North Michigan News

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered Sept. 4 for the state's Department of Health and Human Services to issue emergency rules to ban flavored e-cigarettes on the heels of recent hospitalizations across the country involving vaping and e-cigarettes.

The ban comes at a time when many states, retailers and researchers are looking into the effects of e-cigarettes and vaping at large, but particularly the effect on youth. The ban ordered by Whitmer also bans misleading marketing and claims that e-cigarettes are a “clean” or “safe” version of smoking.

The ban is a method of reducing the use of e-cigarette products among youth in the country, however, research done by The Heartland Institute shows that flavor restrictions were not successful in deterring consumers from purchasing e-cigarette and vaping products in California.

Rep. Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton)

Rep. Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton), who sits on the Regulatory Reform Committee, told the North Michigan News the ban came too quickly behind recent legislation that put an age restriction on e-cigarettes and vaping products.

"I got to listen to all the testimony about vaping and three months ago, we banned vaping for kids 18 and under," Hoitenga said. "So it’s very disappointing that this governor reacted so quickly, without even giving that new bill a chance. We gave the authority to the police and we put out some awareness programs and some things that schools can do, some tools that schools can use to stop youth vaping, and we haven't even given that a chance."

Hoitenga said the governor's unilateral ban approach to the problem is an unconstitutional bypass of the processes already in place to deal with issues like e-cigarettes. 

"I know there are a lot of other things on the market that are far worse than (vaping) and we can’t just ban everything," Hoitenga said. "We have to try to put penal codes into statues and punish people for using it illegally."

The proposal is being criticized as a needless restriction to tobacco substitutes for adults who no longer smoke cigarettes. As soon as the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issues the rules, the ban would last six months.