In Brief: UCSD Study Says Vaping Companies Lure Underage Users; Hospital Work Break Waiver Signed Into Law

UCSD: Vaping Companies Engage In Overly Aggressive Marketing Tactics

A new study by researchers at UC San Diego have concluded that purveyors of so-called vapor or electronic cigarettes engage in aggressive marketing tactics that often ensnare underage users.

According to the study, more than 70% of the 57 e-cigarette vendors surveyed used some form of social media to market their product, particularly the platforms Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

“We found e-cigarette vendors were highly engaged in promoting the culture of ‘vaping’ online, including posting images to Instagram, a social media site used by 52 percent of teens,” said Tim K. Mackey, a UC San Diego School of Medicine assistant professor of anesthesiology and lead author of the study. “Despite the fact that 47 states prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, the results highlight the potential of the Internet to encourage e-cigarette initiation and underage purchasing. This is particularly concerning given that the FDA does not have specific proposed regulations for online e-cigarette sales."

Moreover, one-third of the vendors surveyed had no process in place for age verification for those who purchase e-cigarettes or associated paraphrenalia online. And while 68% had some forms of health warnings about e-cigarettes in their site, they were often published in a small font or in the fine print of user agreements that are common for e-commerce sites.

The study was released just as a separate California Department of Public Health study has concluded that use of e-cigarettes statewide doubled between 2012 and 2013.

The UCSD study was published in the most recent issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Hospital Work Break Waiver Bill Signed Into Law

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed SB 327 into law, which will allow unionized workers at hospitals and other healthcare facilities to continue to waive one of their meal breaks.

The new law is intended to address a thorny issue among hospitals and their labor force. Union contracts provide many of them with two meal breaks if they work a 12-hour or longer work shift. But in 2000, the California Industrial Welfare Commission had concluded that employees could wave one of their meal breaks voluntarily if they wished.

However, a recent court case, Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, had gone in favor of the notion that employees did not have the right to waive one of their meal breaks.

As a result hospitals could be liable for up to four years of wages for those waived breaks for each employee. That case is currently being reviewed by the California State Supreme Court.

SB 327 addresses the issue moving forward, but the high court reserves the right to rule on whether such a rule may be applied retroactively, officials said. But a statement issued by the California Hospital Association said it hoped the court would take the new law under consideration.

The bill was co-sponsored by both hospitals and labor unions. It was considered an urgency measure, so it went into effect immediately.