NEW York has banned all flavoured e-cigarettes as vaping is linked to at least six deaths and spate of mysterious lung diseases.
State governor Andrew Cuomo warned vaping was dangerous and slammed the flavors that are for sale, including bubble gum and cotton candy.
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He added that he was concerned the fruity or sweet e-liquids were leading young people to get hooked on nicotine.
Announcing his plans to enact a statewide ban on Sunday, he said: “These are obviously targeted to young people and highly effective at targeting young people.”
It follows a spike of mysterious and life-threatening lung diseases – believed to be linked to vaping – over the summer.
In the US, six people are now reported to have died from vaping-related lung illnesses.
The latest person to die was in their 50s and from Kansas.
They were in hospital “with symptoms that progressed rapidly”, but also to have had a history of underlying health issues.
Mysterious disease
While more than 450 people, mostly otherwise healthy and in their teens or 20s, have shown up at hospitals with breathing difficulties.
Often they’ve also suffered with vomiting, fever and fatigue for several days prior.
Some have even ended up in intensive care on a ventilator for several weeks.
Investigators are still trying to understand what causes the illnesses.
Meanwhile, health officials have warned people against buying vaping products on the street or using marijuana-derived oil.
What are the dangers of vaping in the UK?
In the UK, e-cigarettes are tightly regulated for safety and quality.
They’re not completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes.
E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke.
The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke, but at much lower levels.
While nicotine is the addictive substance in cigarettes, it’s relatively harmless.
Almost all of the harm from smoking comes from the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke, many of which are toxic.
Nicotine replacement therapy has been widely used for many years to help people stop smoking and is a safe treatment.
There’s no evidence so far that vaping causes harm to other people around you.
This is in contrast to secondhand smoke from smoking, which is known to be very harmful to health.
Source: NHS
They have said people should avoid inhaling vitamin E acetate, an ingredient found in some vaping products.
In New York, the state’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, will formally ban flavoured e-cigarettes besides tobacco and menthol during an emergency meeting of the state’s Public Health and Health Planning Council this week, Cuomo said.
Under state law, the council can vote to issue or amend certain regulations affecting public health.
New York would be only the second state in the nation to introduce such a ban- Michigan did so earlier this month.
Trump’s ban
On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced plans to remove all flavoured e-cigarettes from store shelves.
Sales of e-cigarettes are banned in New York to people under 18 years old, an age that will rise to 21 in November.
Cuomo said he has told state police to increase enforcement against sales to underage people.
Earlier this year, he signed legislation raising the statewide smoking age to 21, and earlier this month signed a mandate that requires state anti-tobacco campaigns to also include vaping.
The FDA has been able to ban vaping flavors since 2016, but hasn’t taken the step, with officials looking into whether flavours could help cigarette smokers to quit.
The global market is estimated to have a value of as much as £8.8 billion ($11 billion).
Vaping company Juul reiterated on Sunday the agreeable stance it had taken following Trump’s proposal.
In an emailed statement, spokesman Austin Finan said, “We strongly agree with the need for aggressive category-wide action on flavoured products,” and “will fully comply with local laws and the final FDA policy when effective.”
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