Washington State Board of Health Votes to Adopt Emergency Rule That Will Ban Flavored Vaping Products

OLYMPIA, Wash.-Washington State Board of Health members voted on Wednesday, October 9 to adopt an emergency rule to impose a ban on the sale of flavored vaping products, including flavored THC vapor products, in Washington. The rule became effective immediately upon filing with the code reviser's office, on October 10th. The rule is effective for 120 days. The length of the emergency rule leads up to the legislative session, allowing state legislators to take up the issue in in 2020. The Tobacco and Vaping to 21 laws do not go into effect until January. A flavor ban is a prudent preventative step to help reduce youth access and use of vapor products during this outbreak.

Carrie Nyssen, senior director of advocacy for the American Lung Association in Washington affirmed the ruling in a statement to the press:

"The American Lung Association in Washington congratulates the Washington State Board of Health for voting to approve Governor Inslee's executive order addressing the youth vaping epidemic. Amidst a growing number of vaping related deaths and illnesses, the order protects Washingtonians by prohibiting the sale of all flavored e-cigarette products, developing a warning sign on health risks for e-cigarette retailers, authorizing increased public information campaigns on e-cigarettes, and other actions to curtail this epidemic. Said Carrie Nyssen, senior director of advocacy for the American Lung Association in Washington in a statement to the press.

"Research shows that 97 percent of current youth e-cigarette users utilized a flavored product in the past month, and 70 percent cite flavors as a key reason for their use. This epidemic is nothing short of a public health emergency, and the American Lung Association in Washington applauds the action of Governor Inslee and the State Board of Health," according to Nyssen's statement.