(WIVB) – Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an emergency executive action to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in New York State Sunday.
BREAKING: Today I am announcing emergency executive action to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) September 15, 2019
-State Police and DOH to ramp up enforcement against retailers who sell to underage youth
-We will advance legislation to eliminate deceptive marketing of e-cigarettes to youth
Working in collaboration with State Police and the New York State Department of Health, the goal is to immediately ramp up enforcement against retailers that sell to minors and to push forward legislation to stop deceptive marketing of flavored e- cigarettes to children.
“New York is confronting this crisis head-on and today we are taking another nation-leading step to combat a public health emergency,” Governor Cuomo said. “Manufacturers of fruit and candy-flavored e-cigarettes are intentionally and recklessly targeting young people, and today we’re taking action to put an end to it. At the same time, unscrupulous stores are knowingly selling vaping products to underage youth – those retailers are now on notice that we are ramping up enforcement and they will be caught and prosecuted.”
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker is set to hold an emergency meeting later this week with the Public Health and Health Planning Council to ban flavored e-cigarettes.
This comes after a recent surge in underage vaping that has alarmed parents, politicians and health authorities nationwide.