Countrypami
The Link Ninja
Staff member
VU Administrator
Senior Moderator
VU Vendor Employee
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
VU Live Host
Member For 5 Years
Reddit Exile
VU Patreon
VAPOR TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION CALLS ON REGULATORS & LEGISLATORS TO TAKE SERIOUS ACTION ON LIMITING MARKETING OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS; SAYS FLAVOR BANS ARE SHORTSIGHTED AND WOULD NOT ADDRESS YOUTH USE OR DANGERS OF BLACK MARKET ILLEGAL PRODUCTS
VTA Calls On Regulators And Lawmakers To Come Together With The Industry To Implement Meaningful And Critical Alternatives That Address Youth Issues While Maintaining Choice for Over 10 Million Adults Who Rely On Vapor Products
Washington, D.C., September 25, 2019 —The Vapor Technology Association (VTA) today called on the Trump Administration, the FDA, the FTC and Congress to implement eleven important steps to help ensure controlled distribution of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, and limit access and appeal of all tobacco products to youth.
The flavor ban proposed by the Trump Administration and certain members of Congress will do little to address underage use of e-cigarettes and, more importantly, will do nothing to control the marketing of vapor products.
Tony Abboud, Executive Director of the Vapor Technology Association, said, “We have listened to our critics complain for years that the vapor industry is ‘marketing to youth’ but those same critics have focused on banning products and refused to do anything to address marketing. VTA has long been a proponent of strict marketing and advertising standards. We first developed and implemented marketing restrictions in 2017 and asked FDA and FTC to enforce them early in 2018. We have advocated for such standards at the federal and state level and have led our industry in implementing and advocating for them. Now, we call on regulators and lawmakers to come together with the industry to formally implement meaningful and critical alternatives that have thus far been unaddressed. To be clear, removing flavors in nicotine-containing vapor products will not address any of the serious illness issues that the CDC and FDA are reviewing since over 80% of those tragic incidents are being tied to the use of black market THC products, not store-bought FDA-registered and FDA-regulated nicotine vapor products (otherwise known as e-cigarettes). Regulators at the federal and state levels have refused to clearly acknowledge the direct link between black market THC products and the recent outbreak of lung illnesses, and are instead focused on implementing flavor bans that would adversely impact the American public.”
Dr. Michael Siegel, Boston University Professor of Public Health, who has made clear that there is no connection between flavored e-cigarettes and the illnesses being reported, said “CDC has hyped up the risks of vaping so much that they have literally said nothing about youth vaping of mar******.”
Additionally, a ban on flavors would have serious and immediate adverse effects on the U.S. and state economies causing thousands of small businesses to close and tens of thousands of American workers to be laid off, competition to be eliminated, and adult smokers left with no choice other than to start smoking again or resort to a black market.
The economic impact and potential for the American vapor industry to compete with the combustible cigarette is enormous: $24.5 billion in total economic impact; $7.5 billion in wages generated for American workers; and $15 billion in federal, state and local taxes generated.[1]
Much of the American vapor industry utilizes a new and independent supply and distribution channel separate from the traditional tobacco distribution channel. It sells a wide variety of flavored e-liquids, which 10-13 million adults rely on to quit and/or reduce smoking cigarettes. Without flavors and a wide variety of products on the market, the licensed, FDA-registered and FDA-regulated American vapor product distribution chain will close. No business model would enable these vape shops to remain open if they can sell only “tobacco, mint and menthol” as has been proposed. The result is that upwards of 166,000 direct and indirect jobs would be lost.
Most importantly, continuing down the road of banning flavors will only cause millions of adult smokers and former smokers to go back to smoking or rely on what will be a new and larger black market.
Fortunately, many alternatives to a flavor ban exist to directly address youth vaping, while preserving 14,000 small businesses and preventing a significant adverse economic impact.
VTA calls on the Administration, FDA, FTC and lawmakers to come together with the industry to implement meaningful and critical alternatives that have thus far been unaddressed:
- “Tobacco 21” - Raise the age from 18 to 21 to purchase tobacco and nicotine vapor products, instead of restricting flavors.
- Implement Strict Marketing Standards to prevent nicotine vapor products from being marketed to or attractive to youth.
- Ban print advertising except in adult-only publications or media (adults are >85% of audience).
- Ban advertising and/or sponsorship at stadiums, concerts, sporting or other public events that are not primarily targeted to adults (adults are >85% of audience)
- Ban offers of any school or college scholarships by any company selling tobacco products.
- Ban television advertising of any tobacco products, including any vapor products.
- Ban advertising, marketing and sale of tobacco products that:
- Use the terms “candy” or “candies” or variants in spelling, such as “kandy” or “kandeez,” “bubble gum,” “cotton candy,” and “gummi bear”, and “milkshake.”
- Use the terms “cake” or “cakes” or variants such as “cupcake.”
- Use packaging, trade dress or trademarks that imitate those of food or other products primarily targeted to minors such as candy, cookies, juice boxes or soft drinks.
- Use packaging that contains images of food products primarily targeted to minors such as juice boxes, soft drinks, soda pop, cereal, candy, or desserts.
- Imitates a consumer product designed or intended primarily for minors
- Use cartoons or cartoon characters.
- Use images or references to superheroes.
- Use any likeness to images, characters, or phrases that are known to appeal primarily to minors, such as “unicorn”.
- Use a video game, movie, video, or animated television show known to appeal primarily to minors.
- Ban advertising and marketing of tobacco products, including vapor products, that:
- Makes any reference to the product as a smoking cessation device or as a product which may be used to help quit smoking.
- Makes a claim of therapeutic value, as being safe or healthy for consumers, or as not producing secondhand health effects.
- Using modified risk descriptors or claims such as “light,” “low,” and/ or “mild”, having no ash or smoke, having no tar, being less harmful, posing lower risk of disease or as containing reduced or zero levels of harmful ingredients.
- Does not accurately represent the ingredients contained in the products.
- Uses health professionals to market or otherwise endorse a tobacco product, directly or indirectly.
- Uses contracted spokespeople or individuals that do not appear to be at least 25 years of age.
- Ban advertising on outdoor billboards near schools and playgrounds.
- Require labels to include warnings protecting youth such as “Sales to Minors Prohibited” or “Underage Sales Prohibited” and/or “Keep Out of Reach of Children”.
- Require all advertising to be accurate and not misleading.
