Dr. Maryanne C. Bombaugh, MMS President, on the Mass. House passage of flavored tobacco sales ban
The physicians, residents and medical students of the Massachusetts Medical Society commend the House passage of this tobacco control legislation.
The Medical Society supports the intent to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products and the legislative action to do so is consistent with our organizational policy.
In May of 2019, the Medical Society set organizational policy which states that we will advocate to the Massachusetts legislature and regulators to ban the sale or distribution of any flavored (including menthol and mint flavors) tobacco products, to include combustible cigarettes and electronic nicotine delivery devices and systems, by any retailer, retail establishment, or other person or entity to any consumer.
In recent months, this policy has, unfortunately, become more timely and more critical, as our physicians are seeing first-hand an increase in the usage of these harmful products and a simultaneous and alarming rise in vaping-related lung illnesses among our patients - both pediatric and adult.
We appreciate the leadership of the Massachusetts House on this issue and we look forward to being a voice for both patients and physicians in ongoing and future legislative and regulatory discussions and actions which aim to improve public health by restricting access to all flavored tobacco products.
