[dropcap size=big]L[/dropcap]ast week the L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a ban on all flavored tobacco product sales at stores in unincorporated areas of the county, including menthol cigarettes, flavored vape juice, Swisher Sweets, and other flavored tobacco products, following in the footsteps of other cities and counties across the state.
Beverly Hills has banned all tobacco sales, flavored and unflavored alike. San Francisco city and county, Oakland and El Cerrito have all recently passed ordinances for a complete ban on flavored tobacco products. San Francisco even took it a step further by also banning all e-liquids that aren’t approved by the FDA. Some jurisdictions across the state, including Manhattan Beach and Berkley for instance, have enacted partial bans on flavored tobacco products. Menthol was exempt from Manhattan Beach’s ordinance and Berkley banned flavored tobacco sales only in certain buffer zones around sensitive sites.
Now it looks like Los Angeles might be the latest jurisdiction to follow in the footsteps of health professionals and over 34 communities across the state to ban flavored tobacco product sales. Last week the Los Angeles City Attorney office submitted a report to the City Council proposing a complete, city-wide ban on flavored tobacco product sales. “Given the recent vaping-related deaths and injuries, combined with the prevalence of vaping among the City’s youth, this report urges the City to heed the advice of medical experts and enact a Citywide ban on the sale of all flavored tobacco products,” the report reads.
“Flavored tobacco products are driving the current vaping epidemic amongst youth,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the Director of Public Health in L.A. County. The motion led by Supervisor Ridley-Thomas, was prompted by a research project by the University of California Riverside published in April of last year.