ACS, AHA, IPHA oppose bill banning sales to minors because it doesn’t tax e-cigs, Des Moines Register 1/29/2014

h/t Alex Clark

Regarding a bill proposed in Iowa that would ban sales of e-cigarettes to minors:

Lobbyists for the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the Iowa Public Health Association formally opposed the bills, telling lawmakers e-cigarettes should be regulated just like traditional tobacco products — with higher taxes, a ban on use in the enclosed spaces and other restrictions.

The bill, while prohibiting access for children, actually makes further regulation more difficult, they said, because it contains definitions for “alternative nicotine products” and “vapor products” that create a legal difference between an e-cigarette and other tobacco products.

“Not including electronic smoking devices in the definition of tobacco products sets the stage for these products to be treated differently than other tobacco products here in Iowa,” said Jeneane Moody, executive director of the Iowa Public Health Association. “IPHA opposes attempts to change laws for e-cigarettes that could in the short or long term undermine existing effective tobacco controls.”

The proliferation of e-cigarettes could erode the social norms that have developed since Iowa’s statewide smoking ban was passed in 2008, Moody and others said, confusing smokers and nonsmokers alike on what is allowed under the law.

Supporters of the bill:

Rep. Chip Baltimore, R-Boone and chairman of the House subcommittee that considered the bill, dismissed those arguments.

“To try to define this as a tobacco product is simply an effort to pull it into a smoke-free act or a taxation scheme that I don’t think is necessarily appropriate,” he said.

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Baltimore also questioned whether applying tobacco taxes and regulations to e-cigarettes was good policy at all.

“Given the choice between smoking a carcinogenic cigarette or a non-carcinogenic e-cigarette I think that we ought to, in the interest of public health, preserve the financial incentives that would drive consumers toward e-cigarettes,” Baltimore said.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140129/NEWS10/301290064/-1/content/Health-advocates-say-e-cigarette-bills-fall-short