After similar plans fell short the last two legislative sessions, some Connecticut lawmakers want to finally ban the sale of flavored vaping products. New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island already have similar bans.
The lawmakers say the fun-sounding, colorful flavors, often named after candy or fruits, attract children. The Food and Drug Administration reports that more than 8 of 10 youth users of e-cigarettes use the flavored kind.
The industry, meanwhile, denies that it's marketing to kids, something that state Sen. Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor) isn't buying.
"They're not selling the bubble gum flavor to an adult, they're selling it to our children," says Anwar, who's a physician specializing in lung disease.
Anwar and other doctors say vaping is a quick path to nicotine addiction and lung damage, and many teens who try it can't quit.
"The data is staggering: Regardless of how long they have been vaping," says Dr. Melanie Collins, director of the Cardiopulmonary Testing Lab at Connecticut Children's, "even as little as less than a year, approximately 70% of children have made at least one quit attempt in the last year and failed."
Lawmakers who spoke during a press conference on Zoom shared their observations on the prevalence of vaping among Connecticut middle and high school students.
"My nieces... at their dance school, all of the middle school, a lot of the girls are leaving dance lessons to go outside and vape," said state Sen. James Maroney (D-Milford).
The bill's sponsors are hoping to get their plan passed during the new session of the Connecticut General Assembly, which convenes Feb. 9.
