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KX News: Students Help Draft E-Cigarette Bill

By Steph Scheurer, Reporter

The CDC reports more than 16 million minors live in states where they can buy e-cigarettes legally.

The topic of age limits on e-cigarettes is one that will be brought up during the 2015 legislative session.

Braden Will and Ashti Ali are 7th graders.

But even at a young age, they’re thinking about their safety.

“It’s kind of scary that 12 year olds, even 10 year olds can buy e-cigarettes,” says Braden Will, Simle 7th Grader, SADD.

“We don’t think it’s right that kids our age and younger can buy e-cigarettes because they’re just as harmful as regular cigarettes and so if they start now, then they’ll just get addicted for their whole life and we don’t want that to happen,” says Ashti Ali, Simle 7th Grader, SADD.

So, they decided to do something about it.

“The Simle SADD chapter wrote Representative Larson and said, you know what, we want a bill to protect our youth,” says Kristie Wolff, Program Manager, American Lung Association, ND.

Representative Diane Larson went to Simle, met with the students, and got a bill drafted that would restrict the sale of e-cigarettes to minors across the state of North Dakota.

“Currently several communities across the state have already developed city ordinances that are in place but statewide we do not have an e-cigarette ordinance so it is legal for minors not only to purchase but possess e-cigarettes across much of the state,” says Wolff.

Wolff says e-cigarette use among the youth has tripled since 2011. Currently 40 states prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. North Dakota is not one of them.

“One of the reasons could be because we only have session every other year and so this is one of the first times that our legislators, you know, are going to be addressing it,” says Wolff.

As of September, 18 cities across the state have developed city ordinances that are in place, but Braden, Ashti, and the rest of their SADD chapter hopes their voice will help make this change statewide.

“I like the feeling that we actually kind of get to help with this because it just makes me feel good,” says Ali.

“I think the way the bill came about is amazing because it’s coming directly from those we want to protect,” says Wolff.

E-cigarettes are included in North Dakota’s Smoke Free Law.

Anywhere that traditional tobacco cannot be used, e-cigarettes also cannot be used.

According to a list from the American Lung Association in North Dakota, Dickinson is just one city where e-cigarettes are not restricted from being sold to minors.

http://www.kxnet.com/story/27634626/students-help-draft-e-cigarette-bill

Our View: Do more to keep e-cigs, youths apart

The Times Editorial Board, SC Times

Surveys of Minnesota and U.S. youth show alarming increase in e-cigarette use. Lawmakers can slow this increase by immediately acting to limit access.

Two surveys released the past week — one state and one national — deliver a powerful message about the most pressing issue regarding e-cigarettes:
Government needs to lead a stronger charge to keep them out of the hands — and bodies — of minors.
To this point, most of the e-cigarette debate has been about whether e-cigarettes — which electronically convert liquid nicotine into vapor to be inhaled — are as harmful as traditional tobacco and secondhand smoke.
That debate has raged for years, even decades. A resolution seems months, or more likely, years away.
What’s more pressing to resolve — as evidenced by two surveys of youths’ nicotine use — is slowing the fast-rising number of minors who are trying these devices.
How fast?
The 2014 Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey released Monday found 28 percent of high school students have tried e-cigarettes. On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 4.5 percent of high school students nationally used e-cigarettes regularly in 2013 — triple the percent from 2011. Equally disturbing: 12 percent of U.S. high school students and 3 percent of middle-schoolers had tried them at least once.
And remember, e-cigarettes have been widely available in America for only about seven years.
Such findings make it clear e-cigarettes hold potential for creating countless new generations with unhealthy and high rates of nicotine addiction.
Hasn’t America learned enough hard lessons from 50 years of tobacco-based nicotine addiction to know it needs to snuff out that potential now instead of waiting for more research?
Ultimately, there is no debate that nicotine is a potent, addictive drug. E-cigarettes are simply a delivery mechanism.
So lawmakers should act now to keep the drug and the delivery system out of the hands of minors.
An easy decision is to enact a federal ban on selling minors e-cigarettes, “e-juice” and related products. Minnesota is one of about 35 states with such bans. However, sales via the Internet still provide youth access.
Another important step is to apply the same rules to the marketing of e-cigarettes that are applied to traditional tobacco.
After all, even a cursory glance at products and advertising makes it clear many producers are targeting youth. Think everything from trendy-looking e-cigarettes (and accessories) to bubble-gum flavored e-juice.
Finally, there is merit in increasing the taxes paid on all e-cigarette products.
Such an approach proved successful in reducing youth use of traditional tobacco. And it might even dissuade adults from nicotine addiction.
Again, too much of the debate about whether and how to regulate e-cigarettes remains focused on comparisons to traditional tobacco.
Seeing how e-cigarettes are gaining traction among youth, the focus needs to shift to keeping these nicotine-delivery devices out of their hands — at least until they are legal adults.
http://www.sctimes.com/story/opinion/2014/11/16/view-keep-e-cigs-youths-apart/19089759/

