Trump Retreated From An E-Cigarette Ban — And Experts Are Livid

On September 11, President Donald Trump said he was going to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. The announcement came just as a mysterious and deadly lung illness with ties to vaping swept across the nation. Although two months later, he still hasn’t moved forward with any of these promises.


“We can’t have our kids be so affected,” Trump mentioned that day in September. First Lady Melania Trump was with him. “She’s got a son,” Trump mentioned, referencing their teenager, Barron, and starting an unstoppably funny joke on Twitter. “She feels very strongly about it.”


As of November 13, the Centers for Infection Control and Prevention confirmed that 42 people in the U.S. Have died and 2,172 more fell ill as a result of some unknown infection thought to be linked with vaping. Since no health experts could pinpoint what, exactly, was causing the illness, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration have warned against continued usage of e-cigarettes and THC vaping products. As a result, several states have begun cracking down: New York officially banned most flavored nicotine vaping items and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker declared the crisis a public health emergency and declared a four-month state-wide ban on online and retail sales of all weed and tobacco vaping products. Michigan, Rhode Island, Montana, Washington, Oregon, and California all also implemented similar bans.


But then, political advisers and lobbyists alike started pressuring Washington to stop any ban on a federal level — especially if the president wanted to win reelection in 2020. According to the New York Times, Trump determined to hold back on taking any actions on vaping, including an eas ban on e-cigarettes that didn’t have menthol. He reportedly wants to study the distribute, although it’s unclear what timeline the White Residence or the Department of Health is operating on, if any.


“Based on recent press reports, politics not public health are driving the decisions on combatting the youth e-cigarette epidemic,” Robin Koval, the CEO and president of the Truth Initiative, told MTV News. “The administration should integrate the plan it promised the country on September 11 as time is of the essence.” Koval pointed out that over 27.5 percent of young people in high schools are vapers or have vaped, and stressed  that “the worsening youth e-cigarette epidemic will not miraculously get better on its own. The health of America's youth must come first and isn't for sale or political gain.”


While modern vaping began in 2003 once Chinese inventor Hon Lik innovated the e-cigarette, it didn’t increase popularity in the U.S. until the 2010s. Since then, there hasn’t been a lot of regulation on e-cigarettes of any kind — and the vaping black market is particularly deregulated.


There’s some solid evidence that vitamin E oil noticed in off-market THC vape products would be what’s causing some of the vaping-related lung injuries, NBC News reported. Nevertheless while there’s much we don’t know about vaping and the effect it has on users,advocates argue that waiting for statistics isn’t going to help anyone.


“It’s not accurate to mention that ‘the jury is still out’ associated with whether or not vaping products are safe,” Linda Richter, the director of policy statistics and analysis for the Center on Addiction told MTV News in an email. “There’s a huge and growing body of studying that regularly demonstrates the various health risks of vaping and its negative effects on the respiratory, cardiovascular, and reproductive systems, as well on immune function.”


Richter added that vaping is “especially harmful to young people, since the use of any addictive product, including nicotine, while in adolescence increases the risk of addiction and other substance use.”


However change doesn’t have to depend on the president signing an executive categorize to ban anything. Congress is now working on the Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2019, introduced by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL) in August. It would ban all flavored vaping products, raise the legal age of sale for all vaping products to 21, and prohibit manufacturers from marketing the items to young people. This comes after a Reuters investigation noticed that executives Juul, a well known e-cigarette agency, knew that the agency was attracting young people to its product yet willfully failed to notice the data.


“Congress must act to decrease youth nicotine addiction by making it clear that selling tobacco products to kids is illegal,” Rep. Pallone mentioned in a press release. “My legislation also treats e-cigarettes and other tobacco products the same as long-established cigarettes under the law. We cannot afford to wait — we are on the cusp of losing an entirely new generation to a lifetime of nicotine addiction.”