California State Sen. Jerry Hill proposed Senate Bill 38 (SB-38), which was recently approved by the California Senate Health Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee. SB-38, nicknamed “Flavored Tobacco Products,” would ban all California retailers from selling any flavored tobacco products. The bill has more hearings and votes before potentially becoming California law.
This bill, co-authored by Sen. Steve Glazer, Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, has garnered support from organizations like the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association.
“We must stop the appalling epidemic of e-cigarette use by youths,” said Hill, who represents the 13th District, which includes San Mateo County. “Enticed by fruit, candy and other appealing flavors, high school and middle school students throughout the U.S. are vaping in record numbers.”
Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, a Stanford University pediatric professor, testified for SB-38 at the California Senate Health Committee hearing.
“Testifying was an amazing, stressful and exhilarating experience,” Halpern-Felsher said. “I had worked with [Hill’s] staff for months providing information and data for the proposed SB-38 bill … [Sen. Hill] was great and gracious that we [the witnesses] were there.”
Halpern-Felsher said that youth will feel less targeted by tobacco if advertisements do not promote flavored products.
“We also know that youth feel that ads for flavored e-cigarettes or vapes are for them,” Halpern-Felsher said. “If we eliminate the sale of flavored tobacco products, we will likely see a dramatic decrease in youth tobacco use.”
“If we eliminate the sale of flavored tobacco products, we will likely see a dramatic decrease in youth tobacco use”
Another bill Sen. Hill proposed to address youth vaping in California is SB-39, which would require an individual over age 21 to sign delivery orders of tobacco products and require that packages have labels stating that they contain tobacco.
“The youth access tobacco via the internet by using their parents’ credit cards or pre-paid Visa cards,” Halpern-Felsher said. “When the [products arrive], it isn’t always clear that the package has tobacco or nicotine, and there is no requirement that someone over 21 signs for the package.”
Junior Savannah Haley believes that students will find other ways to get nicotine products, even if the bills are passed into law.
“[The bills] won’t stop vaping because people are going to find a way to either buy a lot of them before they ban them, or they will just switch to the basic flavors … instead of using the flavored ones,” Haley said. “People don’t care; it’s still the same type of drug.”
Vape companies like JUUL claim to have been created as a means to end smoking among adults. However, Haley does not believe that most vape companies’ customers are adults looking to quit their habit.
“I don’t think adults actually stop smoking, [but] if someone’s going to stop smoking, there [are] a lot of other ways that you could do that, like patches and stuff,” Haley said.
San Mateo Union High School District Tobacco Use Prevention Educator Jessamy Cadigan believes the ban, if enacted, will help decrease youth tobacco use.
“I believe it is possible that banning the sale of flavored tobacco products in California will decrease youth tobacco usage,” Cadigan said. “My focus is on supporting informed decision making, decreasing access and lowering use if possible.”
Both SB-38 and SB-39 passed through the Senate Health Committee hearings, but still have several different hearings and votes to undergo before they can become law.
“I hope these pass, as we need federal legislation regulating and prohibiting flavors as well as e-cigs in general,” Halpern-Felsher said.