Washington Post: Raise the smoking age

The Washington Post

New Jersey’s Senate approved a raise in the legal smoking age from 19 to 21 last week, pushing the groundbreaking experiment in public health one step closer to fruition. The bill, which the General Assembly will consider in the fall, would make New Jersey the first state to prohibit the sale of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to anyone younger than 21. It is designed to cut teenage exposure to tobacco, since about 90 percent of regular smokers have their first cigarette before turning 18. A few localities, such as New York City and the island of Hawaii, already raised the age.

Raising the smoking age eventually could cause a decline of 30 percent in adult smokers, according to one estimate, but whether it will have such a large effect in New Jersey remains to be seen. New Jersey’s current smoking age already prohibits virtually all high schoolers from buying cigarettes. Very few extensive case studies exist now, but the Food and Drug Administration is due to release a report on the effect of a 21- or 25-year-old smoking age next year.

There is no harm in trying. The experiment’s success could spur on the District of Columbia, which has a similar bill in committee, and other states that are contemplating the move. The only way the measure can hurt is if it distracts policymakers from implementing more proven prevention strategies, such as higher taxes.

Despite New Jersey’s campaign against smoking, some key areas still need work. E-cigarettes, many of which contain known carcinogens and whose popularity has skyrocketed, are taxed at a low rate. The cigarette tax has not been raised in five years; New Jersey’s $2.70-per-pack tax lags behind that of eight states. Most troubling, none of the revenue from the tobacco tax goes to tobacco prevention efforts. One good start would be to pass a bill that would equalize the tax between tobacco products.

In early June, when the smoking-age bill was still in committee, state Sen. Ronald Rice Sr., D, cast one of only two votes against it. “I’m getting tired of folk trying to tell adults what to do,” he said. But cigarettes, unlike some alcoholic drinks, have no health benefits and are destructive even in small doses. Exactly what New Jersey would be depriving its citizens of, besides a slow poison, is unclear.

Mr. Rice also argued that it was unfair to ban smoking for 19- and 20-year-olds who “can buy real estate, pay state and sales taxes” and join the military. There he has a point; there is no societal consensus about when a citizen reaches adulthood. Yet when urgent practical needs are balanced with theoretical inconsistencies, initiatives that save lives should take precedence. As New Jersey and other states battle their smoking crises, they should undertake initiatives both innovative and tested.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/58169701-82/smoking-age-jersey-tobacco.html.csp

You Now Have To Be 21 Years Old To Buy Cigarettes In New York City

 | by  Brigitte Dusseau

New York raised the minimum age to buy cigarettes to 21 on Sunday, in its latest initiative to encourage healthier behavior among residents.

The law, signed November 19 shortly before former mayor Michael Bloomberg finished his third term, had a six-month waiting period before it came into effect — but its impact can already be clearly felt.

“Under 21, no tobacco,” warned a small sign at the entrance of a small shop that sells smokes, newspapers, candy, coffee and cakes, in the Nolita neighborhood (North of Little Italy).

