New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday announced an emergency executive action to ban the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes in the state, amid a surge of vaping-related illnesses and deaths across the country.
New York would become the second state in the country behind Michigan to ban candy flavored products, which are popular with teenagers.
“Vaping is dangerous. Period,” the governor said at his office in Manhattan. He described a “burgeoning health crisis” and said that vaping is getting young people addicted to nicotine.
State and federal actions related to flavored e-cigarettes come as health officials around the country continue to grapple with an outbreak of a severe lung disease linked to vaping that causes severe shortness of breath and days of vomiting, fever, and fatigue. At least six deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations have been reported.
New York State has had 64 cases of lung disease linked to vaping.
The federal government and states ban the sale of vaping devices to minors, though government data show that last year one in five U.S. high school students said they vaped in the previous month.
President Trump last week said the federal government plans to ban thousands of flavors used in e-cigarettes as health authorities investigate hundreds of breathing illnesses reporting in people who have used e-cigarettes and other vaping devices.