NEW YORK -- Last week, New York City introduced legislation that would ban the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes and e-liquids. Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Queens), who proposed the measure, cited the all-too-familiar argument that flavors attract kids in his pitch.
“These flavors are direct marketing to children,” Constantinides told the New York Daily News. “They appeal to children, and we’re taking them out of that market.”
Many electronic cigarette supporters argue that flavors do not appeal to children, but to adult smokers.
"Studies show that e-cigarettes, particularly flavored kinds, are effective at helping smokers move away from combustible cigarettes," American Vaping Association president Gregory Conley said in a written statement, referencing a study by Greek researcher Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, who found that adults using flavored e-cigarettes are more likely to be smoke-free than those using tobacco flavors.
"The AVA supports common-sense regulation of its products, such as New York City's existing ban on [sales] to minors,” Conley added. “But adults are free to make their own choices."
“Banning the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes would be tantamount to a ban on virtually all electronic cigarettes,” Dr. Michael Siegel, professor of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, wrote in his Tobacco Analysis blog. “In reality, virtually every electronic cigarette product is flavored. Even the ‘tobacco’ type of electronic cigarette is actually a flavored product, since flavorings are generally used to create that ‘tobacco’ taste.”
When talking about those in the electronic cigarette business, Constantinides did not hold back, stating that “these guys are not in the quitting business, they’re in the addiction business.”
Siegel said quite the opposite is true, writing that “actually, these ‘guys’ are in the quitting business,” noting that the vast majority of vapers are former smokers.
“Very few never-smokers are regular electronic cigarette users,” Siegel continued. “There is at present no evidence that the use of electronic cigarettes leads to nicotine or smoking addiction in anyone who was not already a tobacco user.”
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