By Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PA<\/p>\n
Spotlight PA<\/a> is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n A new law<\/a> sponsored by a state representative from the Lehigh Valley may not be very effective at removing unregulated vapes from the market due to loopholes, insufficient funding for enforcement, and limited public health backing.<\/p>\n The statute is the commonwealth\u2019s first major effort to tackle vaping. By this spring, manufacturers will need to have registered with the state Office of Attorney General and self-certified that they have been authorized by the FDA or have applied for authorization.<\/p>\n Act 57<\/a>, which mirrors proposals passed in at least 11 other states, passed the General Assembly with broad bipartisan support and the backing of a powerful coalition of interests, including law enforcement, convenience store chains, and the state\u2019s medical society.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t stop the youth from smoking, but at least if they\u2019re going to do it \u2026 the ones they are smoking are safer for them,\u201d said said state Rep. Jeanne McNeill, who sponsored the underlying bill. The Democrat represents Bethlehem, Catasauqua, Coplay, Fountain Hill; and Hanover and Whitehall townships. All her territory is in Lehigh County.<\/p>\n Registry laws designed to restrict these products are so new, however, that their impact on fighting youth access to vapes is still unclear, public health experts told Spotlight PA<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m still trying to grasp why [registry laws] became popular,\u201d Jeffrey Drope, a research professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Spotlight PA.<\/p>\n He and other researchers say banning all flavored products would be more effective, although other researchers disagree due to data<\/a> that suggest such policies may harm adults trying to stop smoking cigarettes.<\/p>\n In particular, supporters of the law hope to target Chinese-made disposable vapes, which often deliver fanciful flavors and sometimes even include video games<\/a>. Studies have also found these vapes can contain<\/a> high levels of heavy metals.<\/p>\n Rates have gone up and down, but as of 2023, one in four Pennsylvania high school seniors said they had tried vaping at least once, according to a state survey. (Just over one in 10 in the same year said they had tried cigarettes, a 60% decrease from 2017.)<\/p>\n The law may face legal challenges from the vaping industry, Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association, a trade group, told Spotlight PA.<\/p>\n He argued the law won\u2019t stop the flow of vapes into Pennsylvania, and will instead shutter businesses and push consumers into an unregulated, untaxed black market.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody believes that the demand for vapes that are on the market now will go down,\u201d Abboud said. \u201cThey will look for, and find, the products that they like, they\u2019ve used, that they know that work for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Potential registry issues<\/p>\n The law directs the state attorney general\u2019s office to maintain a registry of manufacturers who can sell electronic cigarettes that contain nicotine. Products that have been authorized by the FDA are allowed to register. That encompasses<\/a> just 39 e-cigarettes from a handful of brands, including those owned by big tobacco companies. They are largely refillable vapes, rather than single-use, and the list excludes all flavored products beyond menthol.<\/p>\n But the law includes an additional provision for products that are under review by the FDA or have received a denial that\u2019s pending due to a court or FDA order.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a \u201csignificant backlog<\/a>\u201d of applications, exacerbated by the firings by the Trump administration of the people who review them, The Examination reported last year. And because of that pileup, \u201ctens of thousands of products can still qualify<\/a> for most registries,\u201d according to the Public Health Law Center.<\/p>\n \u201cI can tell you that many \u2026 applications were really inadequate, and I don\u2019t think that those types of products should be treated equally for purposes of these registry laws,\u201d Mitch Zeller, a former chief federal tobacco regulator who retired in 2022, told Spotlight PA<\/a>.<\/p>\n To get on the registry, manufacturers have to certify they are eligible under the law\u2019s provisions. Exactly what that form will look like, and how it will be reviewed for accuracy, is unclear \u2014 the attorney general\u2019s office declined to comment on the law\u2019s implementation.<\/p>\n Attorney general spokesperson Brett Hambright said the office was \u201cevaluating various enforcement options, but wouldn\u2019t want to venture into disclosing techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n If a vape is not registered, retailers and distributors are barred from buying or selling them. Enforcement against those companies will begin in October. Retailers who violate the law could be punished by fines of up to $1,500 per day per vape.<\/p>\n According to the Office of Attorney General, implementing the legislation will have an initial one-time cost of $98,280, with annual ongoing personnel and operating costs equaling approximately $1.3 million.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Office of Attorney General staff will establish and maintain the vaping directory and provide targeted enforcement based on documentation and intelligence regarding non-compliant actors,\u201d a state House analysis of the bill says.<\/p>\n The law, Hambright added in an email, ensures \u201conly regulated products are on the market, keeping them out of the hands of children, and not marketed towards children.\u201d<\/p>\n The office\u2019s projected costs are far less than those of other states with robust tobacco enforcement spending. Neighboring New York allocates approximately $40 million<\/a> for tobacco enforcement each year. Pennsylvania\u2019s most recent budget allocated<\/a> $1.7 million.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the state is not prepared to put the time, the money, and the effort behind enforcement,\u201d Zeller said, \u201cI don\u2019t know how effective the law can be.\u201d<\/p>\n The need for resources is part of why some anti-smoking advocates opposed<\/a> the proposal as passed. According to the Pennsylvania Alliance for Tobacco Control, funding for a registry could be \u201cbetter used to support evidence-based prevention and cessation programs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of investing in a system that simply monitors the problem, we need bold, enforceable action that prevents it entirely,\u201d the group argued. That includes a flavor ban as well as efforts to ban sales near schools, they added.<\/p>\n Public health questions<\/p>\n Smoking tobacco is among the leading causes of preventable death in the United States. That hasn\u2019t stopped anyone from doing it, however.<\/p>\n Tobacco is a $70 billion-plus industry in the U.S.<\/a>, with millions of users<\/a> in Pennsylvania. The state\u2019s farmers also produce millions of pounds of tobacco<\/a> every year.<\/p>\n Vape technology, meanwhile, became popular in the 2010s as a way to let people consume nicotine, the addictive chemical in tobacco, without smoking cigarettes.<\/p>\n But what vaping means for public health is still unclear and subject to ongoing research, Jungmi Jun, an associate professor who studies tobacco control campaigns at the University of South Carolina, said in an email.<\/p>\n \u201cThe scientific consensus is fairly clear that combustible cigarettes pose substantially greater health risks than e-cigarettes, primarily due to combustion-related toxins. However, that does not mean e-cigarettes and other vape products are harmless, particularly for youth and non-smokers,\u201d Jun said. \u201cMuch depends on who is using these products, how they are regulated, and how they are marketed and communicated to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n The law, Drope of Johns Hopkins said, amounts to an attempt at controlling the vape supply chain, which he argued \u201cis a worthwhile effort, because you want to know what\u2019s on your marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n But Drope argued that the state would be more effective at preventing people under 21 from vaping if the legislature also hiked taxes on tobacco products and banned flavored products, which often mimic popular desserts and other sweets, and frequently get marketed to teens.<\/p>\n In a statement, Lynn Silver, program director of the Prevention Policy Group of the Public Health Institute, agreed with Drope that a flavor ban should have been higher on the legislature\u2019s to-do list.<\/p>\n \u201cBans on flavored vapes should be comprehensive and span all nicotine products, cannabis where legal, and hemp, all of which are hooking kids across the nation,\u201d she said. \u201cPennsylvania\u2019s new bill falls short on protecting our youth.\u201d<\/p>\n