It was the fourth time since 2020 that Connecticut vaping advocates helped fight a taste ban. The taste ban was included in state budgets for 2020 and 2021, and a separate bill was also introduced last year. The result was a massive victory for vaping advocates who defeated more than 25 lobbyists and lobbying firms working on behalf of Tobacco-Free Kids. According to the Colorado Sun, the Bloomberg-backed anti-vaping giant spent more than $180,000 in March promoting the ban it helped the author. (The big tobacco companies also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying the bill.) For the third year in a row, an attempt to ban flavored vaping products in Connecticut has not garnered enough support. Both CASAA and AVM have called for action in Colorado, giving thousands of vapers and vaping industry advocates an opportunity to voice their opposition to the vape shop murder law. In addition, as in Connecticut, renowned pro-vaping academics signed up to testify at a House hearing filled with speakers for and against them. A mother urged lawmakers to ban flavors after watching her 10-year-old son become addicted to vaping. Proponents have warned of the dangers posed by e-cigarettes. And many members of the medical community, including the Connecticut Hospital Association, the Connecticut State Medical Society, the Central Connecticut Health District and the Connecticut Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, supported the bill. In the end, anti-vaping interests couldn`t muster enough support to pass the final committee and introduce the bill to the entire Senate before the end of the state legislature.

But no one should doubt that they will come back with a similar bill in the next session. Kimberly Estes, a physician and state resident, told members of the Public Health Board at a public hearing Monday how her son first tried vaping at age 10. Connecticut business owners who sell vaping products echoed Richter`s concerns, citing lost sales at the local and state levels. Tobacco-Free Kids lobbyists aren`t used to losing, and they don`t like it. O`Flaherty accused Connecticut politicians of “continuing to support the industry and the profits of the industry instead of protecting children.” But another problem for anti-vaping activists was the lack of unity. Some of Special Interest`s anti-vaping groups were lukewarm about a bill that excluded menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. “Right now, you can buy flavored vaping products in thousands and thousands of locations in Connecticut. And that`s largely how miners get this product. The [Finance Committee`s] proposal limits it to a fraction of that, but still makes it available to adults.

“While the FDA may never approve flavored vape products, it`s important to close state and local flavor bans because the FDA could be required for years to fight legal challenges to its marketing denial orders (MDOs). Opponents of the legislation say a blanket ban on all flavored e-cigarette products won`t completely stop teens from vaping. What this will do, they said, is harm adult users and small businesses. Connecticut raised the age of tobacco purchase to 21 in 2019, but youth advocates and health experts say flavored vaping and e-cigarette products haven`t stopped them from ending up in the hands of teens and teens. Connecticut is one of the few states in the region that hasn`t banned flavored e-cigarettes. New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island have banned the sale of flavoured vaping products. Massachusetts has banned all flavored tobacco products, including flavored cigars, cigarettes and vaping products. “His continuous vaping since then has been completely dictated by the flavors he likes and the ones he avoids,” she said. “Non-flavoring products make it choke. It needs the flavors to make nicotine tasty.

In the meantime, advocates could push for the products to be banned locally, O`Flaherty said. Supporters were fortunate to raise the legal age to buy tobacco products to 21 by launching these efforts in towns and villages. The legislature then raised the age nationally. “Colorado`s rejection of the taste ban is a signal to other jurisdictions to focus their public health efforts on what works: vaping,” Amanda Wheeler, president of American Vapor Manufacturers (AVM), said in a press release. “Nicotine vaping is the most effective smoking cessation method ever developed. Lawmakers can learn from Colorado. Taste bans won`t work, but promoting vape products helps adults quit smoking and discourages adults from returning to deadly cigarettes. “We had an agreement with the governor to look for flavored vaping this year. I think there was a real bipartisan consensus on this issue, and surrounding states have already taken that step,” said Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, co-chair of the Public Health Committee that supported the proposal.

So it was very disappointing to be blocked again. This year`s version was only for the sale of flavoured vaping products (unflavoured cigarettes or cigars). But he still met resistance. E-cigarette manufacturers, merchants and people who say vaping is an important alternative for those who quit smoking testified against the bill. This is certainly a decisive victory for the vaping industry. But let`s keep one thing in mind here: the FDA hasn`t approved any flavored products yet. And as it stands, they don`t intend to do so anytime soon. Just because the state says it`s okay to sell flavored tobacco products, it still needs to have a PMTA permit to be sold LEGALLY anywhere. What we all know will not happen.

It`s bittersweet, take the `W`, I think? As elsewhere, lawmakers in Connecticut insist that flavors are the cause of the increase in vaping among teens, even calling the campaign to ban their sale “Flavors Hook Kids.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in 2019 that 55.3 percent of teens who use e-cigarettes say they first tried one out of “curiosity,” compared to 22.4 percent who cited flavors as the main reason for initiation. Richter worked in New York until the state banned the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and vaping products in May 2020. Senator John Fonfara, D-Hartford, co-chair of the Finance Committee, expressed concern about people who rely on vaping products to quit smoking. He said he was also concerned that a ban would create a thriving “underground” market for vaping products. There`s no doubt we need to keep these products out of the hands of teens, but in many ways, Connecticut is already doing it: the rate of teen vaping is lower than the national average, which dropped from 40% from 2020 to 2021 to 11% of high school students. The state has already tried twice to issue a ban. The proposal was raised in 2020 as part of Governor Ned Lamont`s budget, but did not come to fruition. Lamont had recommended banning flavoured vaping products and increasing the tax on all e-cigarette liquids.

Testimony from prominent academics at a Joint Committee on Public Health hearing in March, including Yale health economist Abigail Friedman (see video above), cast doubt on some lawmakers. As the author or co-author of several scientific studies showing that vaping restrictions increase smoking, Friedman made a credible and powerful witness.