What to Know
- New Jersey lawmakers have advanced proposals banning flavored e-cigarettes as well as menthol-flavored traditional cigarettes
- Assembly and state Senate committees approved the measures during hearings Thursday that drew dozens of people seeking to weigh in
- Supporters say flavored e-cigarettes hook kids on nicotine. Critics argue banning flavors will set up a black market and hurt businesses
New Jersey lawmakers have advanced proposals banning flavored e-cigarettes as well as menthol-flavored traditional cigarettes.
Assembly and state Senate committees approved the measures during hearings Thursday that drew dozens of people seeking to weigh in.
Supporters said the flavored e-cigarettes hook kids on nicotine. Critics argued that banning flavors will set up a black market and hurt business.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy pushed lawmakers to ban flavored e-cigarettes last month amid a nationwide outbreak tied to vaping.
More than 2,000 Americans who vape have gotten sick since March, many of them young people. At least 40 people have died.
Federal officials recently announced a breakthrough into the cause of the outbreak, reporting vitamin E acetate was found from vaping devices used by many who got sick.
