E-cigarette rules meant to reduce use by teens

An effort to raise the legal age for smoking tobacco and vaping products to 21 fell short this year in the Legislature. But a bipartisan bill sponsored by state Sen. Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup, did pass that clarifies rules around the packaging and sales of vaping products.

This is a good step. The measure signed into law last month by Gov. Jay Inslee should make it harder for teens to get their hands on vaping products containing addictive nicotine.

Under the legislation, store and online sellers of e-cigarettes and products must become licensed by the state, pay a fee and keep their e-cigarette products in secure displays.

Importantly, Senate Bill 6238 also requires that liquid nicotine containers have child-resistant caps and that makers of vaping products that contain addictive nicotine disclose it in labels.

In a compromise, the measure overrides local regulations that local jurisdictions such as Pierce County had adopted to limit the access to addictive nicotine products by those younger than 18. And although it imposes licensing fees, it blocks the imposition of local taxes.

The new state law takes effect June 28.

Critics of vaping worry that e-cigarettes are a gateway to hooking young people on nicotine, which then can lead to tobacco use. But some like Dammeier see vaping as a tool that helps some adult tobacco users get off cigarettes.

A recent New York Times news story said health experts in Great Britain have urged tobacco smokers to switch to vaping as a help to quitting cigarettes. But it noted that U.S. experts warn that e-products could result in more young people later transitioning to tobacco products such as cigarettes.

At the request of the Legislature in 2014, the Washington Institute for Public Policy looked into e-cigarette prevention and cessation programs, but it found little research into the use of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool.

Existing laws do not require the licensing of sellers at shops or online. So there is no practical way currently to enforce the state’s ban on sales to those younger than 18. But the new law lets enforcement officers know where to make spot checks of sales for compliance with the law — just as state agents do now with tobacco and liquor sales.

The state action comes at a time the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also adopted rules setting a national age limit of 18 years for use of vaping products and setting other standards meant to reduce teen access to them. Those FDA rules, adopted earlier this month, take effect in August.

Though our hope is that teen use of these products goes down, time will tell exactly what difference is made by regulations at both levels.

This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 7:19 PM with the headline "E-cigarette rules meant to reduce use by teens."