Let’s stop pretending: flavored e-cigarettes aren’t made to taste like candy to help adults stop using traditional cigarettes. Vape pods taste like candy to turn a new, young demographic into future tobacco users. Flavored tobacco appeals to youth by coming in flavors like cotton candy, gummy bear or vanilla latte. The tobacco industry has run rampant marketing these products, to the severe detriment of young Oregonians.
The proliferation of e-cigarette use among Oregon teens has led to an unprecedented epidemic in our state. Nearly one in four 11th-graders in Oregon reported vaping e-cigarettes this year. That number is staggering! Additionally, a 2018 National Academy of Medicine study found evidence that vaping may lead to a higher rate of smoking traditional cigarettes later. With two vaping-related deaths in Oregon and more than 1,000 cases of lung illness nationally, Governor Brown was right to take action to address this health crisis.
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Help Reduce Tobacco Use in Oregon
Governor Brown’s executive order temporarily bans the sale of flavored e-cigarette products for 180 days and calls for the following actions by state agencies within the next 90 days:
Consumer warnings about the dangers of vaping
Ingredient disclosure for vaping products
Testing of vaping products to determine product safety
Improving health care provider reporting of vaping-related lung injuries to OHA
Increasing access to FDA-approved cessation services and methods
Establishing a statewide prevention and education campaign aimed at discouraging the use of vaping products
In short, this executive order is the beginning of an important fight for Oregon’s youth, who deserve better than to be preyed on as future subjects of Big Tobacco.
—Rebecca Tiel, MPH
About the Author
Rebecca Tiel is the Director of Public Policy for the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. She also chairs the Oregon Health Authority Public Health Advisory Board.
Get Involved to Help Oregon Quit Vaping
Our Health Oregon is building a coalition of concerned Oregonians who are willing to take a stand against Big Tobacco to tell them we will not allow them to harm our teens and our communities. If you would like to be a part of this effort, sign up today.