Trump's administration's plan to ban most flavored vaping products has been stalled out for the moment. In September of 2019, Trump had announced that he was pursuing the new policy to put a dent in the youth vaping epidemic. The plan was supposed to have been unveiled in a matter of weeks. Although, obviously that has not happened. Industries are pushing back and the politics of vaping appear to be a burden in the process of the ban. Trump said "Vaping has become a very big business as I understand it. A giant business in a very short period of time. But we can't allow people to get sick and we can't have our youth be so affected."
Mint, menthol, fruit, and candy flavors would all be banned under the original proposal. This only leaves tobacco-flavored vaping products. Which supposedly appeals less to teens, even though many adults also prefer non-tabacco flavors as well.
While I agree that vaping has become a huge epidemic especially around teens, and I believe this ban is necessary. There have been even larger epidemics and it has been decades with no change. For example, in just 2019, there have been 370 mass shootings, over 440 people killed, over 1,400 people wounded. These mass shootings take place in schools, universities, and even places of worship. I find it ironic that in 2019, we have had around 33 deaths around vaping and we are JUMPING into action, where thousands and thousand of people are killed every year because people still have access to guns and other assault weapons.
I agree that although flavored vaping products are certainly harmful to the wellbeing of teenagers, guns threaten the lives of anyone and everyone. There is certainly more urgency to fix the gun problem and prevent less shootings since so many people have been suffering for so many years. The vape epidemic is relatively recent while gun control has been in discussion for a long time now and still fails to gain a lot of attention from the government. While both of these issues should be regulated, it's interesting to see which one is prioritized.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to vaping, everyone who uses it knows it is harmful. This gives users a choice as to whether they want to put themselves in danger or not. However, victims of shootings don't have that choice. No one goes to school thinking that they are going to be shot and killed, and there is nothing that these victims can do to change their fate. It is so frustrating to see what the government considers a priority when they could easily make a difference to stop these shootings. Some argue that "banning guns won't stop violence", so how will banning juice flavors stop kids from smoking? How do we know that teenagers already addicted to nicotine won't just move to cigarettes?
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone above, it is clear by this example that the government has different priorities than the general public. They are creating so much controversy from simple topics like vaping to bigger topics like abortion. Instead of preventing people from something that is their choice, they should be preventing something that harms so many people. Overtime it has been clear that gun control is important because of the millions of deaths.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone because the government has been so involved with things like teen vaping, and yes they are dangerous and harmful but when you compare it to something like a school shooting you see whats worse. The government needs to figure out what they need to solve first and what is more important and what is going to help solve the issues in the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your view that the government has shown more action toward banning vape products, than patrolling gun sales. Obviously teen health is very important, but there are so many more deaths through gun violence. The government should do more to monitor gun violence.
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