Joe Biden Says He Would Halt Vaping Sales Pending More Research

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he would halt the sale of vaping products until more research about its effects is conducted, proposing even tighter restrictions than the Trump administration’s partial ban on the sale of flavored products.There needs to be “serious scientific data as to whether or not it has the kind of long-term damage on the lungs and it causes death before we allow it to be sold,” Biden said Saturday in response to a voter question at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it would begin enforcing a ban on the sale of fruit- and mint-flavored vape pods and cartridges within 30 days. The move followed a rise in vaping-related hospitalizations and deaths. But the sale of menthol products will continue, as will the sale of flavored e-cigarette liquids that users can mix on their own, which are not as popular with children and teenagers.President Donald Trump had initially expressed support for a full ban on flavored products, only to yield to pressure from lobbyists and advisers who warned of political blowback from a full ban.Bernie Sanders, another Democratic presidential candidate, appeared Saturday to call for the full shutdown of the vaping industry, only for a top adviser to walk the comments back, “The answer is, I think, we shut down the industry if they’re causing addiction and if the evidence is that people are getting sick as a result or inhaling a lot of bad stuff,” Sanders said in response to a voter question at a town hall meeting in Grundy Center, Iowa, Politico reported.Later, Sanders adviser Jeff Weaver told Politico that the candidate was “certainly not talking about shutting down the industry tomorrow” and would want more study and regulation of the industry to ensure that vaping is safe. To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Washington at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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