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Michigan just became the first US state to ban the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes in a bid to stop underage vaping.
The ban will include all in-store and online sales of e-cigarette flavourings, other than tobacco.
It comes just days after the Centers for Disease Control revealed it would be investigating nearly 200 reported cases of lung illnesses linked to vaping.
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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer says she signed the bills on Tuesday after the health state department branded teen vaping as an epidemic in the state.
As per People, she said:
My number one priority is keeping our kids safe and protecting the health of the people of Michigan.
She believes the candy taste of e-cig flavourings like Froot Loops, Fanta, and Nilla wafers is what is enticing teens and has led to a 20 per cent increase in teen vaping between 2017 and 2018.
On her announcement to Michigan state senators, Whitmer said:
Behind the candy taste, however, is a product that hooks kids and adults alike.
E-cigarettes can deliver nicotine more than twice as quickly as tobacco cigarettes.
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She added that although e-cigs were made with the intention of giving smokers a way to avoid toxins in normal cigarettes, they have instead created millions of new smokers addicted to nicotine.
Whiter added:
Today, that pitch looks like a bait-and-switch. The marketing, packaging and taste of e-cigarettes are perfectly designed to create new nicotine addicts, who then convert to lifelong smokers at alarming rates.
Michigans ban will go into effect in the next 30 days.
As concerns over the smoking alternative grows, a fifth death reportedly linked to vaping has recently been reported.
A man from California reportedly suffered from other chronic health conditions at the time of his death. Other deaths have been reported in the states of Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois and Oregon. Another man was placed into a
