Americans for Tax Reform today submitted testimony in opposition to Connecticut House Bill 6450 which bans the use of flavors in life-saving reduced risk tobacco alternatives such as e-cigarettes.
ATR Director of Consumer Issues, Tim Andrews, wrote: “This bill would have a disastrous impact on public health throughout the State, and lead to a clear increase in tobacco-related deaths in Connecticut.”
Andrews noted the growing body of research showing vapor products are an effective harm reduction tool for adults looking to quit smoking: “Extrapolating from a large-scale analysis by the US’s leading cancer researchers and coordinated by Georgetown University Medical Centre, vapor products would save over 91,000 lives if a majority of Connecticut smokers made the switch to vaping. This bill places lives in jeopardy by reducing access to these life-saving products.”
HB 6450 would also have a significant impact on the health of high schoolers. Andrews noted that “In San Francisco, a city-wide ban on flavored e-cigarettes and vapor products, as proposed in HB 6450, had no effect on usage among youths. To the contrary, after nearly a decade of steady decline in youth use of combustible cigarettes, there has been an increase in cigarette smoking among youths in San Francisco since the flavor ban was enacted. In cities that have maintained looser regulations regarding reduced harm tobacco products, youth combustible cigarette use has continued to decline.”
The full testimony can be accessed here.