Bill banning all but 23 Big Tobacco-owned vape products heads to Senate floor

A bill that would ban Florida sales of all but 23 tobacco-flavored vaping products sold by Big Tobacco companies is heading to the Senate floor despite public pushback.

The measure (SB 1006) wouldn’t explicitly limit retailers to selling those products. But it would prohibit sales of any vapes that have not received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. And of some 26 million products submitted for approval, only 23 owned by RJ Reynolds, Japan Tobacco International and Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, have received clearance.

Gainesville Republican Sen. Keith Perry said the goal of his bill is to keep children safe. He noted Florida is No. 1 nationally for sales of illegal vaping products, representing a $363 million illicit market last year.

“Most of those were marketed and designed to hook kids with bright colors and candy or fruit flavors,” he said Tuesday before the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee voted to advance his measure.

Perry’s assertion lines up with the opinion of FDA and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials, who have long maintained that flavored vape products, including menthols, are more attractive to children. Attorney General Ashley Moody agreed as well and in October sued vape company Juul, of which Altria is a 35% owner, alleging it improperly markets to minors.

SB 1006 and a similar House measure (HB 1007) by Palm City Republican Rep. Toby Overdorf would create a directory under the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) for manufacturers of nicotine dispensing e-cigarettes and vape products to register the goods they sell that are FDA-approved. DBPR would then publish the list online for retailers and wholesalers to review for compliance.

Wholesalers would have to receive a permit to do business in Florida. Violators would face between $500 and $5,000 in fines and of 60-day to five-year prison sentences.

Chief Deputy Attorney General John Guard again spoke in favor of the legislation, which he said matches congressional policy and will curb “vape products being illegally and illicitly dumped in Florida … by Chinese manufacturers (that) overwhelmingly target minors.”

But according to more than a dozen businesspeople and customers of Florida’s vape industry, all 23 products the FDA approved are also manufactured in China, and limiting sales to just 23 items could lead to returned tobacco use and inadvertently hurt medical marijuana users.

Trevor Campbell, who owns 13 vape stores in Florida, said SB 1006 will lead to more than $1 billion in losses and create a black market full of potentially dangerous products. And because certain vape cartridge types will no longer be legally available to consumers, medical marijuana patients will have to smoke or ingest the drug to receive the desired effect.

“People with (missing) limbs, disabled veterans (and) people that (have cancer or whose hands shake) can’t roll (joints). They have to use devices,” he said. “It’s almost like taking a wheelchair from a guy that needs it.”

Perry pushed back against arguments that limiting flavors and non-FDA-approved products will do more harm than good. He added that people who want to quit smoking aren’t likely to go from tobacco to bubblegum- or blue raspberry-flavored vapes.

“If you’re in the business that’s predicated on selling products being marketed to children, then maybe you can find a different line,” he said. “You can sell liquor, but you cannot sell moonshine in liquor stores. That gives people options, but we decided that’s not appropriate.”