Rob Crane, MD, President, Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, Supports Governor Whitmer's Ban on Flavored E-Cigarettes in Michigan

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- We applaud the bold and courageous action of Michigan Governor Whitmer in recognizing flavored e-cigarettes as a health emergency and taking immediate steps to ban their sale in the state.  These enticingly flavored, sleek and heavily marketed devices are a clear and present danger to teens not just in Michigan but across the country.  In two years, the e-cigarette epidemic has wiped out nearly two decades of progress in reducing youth use of tobacco products.  With increasing reports of catastrophic lung damage as well as profound nicotine addiction, it was time to act.  We call on governors and legislative bodies throughout the US to follow suit.

This action should have been the role of the FDA, but it has egregiously failed its mission to protect our kids.  The job of the FDA is to regulate, not negotiate, with an industry that has proven time and again to place profits over public health and to promote addiction to boost sales.  It is high time for Congress to act to reform the FDA and force rapid and decisive action on flavored nicotine products of all types.

The Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation has advocated to enact youth prevention policies and Tobacco 21 laws throughout the United States for more than two decades. Our organization has worked with hundreds of cities and lobbied in dozens of states and in Congress to develop effective laws that stop illegal sales and prevent youth nicotine addiction. In the last six years over 490 U.S. cities and counties, as well as 18 entire states have adopted age 21 laws that now cover over 54% of the US population.  We run the website Tobacco21.org, and we are the definitive resource on this issue.

See Tobacco21.org/JUUL for further information.  For media contact: [email protected] or mobile: 614-296-6666. 

SOURCE Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation