A bill that would restrict minors possessing electronic cigarettes was passed by the Iowa House and now sits in the Iowa Senate.

District 47 Representative Chip Baltimore is sponsoring the bill that doesn’t allow selling electronic cigarettes to minors due to the possible addictive chemical of nicotine that’s prevalent in these vapor-type products.

He believes that even though e-cigarettes don’t have cancer causing tobacco in them, they don’t have concrete evidence that shows how harmful nicotine can be.

However, Baltimore states that because they don’t contain tobacco, no additional taxes are included, which he hopes will incentivise people to switch to e-cigarettes as an alternative.

“We tax them at a lower rate so that people when they’re trying to figure out how they’re going to spend their money, if they actually have to have a nicotine fix, through their financial choices, gravitate towards these products which don’t cause cancer.  And I think over time that’s going to be a good thing.”

Now that the bill has passed through the House, it is still eligible for discussion this session, making it through the first funnel week and is up for discussion in the Senate.