A California man has become the seventh person to die from a vaping-related illness in the United States as the nation’s leading health agency activates emergency operations to better investigate the outbreak of lung injuries associated with e-cigarettes.
California will launch a $20 million ad campaign to warn against the dangers of vaping, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday, the same day health officials said a 40-year-old had died over the weekend from complications related to using e-cigarettes.
Vaping-related illness recently killed another person in California, plus one person each in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Oregon, officials have reported.
In light of the outbreak of lung injuries, the US Centers for Disease Control has activated its Emergency Operations Center, the agency announced. Researchers are looking into 380 cases of lung illness associated with the use of e-cigarettes in 36 states and the US Virgin Islands, they have said.
California weighs steeper vaping pod taxes
California, meantime, will focus on spreading the word about vaping risks while also boosting enforcement efforts on counterfeit products and weighing stricter package warning rules, Newsom said during a news conference.
The state also will investigate tax policy regarding vaping pods. A pack of cigarettes carries a tax of $2.87, while a Juul pod, for example, gets only a $1.48 tax, the governor said.
The intent of the investigation is to “substantially increase taxes to these products,” said Newsom, who included the measures in an executive order he said is needed because of a lack of legislative efforts.
As for flavored e-cigarettes, “they should be banned,” Newsom said, adding he could not add that parameter to his order, though he didn’t explain why.
“Let’s just dispense with any niceties,” he said. “You don’t have any bubblegum-flavored, mango-flavored tobacco products unless you’re trying to target an audience that you were losing – that’s young people.”
The Trump administration is working to ban flavored e-cigarettes as health officials warn they’re too appealing to teens. Tobacco companies claim flavored e-cigarettes help adults quit traditional cigarettes.