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The Vaping Crises in the United States: A Regulatory Failure?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2020

Lukasz GRUSZCZYNSKI
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Kozminski University (Poland); Research Fellow, CSS Institute for Legal Studies (Hungary); email: [email protected]
Margherita MELILLO
Affiliation:
Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law (Luxembourg); PhD Candidate, European University Institute (Italy)

Abstract

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Type
Reports
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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References

1 L Jones, How Many People Vape?, BBC News, 15 September 2019, <www.bbc.com/news/business-44295336> accessed 7 February 2020.

2 Siegel, DA et al, Update: Interim Guidance for Health Care Providers Evaluating and Caring for Patients with Suspected E-cigarette, or Vaping, Product Use Associated Lung Injury – United States (2019) 68Google Scholar The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 919.

3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Outbreak of Lung Injury Associated with the Use of E-Cigarette, or Vaping, Products, updated 4 February 2020, <bit.ly/2SA6wR8> accessed 7 February 2020.

4 Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), Surgeon General Releases Advisory on E-Cigarette Epidemic among Youth (HHS.gov 17 December 2018), <www.hhs.gov/about/news/2018/12/18/surgeon-general-releases-advisory-e-cigarette-epidemic-among-youth.html> accessed 7 February 2020.

5 For a more detailed introduction to the topic, see Gruszczynski, L, “Introduction: Regulating e-cigarettes in the Face of Uncertainty” in Gruszczynski, L (ed), The Regulation of E-cigarettes. International, European and National Challenges (Edward Elgar 2019) p 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar ff. A good historical analysis is available in M Zatoński and AM Brandt, “Divide and Conquer? E-cigarettes as a Disruptive Technology in the History of Tobacco Control”, in Gruszczynski, above, at p 24 ff.

6 Eg A McNeill et al, Evidence Review of E-Cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products 2018 (a report commissioned by Public Health England) (Public Health England 2018).

7 Eg British Medical Association, E-cigarettes: Balancing risks and opportunities, 7 December 2018, <bit.ly/2ZwDlzA> accessed 7 February 2020.

8 Eg Etter, JF, “Gateway Effects and Electronic Cigarettes” (2017) 13 Addiction 1776Google Scholar; Cullen, KA et al, E-Cigarette Use Among Youth in the United States, 2019, JAMA 5 November 2019, doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.18387CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 L Gruszczynski, “Taming Schrödinger’s Cat: E-cigarettes under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control” in Gruszczynski (ed), supra, note 5.

10 PI Kovacevic, “Regulation of E-Cigarettes in US Law” in Gruszczynski (ed), supra, note 5.

11 K Thomas and S Kaplan, “E-Cigarettes Went Unchecked in 10 Years of FDA Inaction”, The New York Times, 14 October 2019, <www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/health/vaping-e-cigarettes-fda.html> accessed 7 February 2020.

12 Eg K Zernike, “FDA Cracks Down on ‘Juuling’ Among Teenagers”, The New York Times, 24 April 2018, <nyti.ms/2svxUVG> accessed 7 February 2020.

13 FDA, Youth Tobacco Use: Results from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, 6 November 2019, <bit.ly/2ZxWMIB> accessed 7 February 2020.

14 Assistant Secretary for Health, supra, note 4.

15 Cf Thomas and Kaplan, supra, note 11; J Howard, “FDA Commissioner on Vaping crisis: We ‘Should Have Acted Sooner’”, CNN, 26 September 2019, <cnn.it/2sycxTz> accessed 7 February 2020.

16 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supra note 3.

17 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supra note 3.

18 “US Officials Identify ‘Strong Culprit’ in Vaping Illnesses”, AP NEWS, 8 November 2019, <apnews.com/80fe373103cf4096b4567cf5717380cf> accessed 7 February 2020.

19 M Thielking, “Health Officials Claim Breakthrough on Vaping Illness Culprit”, Scientific American, 8 November 2019, <www.scientificamerican.com/article/health-officials-claim-breakthrough-on-vaping-illness-culprit/> accessed 7 February 2020.

20 D Grady, “Vaping Illnesses Are Linked to Vitamin E Acetate, CDC Says”, The New York Times, 8 November 2019, <www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/health/vaping-illness-cdc.html> accessed 7 February 2020.

21 S Wheaton, “Europe’s Missing ‘Vaping Sickness’”, POLITICO, 12 September 2019, <www.politico.eu/article/us-vaping-illness-death-toll-rises-fear-reversals-anti-smoking-campaigns/> accessed 7 February 2020.

