Confronting a genuine health crisis among adolescents in Hawaii schools, key state lawmakers seem poised to try again, as they should, to counter the marketing of “vaping” products — liquids and oils that are heated in electronic cigarettes and the vapor inhaled — to minors.
There are lots of moving parts to this controversy nationally, with federal health authorities still searching for the precise cause of the roughly 1,500 lung injuries reported nationally, including two locally. There have been at least 33 confirmed deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s actually surprising that the injury incidence has been so low in Hawaii, since the rate of e-cig use among the young is so high. The islands rank second nationally for e-cig use among high school students: 25.5% statewide, as much as 34% on the neighbor islands.
In this state and others, attorneys general are studying what legal actions can be taken against the manufacturers to fund a campaign countering the epidemic, and other steps aimed at stopping the products’ sale to the youth market.
But in advance of the 2020 state Legislature, a reasoned consensus is building around an approach including public education and at least these two crucial prongs:
>> A ban on flavored e-cig fluids, as they continually lure more youths who like the sweet and fruity vapors and then become addicted to the nicotine they contain; and,
>> An increase in taxation, given that the young consumer market is especially sensitive to product costs.
There is a considerable body of facts that, although inconclusive about the cause of the illnesses, are enough to frighten anyone who encounters them. Among those recently enlightened about vaping risks are those who attended a joint House-Senate briefing last week at the state Capitol.
Some of the scariest figures came in a presentation by Dr. Brian Mih, a pediatrician and medical director for Kapiolani Smokefree Families at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women &Children, the hospital’s stop- smoking program.
E-cigs were marketed as smoking-cessation devices but are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for that purpose, Mih said, citing figures that for every adult who quits cigarettes through vaping, 81 young people become future smokers.
Chemicals used for flavoring can be harmful, and none have been approved for inhalation, he said, adding that the fluids often contain nicotine salts, a form that concentrates the effect of the drug and so is more quickly addictive.
Bolstered by images of the severe lung damage that the product chemicals and oils can cause, a strong case for action was made.
Previous legislation included the passage of Senate Bill 1405, which essentially toughened the penalty against e-cig use among minors by boosting the fine from $10 for a first offense to $100. Gov. David Ige rightly vetoed it, arguing that, among other flaws, the bill targeted only the youth offenders and not the industry that profits from the sales.
The first effort to ban flavored vaping products was in SB 1009. It stalled in the House Finance Committee; its chairwoman, state Rep. Sylvia Luke, said that was because the bill could only apply to local brick-and-mortar retailers, not the online sources many teens use.
That may be true, but even a partial ban would help send a message to manufacturers; one of them, Juul Labs Inc., last week announced it would stop selling most flavors.
But its competitors may not. The bottom line is plain to see: This unregulated industry is profiting by selling a dangerous product to teens, and every effort to curb that must be made, and quickly.
