Massachusetts has announced a four-month ban on sale of all e-cigarettes as part of its emergency response to deaths linked to the devices. New York, Rhode Island and Washington all declared health emergencies and have moved to ban flavored products used in vaping devices, and the Trump Administration is considering a similar federal ban as well.
Yet in Minnesota, with 50 confirmed cases of vaping-related lung damage and at least one death — and with the release of data showing that one in four high school students have vaped in the past 30 days — Gov. Tim Walz’s power is essentially limited to shouting, “Don’t!”
Unlike in other states, Minnesota’s executive lacks any legal authority to declare a health emergency, or to take action to stop distribution of vaping products, even those that might be aimed at kids.
“What happens if we start seeing dozens of these everyday, these lung injuries, what can we do?” Walz said he asked his lawyers.
The answer? Not much.
No inherent power to act
Federal health officials have counted 805 cases of lung injuries and 13 deaths across the country related to vaping so far. The cause is unclear but suspicions have focused on injuries related to inhaling chemicals into the lungs.
Ironically, it’s a Minnesota statute passed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack makes it harder for Walz to establish that a governor has such authority. That law, The Minnesota Emergency Health Powers Act, authorized the governor to respond to bioterrorism incidents and to declare public health emergencies, which could be interpreted to cover the vaping situation.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]Gov. Tim Walz: “I asked right away: Can I just go ahead and do a ban like Michigan did? And the answer is no.”[/image_caption]
And while state law gives the governor the ability to declare certain public health nuisances, Walz was told it would be a stretch for him to try and stop the sale of products in hundreds of retail outlets around the state as well as online.
“I asked right away: Can I just go ahead and do a ban like Michigan did? And the answer is no,” Walz said Wednesday.
“This extends beyond vaping,” he said of his lack of authority. “This extends to other health emergencies that our hands are somewhat tied to act in a rapid manner to act in the best interests of the people. I’m not asking them to give me blanket executive authority, we know how dangerous that can be if it is handled incorrectly.
“The concerns on making sure there’s not an abuse of executive powers is one thing. But this is a crisis for our kids.”
In lieu of any real power, Walz was left to stand with his health commissioner and education commissioner to try to spread the word that vaping is dangerous. He also said he hopes to work with state legislators on bills to ban vaping products using flavors and to take another run at a law that would raise the age to purchase tobacco products to 21.
Survey shows rise in teen usage
The Minnesota Student Survey is conducted every three years and has 170,000 participants in 80 percent of state school districts. While the bulk of the results will be released later in October, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Wednesday she wanted to release the vaping results now because of the emergency they demonstrate. Three years ago, 17.1 percent of 11th graders reported to have vaped in the previous 30 days; the new results found that number increased to 26.4 percent. The survey also found that 11.1 percent of eighth graders and 16.3 percent of 9th graders reported vaping at least once in the past month.
Walz said the most-concerning result was the 76 percent of 11th graders who said there was either no risk, a slight risk or a moderate risk in using e-cigarettes and other vaping products. The survey was conducted last spring, before lung injuries tied to vaping became big news.
Walz and Malcolm both put the blame on “big tobacco” for pushing vaping as a healthier alternative to traditional smoking. “They are the fault of this, they have created this, and they will continue to try and create that … we need to do everything in our ability, as adults, as parents and as those trusted role models, to get them the information,” Walz said.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Wednesday she wanted to release the vaping results now because of the emergency they demonstrate.[/image_caption]
Malcolm said the investigation of the lung injuries appears to be pointing to vaping of products containing THC and to such products are that are illegal, not those related to medical marijuana.
“In the Minnesota cases that we have been able to directly interview, we do see this strong correlation with illicit THC,” Malcolm said.
The same interviews have shown that they are not regulated products but are illicit. Malcolm said the same is true of the majority of the cases nationally. “But we still can’t say it is THC and only THC,” she said. “There is a strong correlation but this is a very complicated investigation nationally and it’s gonna take some time and it may be that there’s not a single cause but a constellation of causes.”
Malcolm cited another survey, the 2017 youth tobacco survey, that reported that one in three high school students who reported using e-cigarettes also tried the devices with THC.
First and foremost-NICOTINE vaping is 95.5% (source: Royal College Of Physicians) safer than smoking traditional cigarettes, second- the lung illnesses reported have nothing to do with the delivery system (vaping), it has to do with black market THC products. Actually, vitamin e oil specifically. Why aren’t “journalists” reporting the fact that these decisions are going to negatively affect thousands of adults who’ve kicked the smoking habit via vaping? Check the most recent CDC release. Black market THC products-NOT NICOTINE vaping is responsible for the recent outbreak in lung illnesses.
To be fair, no habit has been kicked. Just transferred. You are still addicted to nicotine. That’s like saying you quit drinking liquor by switching to beer. I say this as someone who had to quit smoking like 5 times before it stuck.
Putting “journalist” in air quotes is just silly.
Your certitude about causation is not supported by the facts.
Like everything the vape industry and it’s fanboys have been saying for years.
This Royal College finding was published years before these injuries and deaths emerged. Originally vaping looked like it would safer but no one anticipated that different and additional substances would added to the cartridges. The vaping they tested back then is NOT the same vaping that injuring people now.
Another problem is that this idea that vaping is sooooo much safer than cigarettes was deployed as a marketing strategy to addictive personalities. The predictable outcome (What part of “addictive” personality don’t you understand?) was that people got these things and use them as if they cannot be abused… i.e. they vaped like no one has ever vaped before. No one anticipated use THIS heavy.
Giving one person such broad authority is a very bad road to go down. That can lead to having any governor ban anything they don’t like.
If something needs to be done immediately, get the Legislature together. That’s why we have it.
I would like to listen to science first and understand the scientific facts involved and debated on this issue before we have an “attack on our democracy” by the governor.
I do not want a “manufactured crisis” created to further greater power to the governor or strengthen the power of the executive.
Special sessions can be called very quickly and that would further the debate between the power of the government and the issue of civil liberties.
50 cases and one death ARE data and facts. You don’t have a constitutional right to “vape” so don’t act like a temporary ban is an attack on your liberty.
Incoherent libertarians pretending to be defenders of “freedom” have no respect for science or responsible public policy. “You’re not the boss of me” is no basis for public health policy.
“50 cases and one death ARE data and facts.” Vaping what?
I will remember this post when there is a GOP Governor in MN and when the GOP President announces a crisis at the border. OPS – he already did that.
Get the House and Senate together to work up a proposal, pass it and have the Governor sign it. That is how a republic works.
I think it’s kind of funny that those who simply cannot imagine any reasonable limits to Trump’s authority are worried that the gubernatorial power to declare a public health emergency would trigger the end of liberty as we know it. It just shows to go ya that Republican/Libertarian mentalities have no coherent concept of governance. A dictator in the White House is okie dokie but a governor who wants to save lives is a threat to us all!