No tobacco, either, for anyone who can’t present a valid ID proving their age. Shopkeeper scan IDs to test their authenticity before handing over the box of cigarettes.

The measure — unprecedented among America’s big cities — raises the legal age to buy cigarettes from 18. It also applies to other forms of tobacco and to e-cigarettes.

It’s the latest of New York’s efforts to reduce smoking in the city, which bans cigarettes and, as of April 29, e-cigarettes in restaurants and bars, in parks or squares, and at the city’s public beaches. Some private residential buildings have also banned smoking.

Cigarette taxes in the city are also the highest in the country: $5.85 a carton, which brings the overall price to around $12. In addition, the city has established a minimum price of $10.50 a box for cigarettes.

Nataleigh Kohn, 23, who works at a startup company, underwent her ID check with good grace.
“It is a good thing. People in high school can’t start smoking,” she said.
Thomas Wall, 24, a former smoker who works in architecture, agreed, though he said the measure probably wouldn’t eliminate teen smoking all together.
He compared the new age restriction to the ones around alcohol, which set the US drinking at at 21.
When underage people want alcoholic drinks, they often get them from older people who buy for them.
Shopkeeper Muhammad Arisur Khaman said he’s seen some complaints since the law was implemented, but not many. He just tells unhappy clients: “It’s the law.”
The higher minimum age is “a step in the right direction,” said Pat Bonadies, a teacher walking with a group of students in Union Square.
The 52-year-old said there has been a sea change in attitudes towards smoking.
“When I was younger, smoking was much more prevalent among teenagers and preteens in restaurants and social settings,” she said.
“Even my mother’s friends, they smoked during their pregnancies.”
The city has seen a sharp drop in adult smokers, from 21.5 percent in 2002 to 14.8 percent in 2011, according to official statistics.
But the smoking rate among young people has been steady since 2007, at 8.5 percent, which was part of the impetus for raising the minimum age.
Authorities hope that the new law will cut the smoking rate among 18 to 20 years by more than half.
New York hopes to inspire other cities to pass similar age restrictions.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/18/new-york-city-cigarettes-minimum-buying-age-now-21_n_5348490.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

Grand Forks targets e-cigs: New ordinance gets early approval from city committee

By Charly Haley, Grand Forks Herald
Electronic cigarettes may soon be more regulated in Grand Forks if a recommendation for a new city ordinance is approved by City Council next week.
An ordinance prohibiting possession of e-cigarettes by minors and prohibiting vending machines that sell e-cigarettes was proposed to the City Council Service/Safety Committee by council member Bret WeberTuesday. The committee voted unanimously to support the ordinance, which will go to the full City Council next week for final approval.
E-cigarettes are not technically a “tobacco product,” which is why they aren’t regulated under existing city ordinances, Weber said.
But they are a vehicle for nicotine in a vapor form, which is still damaging to health, he said.
According to Food and Drug Administration reports, e-cigarettes can increase nicotine addiction and may lead people to try regular cigarettes, which are known to cause disease.
The proposed Grand Forks ordinance states that e-cigarettes will have the same regulations as other tobacco products.
Haley Thorson, a Grand Forks Public Health nurse, said there are only two e-cigarette shops that she knows of in Grand Forks: SnG Vapor and Vapor Stars. Some convenience stores also sell simple e-cigarettes, she said.
A big part of the problem, Weber said, is that e-cigarettes are often marketed toward youths. “There are ‘Hello Kitty,’ e-cigarettes,” he said.
Members of the Red River High School Student Council and the Grand Forks City Youth Commission attended the Service/Safety Committee meeting to support Weber’s proposal of the ordinance.
E-cigarette use among youth in North Dakota has almost tripled from 2011 to 2013, according to a report provided by the Grand Forks Public Health Department. The trend is growing nationally as well, according to the report.
In Minnesota, it is illegal by state law for minors to buy e-cigarettes, Weber said. At least eight communities in North Dakota have passed or are currently discussing ordinances that regulate sales of e-cigarettes to minors, according to the Public Health report.
http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/grand-forks-targets-e-cigs-new-ordinance-gets-early-approval-city-committee

