LANSING, MI (MPRN)-- Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered a temporary ban on flavored e-cigarettes in Michigan.
Michigan appears to be the only state to have this sort of rule. The order forbids retail and online sales of e-cigarettes with candy flavors in Michigan, and marketing vaping devices as a safe alternative to smoking.
Doctor Joneigh Khaldun is Michigan’s Public Health Executive. She says the availability of flavored vaping products is a public health emergency.
“Some counties have seen as much as a doubling of e-cigarette use among high school students, and for many of them a flavored e-cigarette is what they use initially.”
The governor signed a bill last month that bans the sale of vaping products to minors, but health officials inside her administration said the bill does not do enough to discourage vaping.
Gregory Conley is with the American Vaping Association. He says the governor’s exceeding the limits of her authority if she goes through with these rules, even on a temporary basis.
“Governors are not kings or queens. Lawmakers are elected to make laws, not governors. Governors are elected to enforce laws, sign laws.”
Conley says someone in the vaping industry would likely file a state or federal lawsuit seeking to strike down the rules.