Sunset Clauses: Why Every Nicotine Regulation Should Have an Expiration Date
Nicotine regulations, once enacted, are almost never repealed—even when the evidence changes. Sunset clauses—automatic expiration dates that force periodic re-evaluation—would ensure that regulations are reviewed, updated, or eliminated based on evidence.
Flavor bans were implemented in response to the youth vaping 'epidemic' of 2017-2019. Youth vaping has declined. The evidence on flavor bans' net effect is mixed. And yet the bans persist—because regulations, once enacted, develop constituencies that defend them regardless of the evidence. **Sunset clauses—automatic expiration dates that force periodic re-evaluation of regulations—would ensure that nicotine policy adapts to new evidence. The tobacco control establishment opposes sunset clauses: they threaten the regulatory status quo.**
