The Linn County Board of Supervisors today approved an ordinance prohibiting the sale of unregulated products containing nicotine (including nicotine delivery systems) without a retail cigarette or tobacco products permit. The ordinance also prohibits the sale of unregulated products containing nicotine and nicotine delivery systems, to minors.

The ordinance covers the sale of dissolvable tobacco, snuff and nicotine-infused jells and drinks, as well as electronic nicotine delivery systems, or e-cigarettes.

“These products are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has not reviewed the products or any clinical studies about them,” Jill Roeder, Linn County Public Health Healthy Behaviors Manager said. “This means that no one knows what’s really in them—what types or amounts of chemicals—and what their impact on the human body might be. They are not tobacco cessation products.”

Roeder added that true tobacco cessation products on the market are identified as such because they have been approved for that purpose by the FDA.

The ordinance was initiated by the Linn County Board of Health and sent to the Linn County Board of Supervisors for its action. The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the ordinance. Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson voted against the requirement.

“We simply want to ensure that the sale of these products is monitored and that they are treated like tobacco products when it comes to selling them to minors,” Linn County Supervisor and Linn County Public Health Board Member Linda Langston said. “Before this, anyone could buy them. This ordinance also levels the playing field for all retailers of tobacco and nicotine products.”