WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2019) US President Donald Trump caved to corporate interests by retreating on his proposed ban on flavored e-cigarettes, Senator Maggie Hassan said in a statement.
"It appears that the Trump Administration is caving to corporate special interests and walking back its proposed ban on flavored e-cigarettes," Hassan said on Monday. "As we learn more about the dire consequences of this public health crisis - including that according to the American academy of Pediatrics, it is likely that only four percent of kids who become addicted to nicotine are going to successfully quit - the Federal government must act to prevent even more kids from becoming addicted."
The smoking of flavored e-cigarettes, popularly known as vaping, has been linked to more than 2,000 cases of mysterious lung injuries and over 40 deaths, including those of teenagers, in the United States.
Hassan noted that Trump's retreat on the matter comes only two months after the president announced that he planned to ban most flavored e-cigarettes.
The New York Times said under pressure from his political advisers and lobbyists to factor in the potential pushback from his supporters, Trump resisted moving forward with any action on vaping, while saying he still wants to study the issue.
The Washington Post reported that while traveling to a political rally in Kentucky on a flight on Nov. 4, Trump was swayed by the advisers who warned him of political repercussions to any sweeping restrictions. Reviewing talking points on the ban aboard the plane with advisers, the president decided to cancel the administration's rollout of an announcement, which included a news conference with heath agency chief Alex Azar.
Hassan noted that recently released reports from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey reveal that New Hampshire has the highest percentage of high school students in the nation reporting daily use of e-cigarettes.
She also said that during a Health, education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing last week, she pressed Mitch Zeller, Director of the Center for Tobacco Products at the food and Drug Administration, on the agency's delayed response in banning flavored e-cigarettes.
The CDC said last week that data compiled on nearly 1,400 patients with lung injuries from vaping showed that 14 percent were under the age of 18. Some 40 percent were between 18 and 24 years old, while another 25 percent were between 25 and 34 years old. The median age of deceased patients was 52 years and ranged from 17 to 75 years.
Last month, the CDC said it had found Vitamin E acetate, an additive in some THC-containing products, was detected during analyses of samples of fluid collected from the lungs of patients with e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is one of at least 113 cannabinoids identified in cannabis.
