Utah Legislature: Lawmakers take aim at tobacco products

SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers' ongoing "anti-tobacco nicky fit," as Utah smokers affectionately call the spate of prohibitions on almost anything with nicotine, will continue this week after stalling momentarily when a House committee realized that two bills are targeting the same nicotine-drenched product.

Electronic cigarettes, which look like normal cigarettes but are smokeless and run on batteries that heat a capsule of nicotine in the mouthpiece into a vapor, are targeted directly by HB88 and also would be covered indirectly by a new "Nicotine Product Restriction Act" proposed by HB71.

The former was approved and sent to the House consent calendar. But the bill would be redundant under the broader nicotine-product and flavored smokeless tobacco restrictions in HB71.

The sponsor of HB71, Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, said the redundant language is easily fixed and is a sign that other lawmakers are as eager as he is to keep tabs on tobacco products, particularly new ones that look and taste like candy or breath mints and are targeted at teens.

"If I had my way, I would outlaw tobacco altogether," Ray told committee members.

He will get as close as he can this year between his new restrictions act and sponsorship of an increase in the state tax on tobacco to $2 per pack of cigarettes, from 69.5 cents per pack now.

Some Utahns who fully endorse the effort to prohibit the sale of products containing nicotine that most kids can't tell from regular candy and mints say lawmakers ought to take a breath before restricting e-cigarettes.

Mark Livingston, a private citizen who said he detests smoking, said e-cigarettes have been able to help family members get off regular cigarettes. "It would be a shame to include them, because I've seen them help people who already have a nicotine problem. At least they and people around them aren't inhaling smoke."

Studies by various anti-smoking organizations show that tobacco smoke contains upwards of 300 carcinogenic or toxic compounds.

Other lawmakers said they wonder: If the smoking-cessation benefits of e-cigarettes, which are widely available on the Internet, become part of the discussion, should all products, such as nicotine-laced gum, be covered by the bill, as well?

Nicotine in any form is toxic to humans, Ray said, noting that most of the new breath-mint-type tobacco products have two and three times the nicotine found in a regular cigarette.

E-cigarettes also might do as much harm as good. A new study announced Friday by the Korea Food and Drug Administration shows that although they have less nicotine than ordinary cigarettes, the vaporized solution from them can cause a host of immediate physical reactions, including lung cancer, if used for two years or longer.

Members of the House Health and Human Services Committee plan to clear the air on the topic during their meeting scheduled Tuesday.

e-mail: jthalman@desnews.com