Changes to tobacco ordinance passed

The West Fargo Pioneer
The Commission passed the second reading of changes to its tobacco ordinance to include electronic cigarettes at its Monday meeting.
The City’s ordinance now requires a tobacco license for anyone wishing to sell electronic cigarettes along with regular tobacco products and it prohibits the sale of electronic cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18. The City Commission is following precedence set by Fargo and Moorhead, which have passed similar laws.
North Dakota law already prohibits anyone from using electronic cigarettes in public buildings. Anyone smoking regular cigarettes or electronic versions must be at least 20 feet from public entrances.
http://www.westfargopioneer.com/content/changes-tobacco-ordinance-passed

E-cigarettes ignite debate over regulation, sales

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Banning the sale of electronic cigarettes to kids may seem like a no-brainer, yet Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration and a number of health advocacy groups oppose legislation that does just that. They say it doesn’t go far enough.
Players on both sides of the state’s e-cigarette debate agree that the nicotine-dispensing devices should be kept away from minors, but opinions differ when it comes to regulating the relatively unstudied vaporizers.
Tobacco companies support two bipartisan Senate bills prohibiting the sale and use of e-cigarettes and other devices that deliver nicotine if the buyer is younger than 18 years old. Sen. Glenn Anderson, D-Westland, said he is sponsoring the legislation because it’s “outrageous” that a minor can legally buy and use a highly addictive product. The bills unanimously passed the Senate Thursday.
But Snyder’s administration and health advocates say the bills would give e-cigarettes a “special status” and protect them from standard tobacco regulations. They want e-cigarettes to be treated like traditional cigarettes, not only in regards to minors, but taxes and public use laws as well. Such regulations would ban e-cigarette use in workplaces or restaurants, a restriction that’s currently left up to individual businesses.
“The appropriate thing to do in Michigan now is to act to help protect the population against the potential health risks of e-cigarettes, about which we know very little,” said Dr. Matthew Davis, chief medical executive for the Community Health Department.
Electronic cigarettes are cylindrical battery-powered devices that heat a liquid to produce vapor. While the liquid often includes nicotine, which can be derived from tobacco, e-cigarettes have not been officially designated as tobacco products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates cigarettes and smokeless tobacco and has said it intends to propose changes to its authority to regulate e-cigarettes, too.
Twenty-seven states ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most of those state laws are similar to the Senate legislation.
Opponents are countering with a House bill that would treat e-cigarettes as tobacco products.
Rep. Gail Haines, R-Lake Angelus, introduced the bill Wednesday after working with the administration and health groups such as the American Cancer Society and American Lung Association. She declined to comment before the bill was assigned to a committee.
Anderson said an effort to designate e-cigarettes as tobacco products would fail ahead of the FDA’s decision.
“Most of us would prefer for the FDA to make the decision, and they are going to do it probably sometime this year, but I don’t want to wait,” bill sponsor Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said. “I want to stop the sale to children now, immediately.”
E-cigarettes are often produced by the same parent companies as traditional cigarettes and have grown increasingly popular over the past few years. U.S. middle and high school students’ use of e-cigarettes more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in September. The share of high school students who had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days increased from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent in the survey. More than 1.78 million middle and high school students tried e-cigarettes in 2012.
“As I read to a fourth grade last week, one of the children said, ‘My friends and I bought some and we played with them,'” Jones said on the Senate floor.
Mark Bilger, 18, asked his mother to contact Anderson about concerns over e-cigarettes in September after studying them for his debate club. Bilger, a senior at Detroit Catholic Central High School, said he noticed e-cigarettes were “becoming a real problem in my school” and that students occasionally use them in class “when the teacher’s back is turned” without getting caught “because there’s no smell, there’s only vapor.”
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Bilger said about the Senate legislation. “But I think they need some of the same regulations traditional cigarettes have, where you regulate what you put in it and have more testing on it.”
Lance McNally, 39, is one of Jones’ constituents who began using e-cigarettes in December. He owns three e-cigarettes and still smokes traditional cigarettes. He wants to transition fully to vaporizers because “there’s no stench.”
While McNally only uses tobacco-flavored e-cigarette liquid, he said his wife goes for more unusual flavors.
“Strawberry, cheesecake — those are the two main ones,” he said.
McNally said he’s not worried about flavors or advertisements appealing to minors because “I’m not seeing an inundation of marketing.” E-cigarette legislation is unnecessary because many retailers already won’t sell them to minors, he said.
“I don’t think they should be regulated like cigarettes,” McNally said. “I’m kind of a deregulation guy to begin with. I don’t see where the government needs to be wasting its energy and time and my money on another product.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/07/e-cigarettes-regulation-sales/6181091/

