Policy Makers are Deceiving Themselves if They Believe Banning Flavored E-Cigarettes is Going to End Youth Vaping of Flavored Products

Major Exemption in Proposed Flavor Ban Leaves Most Kid-Friendly Flavors on the Market

The most basic premise of the proposal to ban flavored e-cigarettes is that it will protect youth by preventing them from vaping flavored e-liquids. The flavors are the problem, so if we ban the flavors, we'll take care of the problem.

Or so the thinking goes.

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The problem is that politicians are deceiving themselves if they think that a ban on flavored e-cigarettes is going to prevent youth from accessing flavored e-liquids. The truth is that all of the following flavors are exempt from the ban and will remain on the market, easily accessible to youth.

The exempted flavors include all of the following:

•          "Mario Carts Vanilla Glue,"
•      "Heavy Hitters Vape Strawberry,"
•      "Honey,"
•      "Gelato,"
•      "Blueberry,"
•      "Banana Sherbet,"
•      "Jillybean,"
•      "Super Lemon Haze,"
•      "Romulan Grapefruit,"
•      "Sour Tangie,"
•      "Biscotti,"
•      "Pineapple Express,"
•      "Mango,"
•      "Juicy Melon,"
•      "Strawnana,"
•      "Granddaddy Purp,"
•      "Forbidden Fruit,"
•      "Lemon Lime,"
•      "Golden Goat,"
•      "Butter,"
•      "Orange Cream,"
•      "Banana Cream,"
•      "Strawberry Banana,"
•      "Grapevine,"
•      "Lime Sorbet,"
•      "Potent Pineapple,"
•      "Pure Pear,"
•      "Red Apple,"
•      "Blue Raz,"
•      "Strawberry Sherbet,"
•      "Grape Soda,"
•       "Pink Sherbet,"
•      "Cactus Cooler,"
•      "Sunset Sherbet Sauce,"
•      "Sunset Gelato,"
•      "It's Yo Birthday,"
•      "Wedding Cookies,"
•      "Orange Cookies,"
•      "Girl Scout Cookies,"
•      "Grape Pie,"
•      "Cookies n Cream,"
•       "Apple Jacks,"
•          "Banana OG,"
•          "Birthday Cake,"
•          "Black Berry Kush,"
•          "Blue Dream,"
•          "Blueberry Kush,"
•          "Bubble Gum,"
•          "Candy Land,"
•          "Cherry Pie,"
•          "Cotton Candy,"
•          "Fruity Pebbles,"
•          "Gelato,"
•          "Grape Ape,"
•          "Grape Stomper,"
•          "Green Crack,"
•          "Honey Berry,"
•          "Honey Dew,"
•          "Ice Blue Raspberry,"
•          "Key Lime Pie,"
•          "Lemon Berry,"
•          "Lemon Head,"
•          "Lemon Slushie,"
•          "LSD,"
•          "Mai Tai,"
•          "Mango Kush,"
•          "Maui Wowie,"
•          "Mimosa,"
•          "Mojito,"
•          "Orange Chai,"
•          "Orange Cookies,"
•          "Orange Daiquiri,"
•          "Peach,"
•          "Pineapple Express,"
•          "Pot of Gold,"
•          "Purple Punch,"
•          "Rose Gold,"
•          "Russian Cream,"
•          "Sour Apple,"
•          "Strawberry Shortcake,"
•          "Sweet Aromatic,"
•          "Tangie,"
•          "Vanilla Kush,"
•          "Water Melon,"
•          "Wedding Cake," and
•          "Zskittlez."

All of these flavors will remain on the market, despite what policy makers are telling the public. The truth is that while flavored e-liquids that contain nicotine will be banned, all of the above flavors, which are available in THC vape cartridges, will remain on the market.

You can now easily see why a ban on flavored nicotine e-liquids will not work. Youth will simply switch over to many of the sweet, fruity, alcohol-based, and other attractive flavors that are readily available in THC vape products.

The tragedy, of course, is that these flavored THC e-liquids are precisely the ones that are killing many people and causing life-threatening illness among close to 2,000 people, mostly youth and young adults. Banning flavored nicotine e-liquids is not going to prevent 17-year-olds from dying due to respiratory failure. But it will likely increase the number of kids who die from respiratory failure.

With flavors like Girl Scout Cookies, Cookies and Cream, Mimosa, Banana Sherbet, It's Yo Birthday, Russian Cream, Gelato, Grape Soda, Potent Pineapple, and Super Lemon Haze available, do you really think that youth are just going to completely stop vaping?

In the short time that JUUL has limited access to many of its flavors (such as mango and creme), youth have just shifted over to vaping the mint-flavored JUUL pods. They didn't stop vaping because some flavors were taken off the market. Youth are resourceful, vaping is cool, and they will simply switch to whatever flavors are available.

Those flavors will be vape juices like Zskittlez, Bubble Gum, Cotton Candy, and Cherry Pie.

And the only difference will be that instead of the risk of mild respiratory irritation (with most nicotine-containing e-liquids) or nicotine addiction (with JUUL), the major risk for our nation's youth will now be DEATH from lipoid pneumonia or chemical pneumonitis. How is that good public health policy?