Michigan Democrats are considering a ban on all flavored tobacco and nicotine products in Michigan, a move inspired in part by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s concerns about her daughters and their friends.

The Michigan House Committee on Families, Children and Seniors took up House Bill 6235, sponsored by committee Chair Rep. Stephanie Young, D-Detroit, to ban the advertising, display, marketing and sale of “a nicotine or tobacco product that has a characterizing flavor.”

The move follows Whitmer’s years long effort to ban flavored vapes and e-cigarettes. She told WJBK’s Tim Skubick in April is inspired by concern for her college-age daughters.

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“She was telling me that she has friends who are smoking cigarettes to get off vaping,” Whitmer said, professing support for legislation to address youth vaping.

Whitmer’s conversation with Skubick this spring came nearly five years after she first attempted to address the issue through emergency rules that were eventually blocked through litigation.

“Flavoring is the hook. That’s how they market to children,” Whitmer told WLNS in 2019, connecting the issue to her then teen daughters.

“I know that a lot of their friends are vaping,” she said. “This is deceptive, this is destructive, and most importantly, it’s compromising our kids’ health. We know that this is a national health crisis and it’s time for us to take action.”

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Fast forward to 2024, and several who testified in favor of HB 6235 are making the same arguments.

“The main reason kids and young people are still getting hooked on nicotine is because of the flavors. Flavors hook kids,” 19-year-old Michael Smith testified Tuesday. “The tobacco industry used flavored nicotine to hook kids to a lifetime of tobacco addiction.”

Minou Jones, chair of the Detroit Wayne Oakland Tobacco Free Coalition, and Flint pediatrician Brittany Tayler were also among supporters, WSMH reports.

“It shouldn’t matter what race you are, it shouldn’t matter what party you are a part of, it shouldn’t matter your gender or your sexual preference, all kids matter, and we have to do something about it,” Jones said.

Tayler argued “the big thing is these flavor bans work to deter youth usage, that stops the products from becoming appealing.”

While HB 6235 would ban the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine products, other bills considered Tuesday would decriminalize minors using or possessing tobacco products, allow local governments to ban the sale of tobacco products, and require retailers to obtain a newly created license to sell.

Opponents testified the bills discriminate against Black and Latino smokers who prefer menthol cigarettes, and argued a ban on flavored tobacco and nicotine products will force users into an illegal market.

“With the ban, individuals would just obtain their products from other states or illicit sources and create criminals out of citizens,” said Dan Leaman, president of the Michigan Distributors and Vendors Association.

“We feel that these bills will have numerous and significant consequences, many unintended, on the businesses and consumers here in Michigan,” he said.

Leaman also suggested the flavor ban could divert about $466 million from Medicaid, school funding and other programs that will force lawmakers to make up the difference, MLive reports.

HB 6235 would provide an exemption for flavored tobacco sold for on-premise consumption at hookah lounges, but would otherwise impose a fine of up to $1,500 on retailers who sell products with a “characterizing flavor.”

That fine would increase to $2,000 for a second violation within 36 months, to $2,500 for a third violation, and to $3,000 for a fourth.

The bill is identical to Senate Bill 649, which was introduced by Sen. John Cherry, D-Flint, in November 2023 and has languished in the upper chamber’s Committee on Regulatory Affairs ever since.

The House Committee on Families, Children and Seniors ultimately did not vote on HB 6235, though members did approve the other related legislation.

Committee chair Young did, however, mock Leaman’s “sky-is-falling testimony” on her bill, which she claims will protect youth, fix tobacco-related disparities, lower health care costs, and save lives, MLive reports.

“The consequences of nicotine addiction are well known,” she said. “We must do more to prevent young people from falling into a lifelong addiction.”

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ 2023 Michigan Youth Tobacco Survey found 16.5% of the state’s high school students use tobacco, including 13.7% who vape. The national average for vape use among youth is 14.1%, according to Michigan State University.