On Tuesday, January 25th, 2011, the New York State Assembly Health Committee will vote on proposed bill A01468 which seeks to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes in the state of New York. The bill seeks to prevent the sale of e-cigs to minors and would also ban the sale of e-cigarettes in New York until the FDA approves electronic cigarettes as a smoking cessation device.

Online PR News – 24-January-2011 –Electronic cigarettes have been all over the news lately and on Tuesday, January 25th, the New York State Assembly Health Committee will vote on bill A01468, which seeks to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes in the state of New York. The proposed bill has two sections. Section 1 of the bill proposes to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. Section 2 of the bill seeks to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes in New York until the FDA approves e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation device.

Many e-cigarette users have voiced frustration over the proposed bill. At the popular electronic cigarette review website, ElectronicCigarettesReviews.net, many visitors have voiced concern. Most of the visitors have expressed concern and even anger over Section 2 of the proposed bill because it could take 5 years or longer for the FDA to approve e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation device and during that time period, e-cig users that live in New York wouldn't be able to buy electronic cigarettes. Also, there is speculation that if e-cigs are ruled to be a smoking cessation device that e-cig users could be required to get a prescription to buy electronic cigarettes, which would mean that e-cigs would be much more expensive.

Many visitors to the review website have also voiced concern over the timing of bill A01468 because many didn't even realize that the ban was being voted on and also didn't realize that the vote was going to be so soon. Many visitors have asked the review team how to go about voicing concern in hopes to stop the ban.

An editor of the review site, James Johnson, had the following to say about the proposed ban. "Over the past year-and-a-half, we've had over 1 million visitors to our site. Many of our visitors are smokers that have written testimonials on how e-cigarettes helped them to quit smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes. We definitely support Section 1 of the proposed bill, but we are opposed to Section 2 because if passed, it would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to the people of New York until the FDA is able to determine that e-cigs are really a smoking cessation device, which could take 5 years or longer to prove. So, if the ban is approved, the people of New York would no longer have access to purchase electronic cigarettes, but they would still be able to buy regular tobacco cigarettes. To me, this just doesn't make sense because so many smokers have been successful in quitting tobacco cigarettes by switching to an electronic cigarette. This bill would take e-cigs away and could cause many smokers to revert back to using tobacco cigarettes instead of electronic cigarettes."

It was determined on December 7th, 2010 that the FDA could not regulate e-cigarettes as drugs or devices by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The ruling dictated that the FDA could only regulate e-cigs as tobacco products. If bill A01468 is passed, it is possible that the FDA may never regulate electronic cigarettes as smoking cessation devices and New Yorkers may never be able to use electronic cigarettes again.

E-cigarette users that want to voice opposition to the bill should act immediately. For more information on the proposed bill and for a pre-written letter template to a New York Assemblyman, click here to visit the CASAA (Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association) website or visit http://www.electroniccigarettesreviews.net/save-electronic-cigarettes.