Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed legislation on Wednesday to prohibit the sale of most forms of flavored tobacco products in New York City. The new law is more extensive than the federal Food and Drug Administration‘s ban on candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes, which took effect last month.
The City Council approved the bill on Oct. 14. The legislation covers “chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice flavors,” but exempts “tobacco, menthol, mint or wintergreen flavors.”
The city ban includes cigars and smokeless tobacco, while the federal ban is limited to cigarettes. That ban prohibits the sale of cigarettes with “an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee.”
While the city’s adult smoking rate has fallen — a development that the mayor has repeatedly trumpeted as a public health success — the Council said that the proportion of public high school students in the city who said they smoked only cigars and cigarillos had tripled since 2001. Flavored tobacco products are often marketed at the young.
Violators of the new city law may be fined up to $2,000 or have their tobacco-vending license suspended.
The mayor signed two other bills into law on Wednesday.
One seeks to improve safety at construction sites where work has been suspended, by encouraging property owners to come forward with faltering or halted projects and craft a plan to increase safety on their sites, and by making it easier for city inspectors to monitor compliance and for work to resume on these sites once the owners get financing in place. In return for the developers’ participation in the program, the Buildings Department will renew a stalled site’s permit for up to four years.
The other new law requires the Department of Education to report on the implementation of Billy’s Law, a state law created to improve the monitoring of students placed in out-of-state residential facilities.
Resource : http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/ban-on-tobacco-flavored-products-becomes-city-law/?_r=0
The City Council approved the bill on Oct. 14. The legislation covers “chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice flavors,” but exempts “tobacco, menthol, mint or wintergreen flavors.”
The city ban includes cigars and smokeless tobacco, while the federal ban is limited to cigarettes. That ban prohibits the sale of cigarettes with “an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee.”
While the city’s adult smoking rate has fallen — a development that the mayor has repeatedly trumpeted as a public health success — the Council said that the proportion of public high school students in the city who said they smoked only cigars and cigarillos had tripled since 2001. Flavored tobacco products are often marketed at the young.
Violators of the new city law may be fined up to $2,000 or have their tobacco-vending license suspended.
The mayor signed two other bills into law on Wednesday.
One seeks to improve safety at construction sites where work has been suspended, by encouraging property owners to come forward with faltering or halted projects and craft a plan to increase safety on their sites, and by making it easier for city inspectors to monitor compliance and for work to resume on these sites once the owners get financing in place. In return for the developers’ participation in the program, the Buildings Department will renew a stalled site’s permit for up to four years.
The other new law requires the Department of Education to report on the implementation of Billy’s Law, a state law created to improve the monitoring of students placed in out-of-state residential facilities.
Resource : http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/ban-on-tobacco-flavored-products-becomes-city-law/?_r=0
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