SAN FRANCISCO, CA – On Tuesday, voters in San Francisco will vote on whether to approve a Board of Supervisors' ordinance that includes a ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes (Proposition E).
Proponents of the ban claim the measure is necessary to protect kids. "Yet," according to Consumer Choice Center Senior Fellow Jeff Stier, "California law already prohibits the sale of all e-cigarettes to anyone under 21. As such, the ordinance would change the legal status of the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to adults exclusively."
Stier is calling on the FDA to "speak out about how a local ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to adults could undermine the FDA's comprehensive regulatory plan to fight smoking, given the role flavors in e-cigarettes play in helping adult smokers quit."
The FDA, which is studying whether to regulate e-cigarette flavors, has already noted the potential life-saving nature of e-cigarette flavors, noting that, "certain flavors may help currently addicted adult smokers switch to potentially less harmful forms of nicotine-containing tobacco products."
Stier says that "because the San Francisco Ordinance would do nothing to prevent sales to kids, and everything to ban sales to adults who use flavored e-cigarettes to quit smoking, the FDA should alert the public to how the ordinance would undermine federal anti-smoking efforts."