Retailers scramble as NY moves to ban flavored e-cigarettes

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Retailers scramble as NY moves to ban flavored e-cigarettes

2019-09-17 06:49 Last Updated At：07:00

Vape shops in New York are scrambling to respond to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to prohibit the sale of flavored vaping products — a ban poised to take effect Tuesday.

Cuomo, a Democrat, proposed the ban on Sunday . The emergency regulation will take effect immediately if approved as expected Tuesday by the state's Public Health and Health Planning Council. Retailers will be given two weeks to remove merchandise from their shelves.

At the Jubilee Vape & Smoke Inc. shop in downtown Manhattan, manager Inam Rehman and coworkers spent Monday morning trying to parse the governor's plans, holding off ordering more of the vaping products that make up over 35% of their business, and fielding questions from patrons.

"It's all a big confusion," Rehman said as he oversaw a store stocked with vaping devices and small bottles of oils in "Amazing Mango," ''Hawaiian Pog," ''Brain Freeze" and other flavors. "We don't know: What do we to tell our customers?"

The new rules come as health officials investigate what might be causing hundreds of serious breathing illnesses in people who use e-cigarettes and other vaping devices. They have identified 380 confirmed and probable cases in 36 states and one territory, including six deaths.

Republican President Donald Trump has proposed a federal ban on flavored e-cigarettes and vaping products, but Cuomo said Monday the emergency regulations are warranted because the state can't wait.

"Vaping we know is dangerous," Cuomo said Monday on WNYC public radio. "At a minimum, it addicts young people to nicotine... I've grown tired and weary of waiting for the federal government to act responsibly, whether it's on guns, on opioids or on the environment."

On Monday shopkeeper Ashif Lakhani was minding the NYC Smoke Shop & Vape Shop, which now derives about 40% to 50% of its business from the sale of vaping products. He said he is convinced that the recent wave of vaping-related health problems stem from black-market products, not the ones on the shelves of the shop, which his brother owns.

He said he worries New York's potential regulations will drive more vapers to the black market and/or online vendors — where he notes that merchants can't see their customers while checking their ages.

"These kinds of stores, which do the age verification ... should be given a fair chance, rather than this online stuff, which nobody knows who's buying," Lakhani said.

Most of the people who have fallen sick say they vaped products containing THC, the high-producing ingredient in marijuana. New York permits only medical marijuana use, with the drug sold at licensed dispensaries, not smoke shops. So far there have been no reports of adverse effects from the vaping devices used in the state's medical pot program.

Rehman said he wasn't entirely surprised that officials targeted vaping, but he thought there should be studies, public hearings and legislation.

"In a snap, this thing comes," said Rehman, who feels that vapers aren't being afforded enough input.

To him, the pros and cons of vaping depend on how it's used. He said he struggled to quit smoking cigarettes until he switched to vaping. While he doesn't argue that vaping is harmless, he said he considers it less harmful than smoking tobacco, the top cause of preventable death in the U.S.

"Excessive anything can get you sick," he said. "If you do it responsibly, and it's not sold to the minors, I think it is not that bad."

The ban would not impact tobacco- and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes, a detail that was criticized by health groups who said they worry young vapers will simply switch varieties to avoid the restrictions. It will include all types of flavored vaping products — including disposable and refillable devices.

Cuomo said many vaping flavors — including bubblegum and cotton candy — appear intended to appeal to younger smokers.

According to data from the state health department, nearly 40% of high school seniors and 27% of high school students overall in the state use e-cigarettes. High school use went from 10.5% in 2014 to 27.4% in 2018.

Other states are expected to consider their own restrictions on e-cigarettes. Earlier this month in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered that state's health department to come out with emergency rules to prohibit flavored e-cigarette sales.

Venice launches experiment to charge day-trippers an access fee in bid to combat over-tourism

2024-04-25 12:09 Last Updated At：13:42

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Under the gaze of the world’s media, the fragile lagoon city of Venice launches a pilot program Thursday to charge day-trippers a 5-euro (around $5.35) entry fee that authorities hope will discourage visitors from arriving on peak days and make the city more livable for its dwindling residents.

Signs advising arriving visitors of the new requirement for a test phase of 29 days through July have been erected outside the main train station and other points of arrival.

Some 200 stewards have been trained to politely walk anyone unaware of the fee through the process of downloading a QR code. A kiosk has been set up for those not equipped with a smartphone. Once past designated entry ports, officials will carry out random checks for QR codes that show the day-tripper tax has been paid or that the bearer is exempt.

Transgressors face fines 50 euros to 300 euros. The requirement applies only for people arriving between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Outside of those hours, access is free.

“We need to find a new balance between the tourists and residents,’’ said the city’s top tourism official, Simone Venturini. “We need to safeguard the spaces of the residents, of course, and we need to discourage the arrival of day-trippers on some particular days.”

Venice has long suffered under the pressure of over-tourism, but officials say that pre-pandemic estimates ranging from 25 million to 30 million visitors a year — including day-trippers — are not reliable and that the pilot project also aims to come up with more exact figures to help better manage the phenomenon.

By contrast, registered visitors spending the night last year numbered 4.6 million, according to city figures, down 16% from pre-pandemic highs.

Venturini said the city is strained when the number of day-trippers reaches 30,000 to 40,000. Its narrow alleyways are clogged with people and water taxis packed, making it difficult for residents to go about their business.

Not all residents, however, are persuaded of the efficacy of the new system in dissuading mass tourism, and say more attention needs to be paid to boosting the resident population and services they need.

Venice last year passed a telling milestone when the number of tourist beds exceeded for the first time the number of official residents, which is now below 50,000 in the historic center with its picturesque canals.

“Putting a ticket to enter a city will not decrease not even by one single unit the number of visitors that are coming,’’ said Tommaso Cacciari, an activist who organized a protest Thursday against the measure.

“You pay a ticket to take the metro, to go to a museum, an amusement park; you don’t pay a ticket to enter a city. This is the last symbolic step of a project of an idea of this municipal administration to kick residents out of Venice,” he said.

Venturini said about 6,000 people had already paid to download the QR code, and officials expect paid day-tripper arrivals Thursday to reach some 10,000.

More than 70,000 others have downloaded a QR code denoting an exemption, including to work in Venice or as a resident of the Veneto region. People staying in hotels in Venice, including in mainland districts like Marghera or Mestre, should also get a QR code attesting to their stay, which includes a hotel tax.

The tourist official says interest in Venice's pilot program has been keen from other places suffering from mass tourism, including other Italian art cities and cities abroad such as Barcelona and Amsterdam.