New York Becomes the Second State to Ban Flavored E-cigarettes

by Christina Matthews

Updated: March 21, 2022

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New York bans flavored e cigarettes following Michigan steps and becomes the second state to ban flavored e-cigarettes though maintained menthol flavor. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pointed out that vaping flavors like bubblegum and cotton candy aimed to entice young people.

Table Of Contents

1. Main Facts
2. The State Is Now Restricted to the Sale of Menthol and Tobacco Flavored Cigarettes Only
3. War on Menthol
4. Where It All Goes Wrong

NY Vape Ban. Main Facts

New York’s first-in-the-nation ban on flavored e-cigarettes is now in effect.

NY is not waiting for the federal government to act. We are helping prevent countless young people from forming costly and potentially deadly life-long habits. This public health crisis ends today.

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) September 17, 2019

New York has become the newest state after Michigan to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. It was aimed to ameliorate current vaping deaths and lung illnesses as well as teenage indulgence.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the decision to ban flavored e-cigarettes on Tuesday. As part of a series of efforts to combat the increase in young people using vape products. Cuomo said that it was “undeniable” that flavors like bubblegum and cotton candy were designed to target youths.

40 percent of 12th graders now vape, and the vast majority of them are using flavored products.

By banning flavored e-cigarettes, we will prevent more New Yorkers from getting addicted to nicotine at a very young age. pic.twitter.com/D4TvsxlcHf

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) September 16, 2019

The State Is Now Restricted to the Sale of Menthol and Tobacco Flavored Cigarettes Only

UPDATE

The Biden administration recently made official the move to ban menthol cigarettes. They are the last and only remaining flavored tobacco products to be still sold in the US. The finalization of this plan comes after decades of activism from the Black community to ban the flavored cigarettes that have been marketed to Black people.

The skewered marketing practices of menthol cigarettes have led to severe health consequences for generations of people. The menthol in these cigarettes is meant to lessen the harshness of tobacco smoke. Thereby making it more palatable and making people smoke more. Even though Black people smoke less than Whites in the US, Black people suffer more fatal health outcomes due to smoking.

The ban will be national and will become a new amendment to the Tobacco Control Act of 2008. It handles the majority of new regulations governing the sale and purchase of tobacco. The FDA will also take action to ensure that menthol cigarettes are taken off the market. They will revoke the legal status of these products, making them illegal.

This decision about the NY vape ban was made through a vote in a meeting called on Sunday by Governor Cuomo. Members present besides Governor Cuomo were the Health planning council and the Special Codes Committee of the public health.

The ban will last for the next 90 days as emergency legislation. It can be renewed or amended to suit future conditions.

In the meantime, any retailer found selling the banned products will receive a fine of up to $2,000 per unit, the health department said in a meeting.

The Health Department has offered retailers a two-week grace period of actualizing this ban. After the period, they will start conducting site visits to ensure compliance with the ban.

They Set October 7th as the Official Day of Which the Impromptu Site Visits Might Begin

The New York ban comes only a few days after Pres. Donald Trump stated that his administration would ban all flavored e-cigarettes due to the rise in vaping related lung illness.

War on Menthol

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said that they were scrutinizing menthol too to decide whether they should include it in the ban as well.

Flavoring is a key youth marketing strategy

Though, the idea of considering banning menthol is absurd since menthol is not as familiar with the youth as the sweet flavor vaping products.

Even though menthol was spared from the ban, Dr. Zucker believed that urgent action was needed to ensure that the young people are safe.

Zucker also presented data that illustrated New York state high school students indulgently in tobacco, showing a spike of 160% between 2014 and 2018. Also, according to other surveys, in New York, 40% of 12th graders had already used e-cigarettes.

40 percent of 12th graders now vape, and the vast majority of them are using flavored products.

By banning flavored e-cigarettes, we will prevent more New Yorkers from getting addicted to nicotine at a very young age. pic.twitter.com/D4TvsxlcHf

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) September 16, 2019

NY Vape Ban. Where it all goes wrong

With the current death toll at 7, while respiratory illnesses are way over 500 reported cases, investigators are yet to single out the causative agent of all these cases.

Though most of the cases are linked to illicit THC vaping, the CDC has been advising the public to keep of vaping completely even though nicotine has not been linked with all the reported cases.

The New York State Vapor Association president, Michael Frennier, raised his concerns against this move. According to him, it is street marijuana vaping that causes the damages and not nicotine as the state is banning.

It’s kind of like having a mayonnaise outbreak of E.coli and the politicians come forth and they say ‘We’re going to fix this to protect the people of our state and we’re going to ban peanut butter tomorrow morning

These steps toward limiting vaping seems insane to all the vaping community. We call every vaper to purchase products from TRUSTED VENDORS!

RiP Trippers just provided own reaction, and we share his opinion.

Christina Matthews

I love the written word, and in my career as a journalist, I strive to provide the facts about everything I write about. There are too many false and alarmist stories out there about life and vaping mainly. My mission is to make e-cigarettes less scary to people with informative articles and extensive research on not only the possible evils of cigarettes and Big Tobacco, but the objective side of e-cigs.

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