Somerville will become the first municipality in Massachusetts to restrict the sale of e-cigarettes.
Concerned about the rapidly rising use of e-cigarettes among young people, the Somerville Board of Health voted in mid-December to ban the sale of e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes in any stores that are open to youth, such as convenience stores, and to allow sales only in tobacco stores open to those over age 21. The changes take effect April 1, 2019.
In a December 25, 2018 Boston Globe article about the new restrictions, experts said that while e-cigarettes may help adults quit smoking traditional cigarettes, they are appealing to teens because they come in minty and fruity flavors. In mid-December, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams called teen e-cigarette use an “epidemic” and warned that teen vaping can cause nicotine addiction and harm to the brain.
Joseph Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told the Globe that the flavoring chemicals used in e-cigarettes have been linked to lung disease in workers who handled them in a popcorn factory. Noting that the workers who handle these chemicals are now warned about their potential dangers, he asked, “Why don’t e-cig users [get the same warnings]? You have millions of kids in particular who are gaining access to these flavoring chemicals and what we know is that they’re not necessarily safe.”
Read the Boston Globe article: Somerville becomes first city in Mass. to restrict e-cigarette sales
Learn more
E-cigarettes may help adults quit but get teens hooked (Harvard Chan School news)
E-cigs pack a harmful punch (Harvard Chan School news)