Four months after President Trump announced he would take a “very, very strong” stance against the vaping epidemic, the administration has announced a ban on most flavored e-cigarettes. However, a policy analyst from libertarian think tank Reason Foundation tells Cheddar an education push would be an important component of this effort to teach young people about the dangers of vaping.
The new ban will stop the sale of fruit, candy, mint, and dessert flavored vapes, but menthol and tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes will remain on the market.
Only vaping cartridges are targeted by the ban, as they are believed to be more popular among young people. Tank-based vaping systems will not be affected.
Jacob Rich, a policy analyst from Reason Foundation, which advocates for individual liberty and free markets, said the ban is “not quite effective.”
“The industry is against it, the people who want to prohibit nicotine products in general, are against it,” he told Cheddar. “It’s basically just a middle move that’s politically palatable that the Trump administration thinks it can take.”
In anticipation of yesterday’s announcement, Juul already announced it would not sell flavored cartridges.
With potential governmental restrictions on the horizon, vape shops around the country launched a “We Vape, We Vote” social media campaign and ran a television ad directed at the president to not implement a vaping ban.
Although the administration did go through with a ban, albeit potentially weaker than anti-vaping groups had hoped for, Rich said the administration should focus on education because the dangers of vaping have not been clearly delineated to young people. He noted a 2017 Truth Initiative study that found 63 percent of teens surveyed did not know Juul products have nicotine.
“When people understand products are more dangerous, they tend not to use them,” he said. “With Juul being so new to the market, being introduced around 2016, it seems like there’s an information problem and teens need to be educated about the dangers.”
“Teens, in general, seem to acquire the vices they desire,” he said, recalling how education about the dangers of smoking helped decrease use. The Centers for Disease Control called school programs designed to prevent tobacco use an “effective means of preventing tobacco use among youth,” during the 1990s.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
