Boston University journalist Shayna Scott reports on how Newton has responded to the governor’s vaping ban and the city’s own actions regarding vaping for the Boston Globe.
Massachusetts is the first state to temporarily prohibit vaping products, and Deborah Youngblood, Newton’s commissioner of health and human services, said it was the right move.
“We are really grateful that Governor Baker is taking the lead on this issue and showing such great leadership with something we’ve been very concerned about,” Youngblood said.
I personally know four people who have run out of Juul cartridges and returned to cigarette smoking since Baker’s vaping ban. Extrapolate that state-wide, and it means tens of thousands of former tobacco users have started smoking cigarettes again since our moron Governor banned vaping. I’m sure Philip Morris and other tobacco companies really appreciate his efforts.
Altria formerly known as Philip Morris owns 35% of Juul, and their stock has gotten hammered. They were in talks to merge with Philip Morris International which was spun out of Philip Morris in 2008. Looks like that merger has been called off due to this vaping crisis. So Philip Morris USA is unhappy but Philip Morris International is glad this happened before they merged back together.
It looks like most of the cases are related to vaping THC and not nicotine. Doctors and scientists are trying to figure out the exact cause. Could be additives associated with particular brands. This is an example of why marijuana should be decriminalized at a federal level so research can happen, but needs to be better controlled at the state and local level and not encouraged.
@Mike Striar – This former smoker shot over the NH border from his Haverhill office at lunchtime.
I thought vaping was supposed to be part of a smoking cessation program. Looks like from the above comments it’s really just a substitution that people thought was healthier but it’s not. Get sick soon from burned lungs or get sick in a few decades from cancer.
I heard the Mass Health Commissioner explain that since ALL vaping requires the vaporizing of a liquid, that is the main issue. Our lungs were not built to process vaporized droplets of mineral oil or vitamin E. We can’t do it. Nicotine or THC is not the problem it’s the oil and other additives.
It seems small amounts of mineral oil is used in the FDA approved, non-THC ones as well. The off market non FDA approved ones use things like vitamin E oil and much more mineral oil. So maybe the FDA approved ones are just like cigarettes. It takes 10 years for them to kill you.
I’m sorry so many kids are sick, but glad it made us take a second look at this supposedly great way to kick cigarettes. (I wanted my brother to try it!)
All due respect to the Health Commissioner but I don’t think that an abrupt blanket ban on the legal market was a good public health response to a health problem arising from black market products. I’m not disagreeing that there was a broader public health issue we need to deal with at the policy level, but if black market products were causing fatalities and you suddenly shut down the legal market, then a lot of people are going to switch to black market products (if they don’t switch to smoking, per the comments above), which is likely to worsen the public health crisis. My understanding was that our Health Commissioner was in the process of gathering public input on promulgating some new policies the vaping market in Newton and that seemed like a reasonable, thoughtful approach to the problem before this illogical ban came out of nowhere from the Governor.
I don’t really understand why we’re still trying to sledgehammer our way through public health crises with seemingly random acts of prohibitionism a century after the failed experiment of the alcohol prohibition amendment. I say all this as an extremely square/straightedge person who does not drink, smoke, vape, or otherwise participate in this arena of activities.
Bill. I also “don’t drink, smoke, vape, or otherwise participate in this arena of activities” which does make life easier and my health better. But I absolutely refuse to surrender to a recent suggestion that I give up coffee. We all need some vice, innocent or otherwise and at 83, I need a few pleasures first thing in the morning.
A blanket ban on vaping products drives users to the online gray and black market, where more of these harmful products seemed to originate. Ironically, a blanket ban puts more people at risk in the name of public health and safety.
I’m not an expert. But it seems obvious that a sound public health policy that protects people who are going to use these products one way or another, should look something like this:
(1) Warn the public about vaping illness health risks and known facts — so far, the state did a good job on this.
(2) Go further, and point the finger at the risks of purchasing online, where buyers may end up receiving copycat counterfeit and black market products.
(3) Require Massachusetts vaping stores to keep an audit trail with source documents to prove authenticity of vaping devices and cartridges they sell.
(a) push a basic certification standard (don’t know, maybe one exists) for vaping devices to show they won’t melt or explode, and that heating coils don’t vaporize and leach metals.
(4) Require Massachusetts vaping stores to place warning labels on all vaping devices and cartridges outlining potential dangers.
(5) Refine as we learn more about the primary cause of vaping illnesses.
Dulles, I agree.
One of the more interesting things about trying to find the cause of the, as of “October 1, 1080 people in the US who have a history of vaping that have been diagnosed with some type of serious lung injury, such as severe breathing problems or lung damage and 18 that have died is “that this is a relatively recent development,” says Irina Stepanov, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health “and e-cigarettes have been on the market for a long time … which tells me something has relatively recently started being added to the liquids.” in an article in the LA Times.
“she suspects the problem is a chemical component or toxicant that has been mixed into the vaping cartridges or pods. There is little data on what happens to certain chemicals when they are aerosolized, as they are in an e-cigarette device, she said.”
I would like to point out that Lisa Gordon, who is running for Ward 6 Councilor, was introduced in the LWV debate a few weeks ago as Executive Director for the Responsible Retailing Forum, which engages with retailers on alcohol, tobacco & vaping issues.
As Lisa Gordon is a subject matter expert on this topic, has she made a statement in response to the Baker administration’s temporary blanket retail ban on vaping?