United States
A bill that would mandate child-resistant packaging and warning labels on liquids used with electronic-cigarette vaporizers has been recently passed by the Senate.
The primary sponsors of Senate Bill 286 are Sens. Stan Bingham, R-Davidson, and Don Davis, D-Pitt. The sponsors say the bill is endorsed by Reynolds American Inc. and Lorillard Inc.
The bill would enforce measures e-cigarette groups are already embracing. And it would help protect public health from bootleggers of e-cigarette-related products.
The bill would ban the sale of any e-liquid product without the packaging and warning labels in North Carolina, the Journal’s Richard Craver reported. It would take effect Dec. 1 if passed and signed into law. Violators could be charged with a Class Al misdemeanor charge.
The bill deals with the liquid-nicotine capsules. It would require child-resistant packaging that would make it “significantly difficult” for children under the age of five to open these capsules. Safety warnings would have to be consistent with rules adopted by the N.C. Commission for Public Health.
“Heightened concern has been expressed about the safety of e-liquids, particularly by a group of seven US Senate Democrats, since the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report in 2014 that found a higher level of poisoning events for children, particularly those under age 5,” Craver wrote.
Bingham said: “We’re concerned about the bootleggers of these liquids who are selling product without warning labels, either from recipes they make themselves or they get from suppliers.”
This bill followed another step the legislature took in 2013, when it added vapor products such as e-cigs to a law prohibiting sales of tobacco to youths under 18 and requiring age verification for Internet sales. At least 24 states have passed similar laws.