MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — Michigan retailers have 14 days to comply with Gov. Whitmer’s emergency rules banning flavored nicotine vaping products.
Retailers and resellers – including online sellers – are expected to begin removing the products to the delight of the "KnowSmoke" coalition in Muskegon County.
The groups' effort to keep kids and adults from smoking and vaping became more difficult in recent years because of the increasing number of flavors added to vaping products.
"Banning them is the first step in the right direction," said Cyndi Powers, the Community Health Improvement Coordinator for the Health Project's KnowSmoke Coalition.
Coalition members spend time talking with school-age kids about the dangers of vaping.
"There are cancer-causing chemicals that have been found in these products," said Missy Gallegoe, Public Health Educator at the Muskegon County Health Department.
Gallegoe says there are also consequences for teen caught with vaping products at school.
"Their prom gets taken away, they miss a third of their season from football or basketball."
Teens have KnowSmoke coalition members they know why many of the flavored vaping products are often in bright-colored candy-like packages.
"They all say us," said Gallegoe.
"The tobacco companies will say they weren't targeting kids, but their flavors were things such as mango and bubble gum," Powers added.
Powers hopes without the flavors vaping products will become less attractive to kids, resulting in fewer teen vapors in Muskegon County and Michigan.
"There is going to be a big change in our vaping rates among our youth," said Powers.
In October KnowSmoke will distribute anti-vaping signs to every middle and high school in Muskegon County.
Those signs are meant to be placed in the schools' bathrooms warning students about the dangers and consequences of vaping.
The rules and other information about Michigan’s flavored e-cigarette ban can be found at www.michigan.gov/e-cigarettes.
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