LANSING, Mich. – Gov. Whitmer is asking the Michigan Supreme Court to restore a temporary ban on flavored vaping products.
Whitmer signed an emergency executive order in September banning the sale of flavored nicotine vapes to “address the youth vaping crisis” in the state.
In Ocrober, a Michigan judge blocked the state’s two-week-old ban. Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration’s delay in implementing the ban undercut its position that emergency rules were needed.
Stephens also says there is evidence that if flavored vaping products are prohibited, adults will return to using more harmful combustible tobacco products.
Whitmer appealed that ruling, but the judge and the Court of Appeals denied her requests to reinstate the ban until the appeal is decided. The governor has now taken that request to the Supreme Court and asked the Court to give it immediate consideration.
“As governor, it’s my responsibility to respond quickly and effectively to public health emergencies,” said Governor Whitmer. “Our chief medical officer made it very clear that youth vaping is a public health emergency and we must do everything within our power to protect kids from its harmful effects. The trial judge wrongly second-guessed the expert judgment of our state’s top public health officials and set a dangerous precedent that undermines the ability of state government to respond swiftly to public health emergencies. This ruling cannot be allowed to stand, especially in the state that experienced the Flint Water Crisis. I ask the Supreme Court to take immediate action.”
Whitmer announced Sept. 4 that Michigan would become the first state to move toward banning flavored e-cigarettes, accusing companies of using candy flavors and advertising that is deceptive and is made to appeal to kids. The governor criticized the legislation for not going far enough to protect Michigan's kids from nicotine addiction, calling the marketing, packaging, and taste of e-cigarettes a "bait-and-switch" engineered to "create new nicotine addicts."
“For too long, companies have gotten our kids hooked on nicotine by marketing candy-flavored vaping products as safe,” Whitmer said in a statement on Wednesday. “That ends today.”
Michigan officials said national health data on e-cigarette use found youth use spiked in recent years, including 78% of high students and 48% of middle school students reporting using the products. In 2018, more than 3.6 million U.S. kids, including 1 in 5 high school students and 1 in 20 middle school students, were regular users, according to health officials.