The New York City Council voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ban flavored e-cigarettes as officials seek to curb a spike in underage vaping.
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The New York City Council passes a bill Tuesday to ban flavored e-cigarettes in a vote of 42 to 2.
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The rule comes as a mysterious lung disease that U.S. officials have traced to vaping has sickened more than 2,100 and killed 42 people, two of whom lived in New York.
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In the absence of federal action, state and municipal officials around the country are grappling with the public health matter.
The ordinance bans all flavored e-cigarette and vaping liquid flavors except for tobacco. Mayor Bill de Blasio will either sign the bill or let it pass into law, his deputy press secretary Avery Cohen said, which will make New York the largest city in the U.S. to ban all vaping flavors except tobacco.
The New York City Council Health Committee voted unanimously in favor of the legislation on Monday, and of the city council’s 51 members, 31 signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. The bill passed in a vote of 42 to 2.
“New York City is finally addressing a public health crisis which has been mounting for years while state and local governments across the nation did next to nothing. We are finally taking action to address the resurgence of youth nicotine addiction caused by e-cigarette usage,” City Council Health Committee Chair Mark Levine, who introduced the legislation, said in a statement Tuesday. “With this vote, the City Council is moving to ban the fruity, minty, candy-like flavors of e-cigarettes which were clearly designed to appeal to young people in the first place.”
The move comes as U.S. health officials struggle to combat a mysterious vaping lung disease that has sickened more than 2,100 and killed 42 people, two of whom lived in New York City. The Trump administration announced plans in September to ban all flavored e-cigarettes, but federal officials have since wavered on the ban.
William Feuer – CNBC – November 26, 2019.
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