New York, NY – Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan), Chair of the Committee on Alcoholism and Drugs Abuse, applauded the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) announcement that it will regulate e-cigarettes like it does all other tobacco products. Rosenthal then renewed calls to pass her bill, A. 5955-B, which would expand the Clean Indoor Air Act to include e-cigarettes.

“After passing the law in New York State in 2012 to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, I am pleased that the FDA has finally decided to step in,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal. “Now, young people across the country will be protected against the dangers of e-cigarette use.”

The new rules will also prohibit the distribution of free e-cigarette samples as well as prohibit their sale vending machines, other than in adult-only facilities. The FDA will now be able to evaluate product design and ingredients, including the health risks associated with their use and their appeal to children and young adults. The FDA will also be able to require health warnings on product packaging and in advertising.

“With the FDA determination to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products, it only makes sense that New York State follow suit and include e-cigarettes in the Clean Indoor Air Act,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal. “My bill, A.5955-B, will help protect the non-smoking public against exposure to potentially dangerous e-cigarette vapor, and perhaps more importantly, will help to preserve the years of advocacy that helped make smoking indoors or in any other place socially taboo.”

Increasingly, more and more young people are turning to traditional tobacco products after using e-cigarettes. In fact, research has shown that teens who reported e-cigarette use were more than three times as likely to smoke traditional cigarettes a year later. Limiting a young person’s exposure to e-cigarettes will help to prevent a lifetime of smoking.

In the absence of federal regulation of e-cigarettes, New York State has been at the forefront in enacting legislation to protect the public health. In addition to Assemblymember Rosenthal’s bill to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, she also passed a law in YEAR to ban the sale of liquid nicotine to minors under the age of 18 and to require that it be sold in child-resistant packaging to protect against incidental ingestion.

Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal represents the 67th Assembly district, which includes the Upper West Side and parts of the Clinton/ Hell’s Kitchen neighborhoods in Manhattan.