Editorial: More restrictions on youth vaping

Hawaii lawmakers must put a priority on curbing the marketing of vaping products to youth, now that the Trump administration, which has wavered for months in its resolve to do the same on the federal level, has finally come down in favor of an ineffectual partial ban.

The administration on Thursday announced a ban on the sale of e-cigarette fruit and mint flavors, but only those that are sold in the closed cartridges that are most popular with youth. The policy leaves open the sale of the flavored fluids in larger, tank-style e-cigarettes, ignoring the fact that kids are sure to adapt.

This will do very little ultimately to change the alarming trend of young pre-teens and teens being attracted to vaping, a practice that has caused nicotine addiction and life-threatening lung ailments.

Hawaii has racked up some disturbingly high numbers of youths who are vaping regularly, statistics that are simply disturbing as a public health issue, especially with recent reports nationally of grave health problems.

And the frustrating aspect of the new federal policy is that it represents a reversal of the president’s previous pledge in September to completely ban the sale of most e-cigarette flavors. In November he signaled that a more limited crackdown was in store, reportedly due to his concern about job losses.

Of course, some of that concern was raised through a vigorous social media campaign (#IVapeIVote and #WeVapeWeVote, for example), pushback from the industry itself as well as from users. There’s been limited comment from the administration, but this kind of political reaction had to factor in, too.

The opposition is flooding into the halls of Congress, too. Among the bills in the Senate, for example, is S. 1253, which would seek to prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from accepting vaping products for delivery. Critics of this bill say it would not preclude delivery by private carriers, with signature required — and that the rule would make such shipments more expensive for those who rely on home delivery, such as rural residents. The phrase used in testimony is that e-cigs represent “safer alternatives” to smoking.

Vaping may be safer than tobacco, with its proven cancer-causing components, but it’s still unknown what its own risks could be. The problem is that many youths do go through online sales to order products or use or resale, and receiving packages by mail is the way they stock their supplies.

If we care about the health of our children as much as we should, it’s plainly obvious that keeping these products from such wide and easy distribution is the correct public-health position.

Sadly, it’s also clear that leadership on this issue may have to come from the states — not that Hawaii’s leadership has been all that brave. Attempts to rein in the sales of flavored vaping fluid essentially failed in the last legislative session, where members opted instead to require teachers to confiscate the contraband gear.

And that bill, rightly, was vetoed by Gov. David Ige, for its burden on the schools and punitive aspects toward students. As much as possible, adults should be keeping harmful products from being sold to youth in the first place. Government failed at the outset by letting these products on the market without sufficient study to assess their components and the risks they represent.

The allowance of menthol is a compromise for those adults who want an alternative to cigarettes for smoking cessation. But pitching flavors to kids does nothing but lure in new nicotine addicts, who can later transition to cigarettes as well. Hawaii does not need to seed its future generations with another horrible habit.