candy and fruit flavor in electronic cigarettes that are specifically marketed to lure children into lifetimes of addiction and disease.”

The electronic cigarettes industry, which is projected to grow to $10 billion in 2017, responds that it encourages manufacturers and retailers to take every precaution to keep children under 18 years old from using electronic cigarettes.

Earlier this month a federal ban went into place on e-cigarette sales to minors, which also makes penalties stiffer and gives the government more resources to crack down.

Connecticut, like most states, already had such a ban in place.

At Twilight Vapor across the street from the Henry Abbott Technical High School, for example, vape shop owner Shah Saiyam has a prominent sign in the glass door window about the underage ban.

“Is sugar a bigger health problem for kids?” Shah asked on Tuesday. “Are we going to ban the sale of soda to kids?”

Shah, who recently opened a vape lounge in Bethel, said Esty and Blumenthal were overlooking the benefits of vaping, which can be used to wean cigarette smokers off tobacco by inhaling progressively smaller doses of nicotine.

Flavors, he said, are an important part of the vaping experience.

“This product has benefits,” Shah said. “There are people who have been helped by this product.”

Esty agrees up to a point.

“I am very supportive of a variety of efforts to get current smokers to kick the habit, but there is no reason to have 7,000 flavors such as blueberry pie, cotton candy or gummy bears,” Esty said. “That is not something that somebody who is 50 and is trying to quit smoking is going to buy.”

Esty’s bill to require child-proof packaging on liquid nicotine containers was signed by President Obama earlier this year.

Esty and Blumenthal are among those pushing for a federal ban on marketing electronic cigarettes to children.

They both said Tuesday that if the FDA does not act soon to ban flavored liquid nicotine, they would follow with legislation to compel the government to act.

“The longer we wait the more addicts we create who are enticed by cool packaging and candy flavors and advertising using cartoons,” Esty said.

rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342