Governor Whitmer weighs in on vaping epidemic

This article won third place in the 2020 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association spring awards ceremony.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer made a decision to ban the sale of the majority of e-cigarette juice flavors in an effort to curb the harmful new trend of vaping.

A 2015 Center for Disease Control and Prevention study found that the popularity of flavored tobacco products contributed to increased levels of vaping by high school students. 

This, along with the fact that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) declared that vaping was a public health emergency, pushed Whitmer to ban flavored nicotine juice, making Michigan the first state to do so. 

E-cigarettes, more commonly called vapes, often use flavoring. These flavors can be everything from candy to fruit to desserts. Additionally, the juice usually contains nicotine, the same addictive chemical found in standard cigarettes.

 “…[R]ight now, companies selling vaping products are using candy flavors to hook children on nicotine and misleading claims to promote the belief that these products are safe. That ends today,” Whitmer said.

With this new executive order, Whitmer bans all flavored products other than those that are tobacco flavored. This ban covers brick and mortar sales as well as online.

Once filed, this emergency ban will last for six months when it will be revisited by the legislature. Businesses will have 30 days after it is filed to clear their shelves of these products.

Along with the ban of flavored products, Whitmer also banned the use of words like “clean,” “safe,” and “healthy” in the marketing of vapes due to the misleading nature of their claims. 

Though a statute prohibiting vaping advertisements on billboards was already in place, the governor ordered Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to begin stricter enforcement of e-cigarette advertising on billboards. 

Though a first of its kind, President Donald Trump also seems to be interested in posing a similar ban.

According to the American Vaping Association, “several hundred” Michigan vaping businesses are expected to close. However, Whitmer hopes that the impact on public health will be worth the loss of business.