E-cigarette regulation bill begins to move in Minnesota Legislature

By Don Davis, Forum Communications

ST. PAUL — Electronic cigarettes would not be available to youths under a bill the Minnesota House is considering, but a provision that would have banned them from public locations was not expected to survive.

The bill would prohibit e-cigarette sales to anyone younger than 18 and ban them from schools.

“It seems like a no brainer,” Rep. Laurie Halverson, D-Eagan, said about her bill.

The use of e-cigarettes among youths doubled in the last year, state Health Commissioner Edward Ehlinger told the House Health and Human Services Committee Wednesday. He said he thinks the products are marketed to hook youths on nicotine in the product, and later they will smoke tobacco cigarettes.

E-cigarettes often include flavors to appeal to children, he said. Some are linked to Gummy Bears and others connected with Hello Kitty.

To continue reading, visit http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/e-cigarette-regulation-bill-begins-move-minnesota-legislature

E-cigarette worries

Minot ordinance would keep e-cigarettes from kids

JILL SCHRAMM (jschramm@ minotdailynews.com), Minot Daily News
Electronic cigarettes should be treated like tobacco when it comes to minors, Minot’s STAMP Coalition told a city committee Wednesday.
The Minot City Council’s Public Works and Safety Committee voted at the coalition’s urging to recommend the council make it illegal to sell or provide e-cigarettes to minors and for minors to possess the devices.
E-cigarettes are designed like a cigarette but are battery powered with a vaporizer and mouthpiece to deliver nicotine.
They don’t fall under the definition of tobacco so there is no legal requirement for stores to restrict sales to minors. Many stores are checking identification and restricting on their own, but there is no penalty if a store fails to do so.
Some legislators are considering changing state law to bring e-cigarettes under the same rules as conventional cigarettes.
“We are absolutely going to be working toward that and hoping for that during the next session,” said Erin Oban-Hill, executive director for Tobacco Free North Dakota, in Bismarck. In the meantime, she said, “A number of communities didn’t want to wait.”
To continue reading, visit http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/592629/E-cigarette-worries.html?nav=5010

Colorado, Utah Want To Raise Tobacco Age To 21

DENVER (AP) – Two Western states with some of the nation’s lowest smoking rates are considering cracking down even more by raising the tobacco age to 21.
Utah and Colorado lawmakers both voted favorably on proposals Thursday to treat tobacco like alcohol and take it away from 18- to 20-year-olds, a move inspired by new research on how many smokers start the habit as teenagers.
“By raising the age limit, it puts them in a situation where they’re not going to pick it up until a much later age,” said Marla Brannum of Lehi, Utah, who testified in favor of the idea there.
In Colorado, the testimony was similar – that pushing the tobacco age could make it harder for teens to access tobacco, and possibly reduce usage rates among adults.
“What I’m hoping to do is make it harder for kids to obtain cigarettes,” said Rep. Cheri Gerou, a Republican who sponsored the measure.
To read more, visit http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/02/22/colorado-utah-want-to-raise-tobacco-age-to-21/