No more menthols? New California bill would ban all flavored tobacco products

California lawmakers reintroduced a bill that would ban sales of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes that have been associated with vaping-related lung illnesses.

The proposed bill would ban more products than the federal government, which announced on Jan. 2 that fruit-flavored and candy-flavored e-cigarette pods would be banned temporarily and could be allowed if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines that they’re safe, the Los Angeles Times reported. It wouldn’t apply to products sold online.

Sen. Jerry Hill from San Mateo reintroduced the bill after it was withdrawn last year, because amendments would have exempted flavored tobacco and flavored hookah patented prior to 2000, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Thirty lawmakers have backed it, according to the Chronicle.

“And the reason that this goes beyond what the United States government has done is that it’s pretty much ineffective,” Hill told KPIX 5. “They’re not prohibiting the sale of the flavors in the tobacco products that really entice and addict the young people of California.”

The bill also would ban “refillable, tank-based vaping systems that can be filled with flavored chemicals,” according to the Los Angeles Times. In addition, it would cover flavored combustible cigars and cigarettes, chewing tobacco and hookah pipes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in December that there were more than 2,500 hospitalizations and 55 deaths in 27 states and Washington, D.C., as a result of vaping-related lung illnesses from June 9-Dec. 27, 2019.

This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 2:46 PM with the headline "No more menthols? New California bill would ban all flavored tobacco products."