A New York judge struck down the state’s emergency ban on flavored e-cigarettes, in part ruling that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and authorities exceeded their authority in an attempt to curb teen vaping.
Vape shops and the Vapor Technology Association filed the lawsuit challenging New York’s emergency ban, arguing that the ban was “an impermissible administrative transgression” into lawmaking and policy actions reserved to the Legislature by the State Constitution.
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Catherine Cholakis noted the decision blocking enforcement of the emergency ban, which state health officials initially approved in September at the behest of Cuomo, is separate from the debate over vaping-related health risks. However, she wrote nothing in the order “should be read as in any way trivializing the concern that the availability of flavored e-liquids may well be contributing to the spread of nicotine addiction among our youth.”
Court records show the vaping groups and Cholakis also noted that nearly all of the vaping illnesses have been linked to marijuana use, as opposed to the e-cigarette devices containing nicotine.
Last October, the appeals court in Albany temporarily halted enforcement of the ban just hours before it was to take effect. That ruling sent the lawsuit back to Cholakis, who struck down the ban.
In her ruling, Cholakis wrote, “As more information becomes available regarding the causes of vaping-related pulmonary disease, informed decisions can be made regarding the ultimate question of whether some or all vaping products should be banned.”