Massachusetts lawmakers have passed a bill that would outlaw any flavored tobacco products and put a 75% excise tax on non-flavored e-cigarettes sold in the state.
The bill, which will ban flavored tobacco products and put a 75% excise tax on non-flavored e-cigarettes, was passed by legislators from both houses of the state legislature. It received a vote of 32-6 in the state Senate, and 127-31 in the state House of Representatives, with a final version reconciled between the two chambers receiving 119-33.
Under the bill, any flavored tobacco products, including mentholated cigarettes and flavored nicotine-based e-cigarettes, will be prohibited. Proponents of the bill refers to the bill as an effort to address youth tobacco use.
State Senator John Keenan, the state Senate's lead sponsor of the bill, said: "For too long, big tobacco has targeted our kids with flavored products. We are telling big tobacco their days of hooking kids in Massachusetts are over."
State Representative Danielle Gregoire, the primary sponsor in the state House, added: "Right now kids don't smoke. It's not cool, it's not socially acceptable. But they've been led to believe that this device they've been handed is safe, when that's the furthest thing from the truth."
On the other hand, Vapor Technology Association, an industry group of vaping manufacturers and retailers, disputed the claim that the industry targets children and emphasized that the group supports efforts to raise the age for vaping to 21 nationwide.
The National Youth Tobacco Survey of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that almost 21% of high school students nationwide reported using e-cigarettes in 2018, which is a 78% surge compared with 2017. The CDC estimates that more than 5 million middle and high school students in the US are currently using e-cigarettes.
The survey also discovered that 68% of the high school vape users reported using flavored e-cigarettes.
