IOWA
Analysis, Commentary, Musings
IOWA
Analysis, Commentary, Musings
NEW YORK
Key Points:
-
New York’s vaping industry provided more than $1.9 billion in economic activity in 2018 while generating 4,416 direct vaping-related jobs. Sales of disposables and prefilled cartridges in New York exceeded $54 million in 2016.
-
As of January 7, 2020, NYSHD has reported 150 confirmed and probable cases of vaping-related lung illness, including two deaths. Earlier reports note a majority of patients report vaping THC. NYSHD earns a B for its reporting on vaping-related lung illnesses.
-
In 2017, only 1.5 percent of New York high school students reported daily e-cigarette use. More data is needed.
-
Only 1 percent of FDA retail compliance checks in New York resulted in sales of e-cigarettes to minors from January 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
-
New York spends very little on tobacco prevention. In 2019, New York dedicated only $39.4 million on tobacco control, or 2 percent of what the state received in tobacco settlement payments and taxes.
NEW YORK CITY MENTHOL BAN WOULD CREATE BLACK MARKETS, NOT REDUCE SMOKING RATES
November 7, 2019
-
Int. No. 1345 “would ban the sale of menthol, mint, and wintergreen flavored cigarettes.” The ban would only apply to menthol cigarettes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “banned cigarettes with characterizing flavors other than menthol” in 2009.
-
Lawmakers should be aware that youth smoking rates are already at historically low levels. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 1998 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, in 1997, 36.4 percent of high school students reported using combustible cigarettes in the 30 days preceding the survey. Results from the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey concluded that only 8.1 percent of high school students had reported using tobacco cigarettes in 2018. This is a 28.3 percent decrease.
-
Nearly one-third of adult cigarette smokers smoke menthol cigarettes. In a 2015 survey from the National Health Interview Survey, “of the 36.5 million American adult smokers, about 10.7 million reported they smoked menthol cigarettes.”
-
A 2015 study published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research noted that only 28 percent of menthol smokers would give up cigarettes if menthol cigarettes were banned.
-
A 2012 study in the journal Addiction concluded that a quarter of menthol smokers surveyed reported they would find a way to purchase, even illegally, menthol cigarettes, should a menthol ban go into place.
-
The already existing black market for illegal cigarettes is big business in the Empire State.
-
In late 2018, New York officials reported the state’s attorney general had charged “17 individuals with smuggling 18 million cigarettes into the city, evading $3 million in taxes.”
-
NYC recently filed a lawsuit “against the U.S. Postal Service to stop tens of thousands of cigarette packages from being mailed from foreign countries to U.S. residents.”
-
-
A menthol ban could create racial repercussions. Although white Americans smoke more menthol cigarettes than black or African Americans, “black smokers [are] 10-11 times more likely to smoke” menthol cigarettes than white smokers.
-
Lawmakers in NYC should reexamine the case of Eric Garner, a man killed while being arrested for selling single cigarettes in the city. In a recent letter to the NYC council, Garner’s mother, as well as Trayvon Martin’s mother, implored officials to “pay very close attention to the unintended consequences of a ban on menthol cigarettes and what it would mean for communities of color.”
-
FLAVOR BAN IN WESTCHESTER, NY UNLIKELY TO IMPACT YOUTH VAPING, HOSPITALIZATIONS, WILL VAPORIZE HARM REDUCTION
October 22, 2019
-
County board legislators in Westchester, New York are considering a local law that would prohibit “the sale or distribution of flavored e-cigarettes and flavored e-liquids.”
-
The Heartland Institute examined the effects of flavor bans, finding these measures to have no impact on youth e-cigarette use.
-
Flavor bans will not address the recent outbreak of illnesses supposedly linked to vaping.
-
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found 78 percent of 849 patients reported vaping THC-containing vaping devices.
-
-
This is similar to reports from many state health departments.
-
The Utah Department of Health concluded 94 percent of patients with vaping-related lung illnesses reported use of “any THC cartridges.”
-
The California Department of Health found 81 percent of patients had used a “product containing THC.”
-
On October 18, the Connecticut Department of Public Health found 26 of 34 patients (76 percent) with vaping-related lung illnesses reported using THC-containing products. Only 2 patients, or 0.05 percent, reported “exclusive use of nicotine.” Six patients were unable to identify what they had vaped.
-
-
Moreover, flavors are immensely popular, especially among adults.
-
A 2016 Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association survey of more than 37,000 adult vapers found 72 percent of respondents “credited tasty flavors with helping them give up tobacco.”
-
A 2018 survey of nearly 70,000 American adults noted 83.2 percent and 72.3 percent of survey respondents reported vaping fruit and dessert flavors, respectively. In the same survey, only 20 percent of respondents reported using tobacco flavors at point of e-cigarette initiation.
-
-
A 2017 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined the effects of flavor bans and found banning flavors in e-cigarettes “would result in increased choice of combustible cigarettes.” Even worse, the study’s authors expect e-cigarette use to decline by approximately 10 percent if flavors are banned.
