South Carolina bill could affect vaping regulations

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) – A new bill would, if passed, force businesses that sell vaping products to have guidelines and regulations about what can be sold in South Carolina.

“I’m the parent of two middle schoolers, and I can tell you that the prevalence of this kind of product, in middle schools is more than you want to know. It’s kind of scary how much this stuff is in middle schools,” Sen. Josh Kimbrell (R – District 11).

The bill would require the Attorney Generals’ Office to ensure electronic nicotine delivery system products sold in South Carolina are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Attorney General would need to be notified if there are ingredient changes in the devices.

“We got to do something now… We got to stop it right now, because a lot of these products are Chinese products that are coming in, in addition… some of them have marijuana in them, ” said Sen. Billy Garrett (R – District 10).

Kimbrell said he supports the bill but recommends an amendment, so South Carolina businesses wouldn’t have to go through a long FDA approval.

“My only suggestion would be, let’s leave the FDA registry requirement there and find a way to provide provisional, a provisional way for folks operating in our state’s borders who are pending that approval not to be shut down,” Kimbrell said.

Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office said they are not against having a task force but would not be able to take part on that project.

“It’s going to cost a lot of money to get that done,” Garrett said.

Democratic Senator Russell Ott (D- District 26) said businesses he’s spoken with want regulations so they know what rules to follow.

“At the very minimum, I think just having a standardized process by which we say that we we’re going to allow for these, but we’re not going to allow for those that signals to our retailers what is okay and what’s not.”

Lawmakers said the state oversight will help regulate products coming from outside the U.S.

Lawmakers said the main goal of this bill is to protect children from using nicotine products. Currently in South Carolina it is illegal for a person under the age of 18 to vape.