In September 2019, New York became the first state in the country to ban the sale of all flavors of e-cigarettes except for tobacco and menthol. It was instated for 90 days after the state health department voted to carry out Andrew Cuomo’s emergency resolution, and then renewed for another 90 days in December by the state health department, according to CNN.
Vapor Technology Association, which has about 800 members, and two of its affiliates filed a case against the state saying the state health department had exceeded its authority. Acting state Supreme Court Justice Catherine Cholakis granted the injunction the association and its affiliates sought.
Justice Cholakis said that the regulation of the vaping industry and flavored e-cigarettes should be within the purview of the state legislature.
“This court’s holding on the present motion is limited to the recognition that there is a likelihood that petitioners (the vaping industry) will ultimately succeed in proving that the emergency regulation is an impermissible administrative transgression into territory that is reserved to our legislature by the state constitution,” she wrote.
Justice Cholakis acknowledged the concerns surrounding the use of flavored e-cigarettes, including the vaping-related lung injury that is sweeping the country. There have been 2,602 cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury as of Jan. 7, and 57 deaths.
The FDA is also gearing up to ban the sale of nearly all flavored e-cigarette pods, except tobacco or menthol.
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