Albany, N.Y. - State health officials are expected to make a renewed push today to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.
An emergency ban was put in place back in September but was challenged in court by the Vapor Technology Association and two affiliates, preventing it from being enforced. Today's meeting of the state Department of Health's Public Health and Health Planning Council will call for the renewal of the emergency regulations and there will be discussion about adopting permanent rules.
Those guidelines would add menthol to the list of banned flavors and make clear the ban only applies to the sale of e-cigarettes by retailers. The hope is to keep the ban in place long enough to allow lawmakers to come back in January and pass permanent legislation.