22 Art 20 of Directive 2014/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Approximation of the Laws, Regulations and Administrative Provisions of the Member States Concerning the Manufacture, Presentation and Sale of Tobacco and Related Products and Repealing Directive 2001/37/EC (3 April 2014), OJ L 127/1, 29 April 2014.

23 For detailed analysis, see A Pudło and L Gruszczynski, “Regulating E-Cigarettes at the EU Level” in Gruszczynski (ed), supra, note 5. See also Gruszczynski, L, “The EU Regime for E-cigarettes: A Rational Compromise or Regulatory Failure?” (2018) 4(2) Journal of Health Inequalities 62CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24 Report from the Commission to the Council on Directive 2011/64/EU on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco, COM(2018) 17 final, 12 January 2018.

25 UK Government, E-Cigarettes: An Evidence Update, <www.gov.uk/government/publications/e-cigarettes-an-evidence-update> accessed 7 February 2020.

26 This interpretation derives from a joint reading of Art 20 (on e-cigarettes) and Art 2(1)(16) (defining an e-cigarette as “a product that can be used for consumption of nicotine-containing vapour”) of the TPD.

27 Art 15 of the TPD establishes a “tracking and tracing” system, but limits it to tobacco products, thus excluding e-cigarettes.

28 Laverty, AA et al, “Patterns, Trends and Determinants of e-Cigarette Use in 28 European Union Member States 2014–2017” (2018) 116CrossRefGoogle Scholar Preventive Medicine 13.

29 Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, JUUL and Youth: Rising E-Cigarette Popularity, 2019, <www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0394.pdf> accessed 7 February 2020.

30 J Creswell and S Kaplan, “How Juul Hooked a Generation on Nicotine”, New York Times, 23 November 2019, <www.nytimes.com/2019/11/23/health/juul-vaping-crisis.html> accessed 7 February 2020.

31 Art 20(3)(b) of the TPD provides that the “nicotine-containing liquid” cannot “contain nicotine in excess of 20 mg/ml”.

32 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supra note 3.

33 S Kaplan, “Trump Administration Plans to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes”, New York Times, 11 September 2019, <www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/health/trump-vaping.html>, accessed 17 February 2020.

34 Wheaton, supra, note 21.

35 A Karni et al, “Trump Retreats from Flavor Ban for E-Cigarettes”, New York Times, 17 November 2019, <nyti.ms/2Swr78S> accessed 7 February 2020. The administration probably feared that such a decision could have an impact on the outcome of the forthcoming presidential election as the flavour ban seems to be a single issue in 17 key battleground states (see McLaughlin & Associates, Adult Vapor Consumer Survey Battleground States, 22 October 2019, <bit.ly/39wLjh0> accessed 7 February 2020).

36 FDA, FDA finalizes enforcement policy on unauthorized flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes that appeal to children, including fruit and mint, 2 January 2020, <bit.ly/2FrMdxp> accessed 7 February 2020.

37 L McGinley and Y Abutaleb, “Congress Set to Prohibit Sales of Tobacco Products to Anyone under 21”, Washington Post, 17 December 2019, <wapo.st/352sX41> accessed 7 February 2020.

38 S Rense, “7 States Have Moved to Ban Vapes. Is the Rest of America Next?”, Esquire, 14 October 2019, <bit.ly/2tgbZBH> accessed 7 February 2020.

39 K Lannan, “Baker Declares 4-Month Ban on Vaping Product Sales”, WGBH, 24 September 2019, <bit.ly/2sthGME> accessed 7 February 2020.

40 M Kennedy, “North Carolina Says It Is Suing 8 E-Cigarette Companies”, NPR, 27 August 2019, <n.pr/2MAIQrJ>, accessed 7 February 2020.

41 D Yaffe-Bellany, “TV Networks Take Down Juul and Other E-Cigarette Ads”, New York Times, 18 September 2019, <www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/business/juul-vaping-ads-cbs.html> accessed 7 February 2020.

42 “Walmart Ceases E-cigarette Sales”, BBC, 20 September 2019, <www.bbc.com/news/business-49776854> accessed 7 February 2020.

43 “Indian Parliament Passes New Law Banning E-cigarettes”, Xinhua, 3 December 2019, <bit.ly/354DA65> accessed 7 February 2020.

44 Eg A Aditya, “Indonesia May Join Growing Vaping Ban as Illness Hits Asia”, Bloomberg, 22 November 2019, <bloom.bg/37qr2I9>; “Malaysia Considers Total Vaping Ban after Reports of US Deaths”, Reuters, 14 October 2019, <reut.rs/39soZVR> both accessed 7 February 2020.

45 R Chang and L Du, “China Bans Online Sales of E-Cigarettes”, Bloomberg, 1 November 2019, <bloom.bg/367oLRP> accessed 7 February 2020.