--- title: Michigan Just Became the First State to Ban Flavored E-Cigs description: Michigan is banning the sale of flavored vaping products, which may be appealing to teenagers who use e-cigarettes. canonical: https://time.com/5668720/michigan-flavored-vaping-products/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-09-04T17:27:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T07:18:16.685Z article:section: Health og:title: Michigan Just Became the First State to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes in an Effort to Keep Kids 'Safe' og:description: Will other states be next? og:url: https://time.com/5668720/michigan-flavored-vaping-products/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc535a34a9970709d/698a025622fb85727ce29c61/flavored-vaping-michigan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: Vaping e-cigarettes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michigan Just Became the First State to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes in an Effort to Keep Kids 'Safe' twitter:description: Will other states be next? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc535a34a9970709d/698a025622fb85727ce29c61/flavored-vaping-michigan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michigan Just Became the First State to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes in an Effort to Keep Kids 'Safe' > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Sep 4, 2019 5:27 PM UTC  Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Sep 4, 2019 5:27 PM UTC Michigan this week became the first U.S. state to ban the sale of flavored nicotine vaping products, which critics say are largely to blame for an [epidemic of youth e-cigarette use](https://time.com/5482614/surgeon-general-youth-vaping-advisory/). “As governor, my number one priority is keeping our kids safe,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement Wednesday. “And right now, companies selling vaping products are using candy flavors to hook children on nicotine and misleading claims to promote the belief that these products are safe. That ends today.” [Research does show](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190312092513.htm) that flavored e-cigarettes are more appealing to kids than adults, which has made them the target of many regulatory efforts to stop teen vaping—a habit that [about a fifth of U.S. high school students](https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/youth-and-tobacco/2018-nyts-data-startling-rise-youth-e-cigarette-use) reported last year. In March, the [Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban](https://time.com/5550568/fda-e-cigarettes-policy/) on selling flavored products (except for tobacco, mint and menthol) in non-age-restricted retail stores, making official a voluntary [decision made by market-leading e-cig maker Juul](https://time.com/5574084/juul-adam-bowen-james-monsees-time-100-gala/) the previous fall. Whitmer’s ban comes a few months after San Francisco—where Juul is based—became the first major U.S. city to [pass an outright ban on e-cigarettes](https://time.com/5614220/san-francisco-ban-e-cigarettes/), flavored or otherwise. (The measure is up for public vote in November.) The ban drew criticism from both the vapor industry and some public-health experts, who felt it could prompt some e-cigarette users to switch back to cigarettes and other tobacco products that remain available. Michigan’s policy stops a bit short of San Francisco’s, banning only the retail and online sale of flavored vapor products while leaving unflavored products alone. It also bans advertising that uses “terms like ‘clean,’ ‘safe,’ and ‘healthy’ that perpetuate beliefs that these products are harmless,” according to a release from Whitmer’s office. How harmful, or harmless, e-cigarettes really are is a source of great debate in the medical community. Since they heat liquid nicotine, rather than burning tobacco, e-cigarettes do produce fewer cancer-causing chemicals and byproducts than traditional cigarettes. That may make them safer than cigarettes—but most doctors agree they are not totally safe. [Preliminary research suggests](https://time.com/5442252/are-e-cigarettes-safe/) they can raise the risk of heart and lung diseases, and federal health officials are currently investigating [more than 200 respiratory illnesses](https://time.com/5655329/vaping-lung-disease-cdc/) apparently associated with vaping. Michigan’s emergency ban is set to go into effect in the next 30 days, and will last six months before potentially being renewed for another six months, the Washington _Post_ [reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/michigan-becomes-first-state-to-ban-flavored-e-cigarettes/2019/09/03/34f234c6-ce4c-11e9-8c1c-7c8ee785b855%5Fstory.html). The state’s health department will also work to draft a permanent policy, per the _Post._ Though it’s already sparked opposition from e-cigarette industry groups—the [American Vaping Association](https://vaping.org/press-release/michigan-governors-illegal-backdoor-vaping-flavor-ban-will-be-challenged/) called it a “shameless attempt at backdoor prohibition” — Michigan’s ban may also inspire copycats. A growing number of states, and the federal government, are considering [Tobacco 21 legislation](https://time.com/5593618/vaping-tobacco-21-laws/), which would raise the minimum age of purchase for tobacco products, including vapes, to 21\. If Michigan is any indication, e-cigarette bans could be next. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5668720/michigan-flavored-vaping-products/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5668720/michigan-flavored-vaping-products/"},"headline":"Michigan Just Became the First State to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes in an Effort to Keep Kids 'Safe'","datePublished":"2019-09-04T17:27:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T07:18:16.685Z","description":"Will other states be next?","url":"https://time.com/5668720/michigan-flavored-vaping-products/","keywords":["Public Health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc535a34a9970709d/698a025622fb85727ce29c61/flavored-vaping-michigan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc535a34a9970709d/698a025622fb85727ce29c61/flavored-vaping-michigan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Vaping e-cigarettes","caption":"Vaping e-cigarettes","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5668720/michigan-flavored-vaping-products/","name":"Michigan Just Became the First State to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes in an Effort to Keep Kids 'Safe'"}}]}] ```