Baker approves restrictions on vaping, flavored tobacco products

Photo/SHNS Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker

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By Grant Welker

Gov. Charlie Baker signed legislation Wednesday putting Massachusetts on the forefront nationally in responding to rising vaping use, particularly among youth, by sharply limiting the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and giving regulators power to put in place other measures.

Baker said he will keep in place until Dec. 11 a temporary ban he put in place in September on the sale of all vaping products. That's about two weeks shorter than the four-month ban was expected to last.

The ban, Baker said Wednesday, was meant to give the Massachusetts Department of Public Health time to develop permanent regulations.

The new law follows bills approved in the House and Senate banning flavored tobacco products and adding a tax to e-cigarette, or vaping, products. Baker's action restricts the sale of vaping products with nicotine content over 35 milligrams per milliliter to only licensed, adult-only retail tobacco stores and smoking bars. Non-flavored vaping products with nicotine levels below that threshold will continue to be allowed in convenience stores, gas stations and other retail outlets.

Beginning next June 1, the sale of flavored tobacco products will be restricted to licensed smoking bars where they may be sold only for on-site consumption. Vaping products will be subject to a 75% excise tax on the wholesale price.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network praised Baker's actions on Wednesday.

“Keeping flavored tobacco products off the shelves here in Massachusetts is an epic win for our kids, because it helps protect future generations from starting on the path to a lifetime of tobacco addiction," Mark Hymovitz, the group's Massachusetts director of government relations, said in a statement. "Coupling this action with a price increase on e-cigarettes and improved access to cessation services sets Massachusetts apart with a comprehensive tobacco control program that proudly outpaces the rest of the nation."

Action by state officials follows three deaths in Massachusetts tied to vaping-related lung illnesses, including a Worcester County man and a Middlesex County woman. Lung illnesses tied to use of e-cigarettes have totaled 2,290 cases nationally, including 47 deaths as of Nov. 20, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since the state began mandating the reporting of vaping-associated lung injuries on Sept. 11, the Department of Public Health says it has received 278 reports from clinicians of suspected vaping-associated lung injuries, 164 of which meet the criteria for investigation by DPH. The department has reported 82 cases, including 26 confirmed and 56 probable cases, to the CDC.

In other regulatory action responding to that outbreak, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission quarantined tetrahydrocannabinol-based vaping products, with an exception for devices vaporizing marijuana flower for medical-use patients.

MassHealth, the state's program for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program, has eliminated co-payments on products to help people quit smoking, including gum, patches and lozenges.

“As a physician and commissioner of the Department of Public Health, I continue to recommend that people not use any e-cigarette or vaping products. These products are not safe," Public Health Commissioner Dr. Monica Bharel said in a statement. “Massachusetts has a long history of smoking cessation programs, and I want residents to know that help is available to quit.”

The state's Public Health Council is scheduled to take up other potential measures at its Dec. 11 meeting, including requiring signage warning users against the health dangers of vaping wherever those products are sold, and requiring vaping products to be placed behind a counter in retailers such as convenience stores.