2019 Vape Ban

Overview

2019 Vape Ban refers to the potential e-cigarette ban in the United States initiated by the Trump administration, FDA and CDC following the discovery of a sometimes fatal mysterious lung illness occurring across the country. Though many have criticized vaping links to teen nicotine addiction in late 2017 mainly due to Juuls, in September 2019, vapes began to be condemned due to reports of lung illness despite these later being attributed to black market THC vaporizers and not nicotine devices.

Background

In September 2018, the Food and Drug Administration ordered the e-cigarette companies Juul, Vuse, MarkTen, blu e-cigs, and Logic to submit a plan of action to address teen usage of their products as many millions of teens reported using a vape recently.^[1] A year later, On August 27th, 2019, reports of over 200 cases of severe and mysterious lung illnesses were reported and thought to be caused by vaping leading to CDC and FDA lab testing.^[2] After increasing reports of lung illness and six deaths, on September 4th, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered a ban on e-cigarettes in the state.^[3] On September 6th, 2019, The New England Journal of Medicine^[4] released a preliminary report on the pulmonary illnesses related to e- cigarettes in Illinois and Wisconsin. Although the New York Times urged that the culprit might be mainly vapes including THC, the report said those affected were vaping either nicotine or marijuana. Following the disturbing news many Juul smokers posted videos of themselves destroying their vape. For example on September 8th, 2019, Twitter user @j_fanch37 posted a video of themselves throwing a Juul out the window of a moving car (shown below).

Notable Developments

On September 11th, 2019, the F.D.A. stated that “because consumers cannot be sure whether any THC vaping products may contain vitamin E acetate, consumers are urged to avoid buying vaping products on the street, and to refrain from using THC oil or modifying/adding any substances to products purchased in stores.”^[5] It is likely that the main issue is added substances like vitamin E acetate, that have nothing to do with original company ingredients. That day President Trump called for further investigation and intent to ban vape products in the U.S. (shown below).

The New York Times^[6] reported, "Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, said that the Food and Drug Administration would outline a plan within the coming weeks for removing flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pods from the market, excluding tobacco flavors." Following the news, the public reacted to the negatively to the potential ban wondering why only six deaths in the country warrant banning while cigarettes and guns are still legal. For example, On September 12th, YouTuber Andrew Rousso uploaded a comedy sketch comment on the publics confusion (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References