Indoor e-cigarette ban passes in Assembly, future is cloudy in Senate

Publication Date: 2016-06-16

• Author:Rick Karlin
• Publication:Albany Times Union

Advocates with the Cancer Action Network are among the throngs at the Capitol today, hoping that momentum from Wednesday night's passage of an indoor e-cigarette smoking ban in the Assembly carries over to the Senate.

This came up last year, and at the time, lawmakers said they wanted to see what the federal Food and Drug Administration had done. Since then, FDA has determined that all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, could be regulated by the agency.

The legislation, sponsored by GOP Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon of Long Island and Manhattan Democrat Linda Rosenthal in the Assembly, hasn’t moved out of the Senate health committee, though, at least according to a recent check in the legislative tracking service.

E-cigarette supporters might be pointing to some research that contends the devices can help traditional smokers lower their chances of getting cancer as well as cardiovascular diseases like emphysema that stem from the smoke and tar of cigarettes rather than the addictive nicotine.

Cancer Action's Julie Hart noted that eight counties including Albany as well as New York City already have indoor e-cigarette bans...