The following is an opinion presented by the Lassen County Public Health Tobacco Use Reduction Program
Did you know… throughout Lassen County and the City of Susanville, as well as in all our schools NO SMOKING also means NO E-CIGARETTES and NO VAPING. Thank you Lassen County Board of Supervisors, Susanville City Council and our Lassen County Schools for taking action to protect the health and safety of Lassen County residents.
And, with the new laws signed by Governor Brown and new activity at the FDA there are some great things happening in tobacco use prevention; all in an effort to promote community wellness and protect us from the dangers of tobacco use, nicotine, and the many side effects of smoke and aerosol sidestream smoke.
In California, Governor Brown signed into law 5 bills regarding tobacco products that will help regulate and protect citizens from mainstream and sidestream smoke and limit youth access to tobacco products. (Mainstream smoke is what the smoker inhales and exhales. Sidestream smoke is any of the secondhand smoke from the tobacco or the vaping product.)
Four of the five new California laws take effect on June 9th:
1. SB2x 5 (Leno) Electronic Cigarettes would regulate e-cigarettes the same as other tobacco products and establish and annual licensing fee on e-cigarette retailers of $265 per location
2. SB2x 7 (Hernandez) Tobacco Products: Minimum Legal Age would raise California’s legal smoking age and the age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21, except for active duty military 18 or older.
3. AB2x 7 (Stone) Smoking in the Workplace closes loopholes in smoke-free workplace laws, including hotel lobbies, banquet rooms, warehouse facilities, small businesses, and break rooms
4. AB2x 9 (Thurmond) Tobacco Use Programs would make all California schools tobacco-free by banning smoking in charter schools and district offices and vehicles.
5. AB2x 11 (Nazarian) Cigarette and Tobacco Product Licensing Fees and Funding would increase California’s tobacco licensing, distributor and wholesaler fees starting in 2017
E-cigarettes and vaping continue to be a danger to youth, young children and adult consumers. There are still no rules to restrict the irresponsible marketing of e-cigarettes or the use of sweet e-cigarette flavors such as bubblegum, gummy bear and cotton candy. E-cigarettes are available in more than 7,700 flavors, with hundreds more introduced every month. Data shows that flavors play a major role in the skyrocketing use of e-cigarettes by youth.
More needs to be done to protect teens and preteens from the many new e-cigarette and vaping products. There remains a grave concern regarding young children exposed to severe poisoning from ingestion or skin exposure to the e- juices. This is soon to change for the better with conscientious consumer protection from our own state of California.
In national news the FDA is taking consumer protection steps through regulation of tobacco products by eliminating free sampling, demanding product labeling with a clear declaration of ingredients. These new rules establish FDA oversight of electronic cigarettes, cigars, hookah and other previously unregulated tobacco products. It applies common-sense public health protections to all tobacco products, including health warnings, a national prohibition on sales to minors and rules to prohibit manufacturers from making unproven health claims.
Most of the new FDA regulations take effect in August 2016 while some of those addressing electronic devices and e-juices will have a time frame for meeting the requirements. All these new regulations are commendable but it’s up to all of us to continue to be informed consumers.
