GRETCHEN WHITMER

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reluctantly signed a ban Tuesday to keep electronic cigarettes out of the hands of Michigan minors, expressing reservations because it will separate e-cigarettes from the definition of tobacco products.

Whitmer agreed to enact the bills despite opposition from within her administration, where the state Department of Health and Human Services has said they will directly conflict with federal regulations and exempt vapor and alternative nicotine products from smoke-free air laws.

The new measures, which take effect in September, will prohibit stores from selling e-cigarettes and minors from using the products. The U.S. government already bars such sales, but Michigan was among just two states without its own restrictions.

Whitmer called the use of e-cigarettes by young people a “public health crisis” and said while the products were initially marketed as a tool to help smokers avoid inhaling tobacco smoke, the pitch now looks like a “bait and switch” to create new nicotine addicts.

Signing the legislation “is an important step in protecting public health and keeping tobacco products out of the hands of our kids, but we have to keep working to ensure that minors don’t have access to any tobacco products, including harmful e-cigarettes,” the Democrat said in a written statement. She called for raising the age to buy e-cigarettes to 21, curtailing internet sales and banning the marketing of all tobacco products to children.

Whitmer also asked the state health department to make recommendations on regulating e-cigarettes. And she requested that the state treasury department determine if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s reasons for deeming them tobacco products should apply to Michigan law on the tobacco licensing and taxation.

The bills sailed through the Republican-led Legislature this year with bipartisan support, after being vetoed by former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in 2015.

Whitmer’s decision drew criticism from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

“Decades of experience and research demonstrate that only through a comprehensive approach to tobacco control using proven tactics such as comprehensive smoke-free laws and taxation can we ensure the greatest positive impact on health outcomes,” said Michigan government relations director Andrew Schepers. He said the group “hopes to see legislation in the near future that would define e-cigarettes as tobacco products, adds them to Michigan’s smoke-free law and taxes them at the same rate as other tobacco products.”

Pediatricians also urged lawmakers to do more to combat vaping.

“E-cigarettes have become the most common nicotine product used by youth and, as a consequence, we have a new generation of youth addicted to nicotine — many of whom will go on to be cigarette smokers,” said Dr. Sharon Swindell, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Michigan chapter president.

Under the laws, people who sell tobacco, vapor or alternative nicotine products to minors will face larger misdemeanor fines ranging from $100 for a first offense to $2,500 for a third or subsequent offense. Minors will receive a civil infraction for their first or second offense, with a maximum $50 fine.