Mexico Wants to Keep E-Cigarettes Out of Teens’ Reach Julian Resendiz and Roberto Delgado - Border Report
go to original March 31, 2022

A group of Mexican lawmakers want to close legal loopholes they say make e-cigarettes easily available to teenagers.

The way the laws are written, it’s illegal to import this product to Mexico, but it’s not unlawful to sell it or manufacture alternative methods of nicotine delivery, lawmakers from the Morena Party said.

“The consumption of tobacco products is down, but the development of nicotine delivery technology is strongly positioned in our society. We must update our legal framework to include newly commercialized products,” Sen. Eduardo Perez Astorga said in a publicly broadcast forum earlier this month.

E-cigarettes are devices that use a battery to heat up liquid into an aerosol that users inhale. The cartridges usually contain nicotine, propylene glycol, flavorings and other chemicals.

Perez and other lawmakers expressed concern about an increase in the use of e-cigarettes by minors. The senator quoted a study stating that 1.2% of teenagers in Mexico consume e-cigarettes.

Such changes would impact younger residents of U.S. cities bordering Mexico who may be habitually skirting more stringent laws. For instance, the sale of tobacco and alcoholic beverages is restricted to those 21 and older in the United States, but the legal age for both is 18 across the border in cities like Juarez, Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo.

Read more about vaping health risks.

Read the rest at Border Report