PROVIDENCE — Banning the use of e-cigarettes by minors should be the sort of legislation antismoking group’s support. Instead they are calling for a veto.
On July 1, two days before the General Assembly ended its 2013 session; state lawmakers passed a bill prohibiting persons under the age of 18 from using or purchasing e-cigarettes and other “vapor products” that heat liquid nicotine into a smokable vapor.
But a coalition that includes some of Rhode Island’s largest health advocacy groups calls the bill a “stalking horse” for tobacco and e-cigarette companies that want to exempt the growing industry from the regulations and taxes imposed on traditional tobacco-based products.
They argue that the legislation also does not address how the state will enforce the new law, which includes a $500 fine for violators, or how it will make sure minors do not simply purchase e-cigarettes online, one of the primary ways at least two Rhode Island-based companies do business.
And with federal regulators still studying the health risks of the new technology, they suggest the bill could create “regulatory loopholes” with long-term and national implications.
“It does not have any teeth,” said Karina Holyoak Wood, who is director of the Rhode Island Tobacco Control Network, a coalition that includes the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, among others. “They are trying to do the lightest possible treatment of it while trying to sound like they are protecting children.”
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