Just over two months ago, President Trump stated in an
Oval Office meeting about e-cigarettes and teen vaping that he intended to instruct the FDA to introduce new vaping regulations that would ban all
e-liquid flavors except tobacco. Immediately, American vapers were outraged over the proposed ban, with many threatening to vote against the incumbent President in the upcoming 2020 election. Trumps allies in the Republican party apparently took the threats seriously, warning the President that losing the support of the vaping community could, in fact,
ruin his reelection campaign.
Since announcing the flavor ban, Trump appears to have backed down from his initial plans. The U.S. government is close to enacting legislation that will
raise the minimum smoking and vaping age from 18 to 21 nationwide. Since most teens acquire e-cigarettes from older students who can buy vaping products legally, the hope is that raising the smoking/vaping age will eliminate social distribution of vaping products among teens, thus mitigating the teen vaping trend without affecting adults who are using vaping products to quit smoking.
While raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products will certainly curb youth access, it isnt safe to assume at this point that President Trump considers the legislation an effective solution on its own and has abandoned the idea of banning flavored e-liquids. Vaping has become a major political issue with extreme pressure from both sides. So, what are the likely outcomes for public health and the economy if the flavor ban ultimately does go through? Obviously, millions of adult vapers will no longer be able to buy their preferred e-liquids but that only scratches the surface.
These are just a few of the likely outcomes for public health and the American economy if an e-liquid flavor ban is enacted.
E-Liquid Makers and Vape Shops Will Close
Survival isnt likely for an e-liquid maker that cant market anything other than tobacco flavors. Tobacco e-liquids arent particularly popular among most vapers anyway, so an e-liquid maker thats forced to pare its selection down from dozens of flavors to just one or two will be selling a small array of products to a very limited audience. Itll also be difficult for e-liquid makers to differentiate themselves when theyre all selling essentially the same product with slight flavor variations. There are a few boutique e-liquid makers that specialize in tobacco e-liquids already. Those brands might survive. Most other e-liquid companies will close.
Vape shops, meanwhile, would be hit just as hard by a flavor ban. Many vapers will transition to other nicotine products. Others will obtain their e-liquid from illegitimate sources because they dont want to taste tobacco when they vape. Most vape shops that dont carry products like dry herb vaping supplies, CBD and cigars or loose tobacco will close.
In the United States, the vaping industry supports thousands of small businesses and as many as 150,000 jobs. Most of those jobs and businesses will be lost in the event of an e-liquid flavor ban.
Big Tobacco Will Take Over the American Vaping Industry
Vaping companies that have fallback options are the ones most likely to survive an e-liquid flavor ban, and no companies in the vaping industry have more fallback options than the Big Tobacco companies that make products such as JUUL, Vuse, Blu and Logic. Theyll all survive a flavor ban because vaping products make up tiny portions of those companies enormous portfolios. An e-liquid flavor ban hands the entire American vaping industry to Big Tobacco.
Big Pharma Will Enjoy Increased Sales of Nicotine Replacement Products
There may be as many as
16 million adult vapers in the United States, and as mentioned above, many of those people may transition to other nicotine products in the event of an e-liquid flavor ban. Some of those people will use combustible or smokeless tobacco. Others will transition to traditional nicotine replacement products. Big Pharma has always hated the vaping industry because it is much easier to quit smoking with an e-cigarette than it is to quit with nicotine gum and vaping doesnt have the potentially horrible side effects of medications like Chantix. The loss of flavored e-liquid would be a big win for Big Pharma.
The Burden on Americas Healthcare System Will Increase
Tobacco use kills some 480,000 Americans per year. With health experts estimating that vaping could be up to 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes, it seems certain that, if all smokers transitioned to vaping, the burden that smokers place on the healthcare system would be greatly lessened. American smokers accumulate around
$170 billion in medical bills each year. If you include lost productivity from ill smokers who are unable to work, the actual economic cost of smoking is almost double that amount. If the U.S. bans e-liquid flavors, its likely that a significant portion of those 16 million vapers will return to smoking and at least half of those people will eventually get sick and die from their tobacco use. Thats a massive burden to place on a healthcare system thats already overtaxed.
Also, you can prefer
E Liquid Flavours that make your vaping experience memorable. All vapers will not transition back to tobacco products in the event of an e-liquid flavor ban. Some will continue vaping. They wont use tobacco e-liquids, though; theyll continue buying the flavors they always have, and theyll do it by any means necessary. Some people will try to import it from nations such as the United Kingdom and Canada, causing an undue burden for customs agents. Some will try making their own e-liquids. Some will buy from unregulated black-market vendors. E-liquids from unknown makers in China and Mexico will almost certainly make it into the United States. A flavor ban will create a large and unregulated illicit market for e-liquid a product that other governments actively encourage smokers to use because it is so much less harmful than tobacco. An unfortunate side effect of the illicit e-liquid industry is that some people will undoubtedly be hurt from using these unregulated products, creating an entirely new healthcare burden that didnt previously exist.