Health advocates, businesses divided on raising age to buy tobacco, e-cigarettes

[freemexy]

Health advocates, businesses divided on raising age to buy tobacco, e-cigarettes
The way public health experts see it, only good things will come of the state's movement toward raising the legal age to buy tobacco and Electronic Cigarette to 21, largely because it will place one more impediment in the way of youths who might be tempted to take up a dangerous habit.

Andrew Osborne doesn't see it that way. Osborne, who owns the Vapor Trail Shop on South Park Avenue in South Buffalo, argues that some people use e-cigarettes and vaping products to quit smoking. So raising the age denies more people the chance to start quitting sooner, he said.

"This law certainly sends the messages to millions of smokers that vaping and smoking are the same thing," said Osborne, who is also vice president of the New York State Vapor Association. "And a message like that, in my opinion, is a public health catastrophe."

The state Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill to raise the age to purchase tobacco and e-cigarette products from 18 to 21. The state Senate is expected to approve the proposal in the coming weeks, which would move the measure to the desk of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. He has said he supports the higher age. Once he signs the bill, the law would take effect 120 days later.

It also would be another move away from the idea that the age of 18 is when adulthood begins and has re-ignited a debate that dates back generations about why 18 is old enough to vote, drive a car and join the military, but too young to drink alcohol or purchase cigarettes.

But that question was obscured a day after the Assembly vote, when health officials and organizations praised state lawmakers for moving to protect young people from a hazardous habit."We know youth brains are very susceptible to the addictive properties of nicotine, because youth brains are still developing until their mid-20s," Erie County Health Commissioner Gale Burstein said.

Despite arguments by Osborne and others about the potential good that can come from access to e-cigarettes, Burstein said the Food and Drug Administration does not recognize them as smoking cessation products. She also said she knows of no data that supports the belief that e-cigarettes help people quit smoking. Some e-cigarettes have even higher concentrations of nicotine than traditional cigarettes, she said.u2022eney7485yyWEEEEDD