Fans of root beer, cotton candy, and fruit-flavored e-cigs soon may have a tougher time getting their fix. Yesterday, Queens City Council Member Costa Constantinides introduced a bill that would limit the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to tobacco bars.
Last year, Mayor Bloomberg attempted to introduce a similar bill, which was later withdrawn. Vapers were already dealt a blow earlier this year when e-cigs were banned everywhere smoking is prohibited.
"This bill ensures that flavored e-cigarettes are treated the same way as flavored tobacco products and helps prevent children from starting a lifetime of addiction," Constantinides says in a release. The sale of cigarettes and e-cigs to those under the age of 21 has been illegal since May.
According to a spokesperson for Councilmember Constantinides, menthol is not considered a flavor under the new legislation.
Greg Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, responded to the bill in a statement: "The AVA supports common-sense regulation of its products, such as New York City's existing ban on the sale to minors. But adults are free to make their own choices. This proposed law would not only take away a consumer choice, it would eliminate a competitor to Big Tobacco."
The world's largest tobacco companies, such as Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, have created their own lines of e-cigs but have not entered the flavored e-cig market, and as a result have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to smaller e-cigarette purveyors.
Conley added that the new crop of vape shops are likely to struggle, as he estimated some 80% of their products are flavored e-cigs.
Treating flavored e-cigs like flavored tobacco is also something the FDA declined to do.
None of this inspires sympathy from Councilmember Constantinides, who says, "I've heard the argument that it'll help addiction. I disagree. It just moves it to a different addiction. They're being used as a way to find new users, not to get people to stop smoking."
The hearing date for the bill has yet to be decided.
