In 2020, New York banned the flavored e-cigarette products that had the strongest youth appeal and that fueled the youth vaping epidemic. But the tobacco industry has found ways around the existing law resulting in New York State having the highest continued retail availability of prohibited products of any of the six states that have an e-cigarette flavor ban in place.
In our own local observations of tobacco retailers, 15 out of 41 stores in Albany County were selling flavored vapes; 16 out of 31 retailers in Schenectady County were selling flavored vapes. The widespread availability of illegal vaping products helps explain why local area middle and high schools continue to struggle with student vaping on school campuses and why NYS PTA is among the more than 35 organizations that support closing the loopholes.
A bill sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal is intended to close the loopholes in the current NYS law by eliminating federal exemptions, requiring retailers to allow inspection access, prohibiting wholesale distributors from selling and shipping products in NYS, and prohibiting the sale of new non-menthol products that mimics the flavor and cooling sensation of menthol.
See the 3/18 TU Commentary from PAVe (Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes) Co-founder Meredith Berkman and the 3/31 Daily Gazette article on the continued sale of flavored nicotine vapes in Schenectady smoke shops.
Learn more about the loopholes from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids document here.
To the left is a typical tobacco product display. If you don’t use tobacco, you may not even notice, but kids do. Kids see. Kids notice. Kids remember. In fact, kids are more than twice as likely as adults to notice and remember retail tobacco marketing.