The Hawaii state legislature is debating a bill that would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors and impose the 70% tobacco tax on the devices, according to a report by the Hawaii Reporter.
All of the testimony favored a ban on sale of the products to minors, but more than 1,000 individuals and companies protested imposition of the tobacco tax on e-cigarettes, the report said.
State Health Department director Loretta Fuddy told members of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, “There is very little known about the long-term health effects of the use of e-cigarettes or the vapors given off. Recent studies have shown that within one liquid nicotine cartridge there is enough nicotine to cause serious illness or even death.”
