There is an effort afoot in Lansing to regulate smokeless electronic cigarettes – and ban their sale to minors.
But, as we hear from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta, there is a difference of opinion on how to go about it.
There does seem to be general agreement that it should be illegal to sell e-cigarettes to kids. The smokeless devices use an electronic charge to deliver a nicotine-laced mist for the user to inhale.
Doctor Matthew Davis is Michigan’s chief medical executive.
“Keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of minors is good for the health of those kids and for the public health,” he says.
Davis and Governor Rick Snyder also want e-cigarettes taxed like tobacco products and subject to smoke-free workplace and indoor clean air laws. But others say there’s still a lot that’s not known about e-cigarettes – including their value in helping people quit smoking. There are bills in the Legislature to set up a separate set of regulations just for e-cigarettes.