A state legislative study committee heard experts, local officials and advocates describe health harms from vaping and outline policy steps the state could take to curb youth use.

The committee heard case-based medical testimony, local legislative examples and fiscal data as members prepared for a follow-up meeting on concrete policy recommendations.

Medical testimony emphasized acute and chronic lung harm linked to vaping and the difficulty of diagnosing and treating e-cigarette, or vaping, product‑use associated lung injury (EVALI). Children's pulmonology fellow Mary Ellen Fain, of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory, described a previously healthy 19‑year‑old who was hospitalized for six days and diagnosed with EVALI after using THC vaping products. "One pod, for example, is about equivalent to a pack of cigarettes," Fain told the committee, stressing that devices can deliver far higher nicotine doses than a single cigarette.

Why it matters: committee members and witnesses said youth use is widespread in Georgia, schools are already investing in detectors and counseling, and state policy choices on taxes, retail licensing and flavors could shape market access.

Fain summarized research on health effects, saying vaping is linked to chronic cough, bronchitis, decreased exercise tolerance, impaired lung immunity, and rarer but serious conditions such as bronchiolitis obliterans and lipoid pneumonia. She told members that nationally there were just under 3,000 reported EVALI cases from August 2019 to March 2020 and that roughly 15% of those cases were in people under 18; the median age in that series was 24.

Atlanta City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiar described local action and urged broader state steps. "We are witnessing an industry masking addiction as innovation, using flavor, technology, and stealth to prey on teens and children, and we cannot afford to look away," Bakhtiar said, describing Atlanta zoning that limits vape shops near schools and municipal investments in vape detectors and counseling.

Public‑health and advocacy witnesses urged a combination of policies. Claudia Rodis, regional advocacy director for the Campaign for Tobacco‑Free Kids, pointed to industry marketing shifts and to flavored products as a primary driver of youth use. A Georgia Tech student and American Heart Association volunteer, Suhas Reddy Bonkour, urged restoration of state prevention funding and called for eliminating flavored products and increasing taxes so youth face price disincentives.

Fiscal testimony summarized current revenue and tax gaps. Danny Cánseo, senior fiscal analyst at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, said the state sold roughly 47,000,000 milliliters of vaping product in the last fiscal year (about $151 million in retail sales) and collected under $13 million in vaping tax revenue. He noted Georgia's existing e‑liquid tax structure (a per‑milliliter rate for closed systems and a wholesale percentage for other products) is among the lowest in states that tax these products.

Treatment and prevention witnesses described on‑the‑ground work. Fonda Nash Stobbe, tobacco cessation program coordinator at the Georgia Cancer Center, said her clinic uses a one‑visit initial assessment followed by virtual follow‑ups and offers prescription medications including varenicline and nicotine‑replacement therapy; she reported a 51% quit rate among patients who complete the program. Dana Thompson of the American Lung Association urged comprehensive cessation benefits, peer education, and stronger retail licensing and enforcement.

Committee members discussed pending legislation. Members referenced House Bill 577 (a Georgia bill discussed in committee testimony) and warned that some versions of market‑oriented bills can carry industry support; one committee member said she had voted against HB 577 on the floor because she believed it could "narrow the market" in ways that protected industry interests. Members also mentioned active proposals to raise Georgia's vaping tax (HB 84) and bills to ensure Medicaid covers cessation treatments (HB 506).

Witnesses and lawmakers emphasized that policies interact: federal steps (including a February 2020 FDA enforcement action that targeted certain cartridge products) have shifted youth market share toward disposable and novel devices, and state definitions and tax schemes can create loopholes or incentives. Several witnesses recommended a combined strategy of (1) stronger retail licensing and buffer zones near schools, (2) restricting flavored products sold in general retail settings, (3) raising and equalizing taxes across tobacco and vaping products, and (4) restoring sustained funding for prevention and cessation programs.

The committee will convene again to produce specific policy recommendations, with members asking witnesses for short lists of three realistic state‑level changes and for supporting data on enforcement, retail licensing fees and cessation coverage.

For now, medical witnesses cautioned that vaping poses real risks to children and adolescents and that preventing initiation and improving access to cessation services were the "best practices" available while research on long‑term effects continues. "It's very difficult to quit even when the desire is there, so best practice is to prevent use and exposure in the first place," Fain said.

The hearing included multiple advocacy groups and local officials; it closed with committee staff scheduling the next convening to focus on policy language and funding sources.