-
Despite endless fear mongering, electronic cigarettes are substantially safer than combustible cigarettes.
-
In 2015, Public Health England found e-cigarettes to be “95% safer” than traditional tobacco cigarettes.
-
In 2016, the Royal College of Physicians concluded the harm produced by e-cigarettes is “unlikely to exceed 5% of [the harm] associated with smoked tobacco products.”
-
Most recently, the American Cancer Society declared e-cigarettes to be “significantly less harmful for adults than smoking regular cigarettes … because e-cigarettes do not contain or burn tobacco.”
-
-
FDA conducted 374 tobacco product compliance checks with from January 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019 in Westchester County.
-
Of these checks, only 41 retailers were found in violation of selling tobacco products to minors.
-
Of the underage sales, 15 involved sales of cigars, 25 involved sales of cigarettes, and one sale involved a single cigarette. None involved electronic cigarettes.
-
-
Interestingly, convenience stores were the biggest violators, and six retailers with “puff,” “smoke,” or “vapor” in their store names had zero violations.
FLAVOR BAN UNLIKELY TO REDUCE YOUTH E-CIGARETTE USE, DOES NOT ADDRESS RECENT HOSPITALIZATIONS, AND WILL VAPORIZE SMALL BUSINESSES IN NEW YORK
October 7, 2019
-
On September 17, 2019, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an order to the New York Department of Health (NYDOH) banning the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes and vaping devices.
-
The New York Department of Health gave retailers “an approximate two-week grace period before conducting visits to enforce” the ban, with inspections “beginning on Friday, October 4.” Retailers in violation were to “face fines of up to $2,000 per violation.”
-
On October 3, 2019, in response to a lawsuit filed against the ban by the Vapor Technology Association and two vaping manufacturers (VTA et al.), a New York Appellate Court “granted a temporary restraining order to halt New York’s enforcement of the ban.” The ban is effectively delayed until October 18, 2019.
-
Analysis of flavor bans indicate they do not deter youth use of vapor products.
-
Santa Clara County, California, banned flavored tobacco product sales to age-restricted stores in 2014. Despite this, youth e-cigarette use increased while the ban was in effect. For example, in the 2015-16, 7.5 percent of Santa Clara high school students reported current use of e-cigarettes. In the 2017-18, this increased to 10.7 percent.
-
-
CDC and several state health departments have linked the vast majority of recent vaping-related hospitalizations to the use of illicit and unregulated products, not lawful and regulated flavored products.
-
A CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report obtained information for 514 of 805 possible vaping-related hospitalizations. Of the 514 patients, 395, or 77 percent, “reported using THC-containing products.”
-
The Connecticut Department of Health “interviewed nine of [their state’s] 13 patients with vaping-related injury.” All nine patients reported the use of THC products.
-
The Texas Department of State Health Services identified 75 potential vaping-related hospitalizations, with “87% of cases interviewed” reporting using THC products.
-
A statewide flavor ban will also prove to be a huge economic loss for New York
-
“the [New York] vapor industry accounts for over [$1.197 billion] annually in economic output and generates jobs for approximately 8,110 individuals.”
-
This industry annually pays an estimated $99 million in state taxes and more than $30 million in sales taxes.
-
Most brick-and-mortar vape shops in the Empire State “are small businesses, with many having five or fewer employees.”
-
-
New York spends little money on helping smokers quit
-
In 2019, New York received an estimated $2.0371 billion in tobacco settlement payments and taxes, yet only allocated $39.3 million, or 1 percent, on tobacco education and prevention programs.
-
New York state’s pension fund also has investments in “Philip Morris, Altria, Reynolds America, British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco.”
-
-
FLAVOR BANS WOULD SNUFF OUT VAPING IN NEW YORK
February 26, 2019
-
Senate Bill 428 would ban the sale of “characterizing flavors,” including, but not limited to, “fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, [and] herb or spice flavoring.” The legislation does not include tobacco or menthol flavors.
-
Data from the “2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey” and the “2018 Monitoring the Future Survey” found an increase in the number of youth who say they vape more than one time per month, but this is a misleading figure because it doesn’t make clear whether a person had, for example, vaped twice and then never vaped again or vaped multiple times per day each day of the month.
-
There is no real data to suggest youths who use e-cigarettes will transition to combustible tobacco cigarettes. A January 2019 study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute “found no evidence that vaping is a gateway to smoking among youth,” according to Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health.
-
Of the estimated 10 million adult vapers in the United States, nearly three million are former tobacco smokers.
-
A 2019 study found e-cigarettes are “twice as effective as nicotine replacement at helping smokers quit.”
-
Flavors are an important reason why electronic cigarettes have been so successful in helping people quit using tobacco.
-
A 2016 Consumers for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association survey of 37,343 adult e-cigarette users found 72 percent of respondents “credited tasty flavors with helping them give up tobacco.”
-
A 2018 survey of nearly 70,000 American adult vapers produced similar results. Nearly 95 percent of the survey’s respondents reported “that they were ever smokers,” and many cited using flavors at the point of e-cigarette initiation.
-