LANSING, Mich. — Michigan's emergency rules banning flavored nicotine vaping products were released Wednesday, two weeks after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the measure in response to the state's health department findings of steep numbers of youth vaping.
Although the rules are effective immediately, retailers have two weeks to comply. The rules that be in effect for 180 days and can be extended for six months.
Michigan was the first state in the nation to ban flavored e-cigarettes. Following Whitmer's measure, President Donald Trump announced he wouldn't be opposed to a similar nationwide ban while New York state also moved to ban the sale of flavored vape products.
“I’m proud that Michigan has been a national leader in protecting our kids from the harmful effects of vaping,” Whitmer said. “For too long, companies have gotten our kids hooked on nicotine by marketing candy-flavored vaping products as safe. That ends today. This bold action will protect our kids and our overall public health.”
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has also filed a Request for Rulemaking, which will allow the department to promulgate permanent rules to keep Michiganders safe from the harmful effects of addiction to nicotine.
In June, Whitmer signed Senate Bills 106 and 155, which prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes and other non-traditional nicotine products to minors. In her signing message to the legislature, the governor criticized the legislation for not going far enough to protect Michigan’s kids from nicotine addiction, calling the marketing, packaging, and taste of e-cigarettes a “bait-and-switch” engineered to “create new nicotine addicts.”
Nationwide, e-cigarette use among middle and high school students increased by 900% from 2011 to 2015. From 2017 to 2018, e-cigarette use spiked 78% among high school students and 48% among middle school students. In 2018, more than 3.6 million U.S. kids, including one in five high school students and one in 20 middle school students, were regular users.
The rules and other information about Michigan’s flavored e-cigarette ban can be found here.
