BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Starting in 2024, New York will begin to institute similar marketing rules for e-cigarettes and vapes as it employs for other tobacco products.
Manufacturers and distributors will no longer be allowed to put brand names, logos, or other identifying markers on any product other than the actual e-cigarette. They will not be able to offer gifts connected to the purchase of e-cigarettes and brands will be barred from sponsoring teams and events like sports games and concerts.
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Health Behavior Department Chair Dr. Andrew Hyland said it's a welcome step in the effort to reduce youth vaping.
"These are important," he said. "They're sort of the social statement. You're not going to eradicate tobacco use or vaping or smoking because there's not sponsorship but it's an element. It's a public statement."
The New York state Association of Convenience Stores said it supports the new law and others like it, however, questions the impact. President Kent Sopris pointed out many of the products that would be marketed, like flavored vapes, are already illegal at the state and federal level.
"Spending time focusing on marketing ploys and tactics, maybe that feels good. It's not really effective. The way to do this. The way to get the products out of the hands of youth is to shut down the stores that sell them," he said.
Sopris doesn't believe the new law will have much impact on his members because he said his stores don't carry illegal products that often target young people. The stores that do sell them, he pointed out, don't seem to be worried about the laws.
"I would ask that the sponsors of these bills, the governor and other elected folks really take a hard look at how to get these products off the streets and we've had some good conversations with them and we're hopeful for the upcoming budget year that we might be able to see some movement on that," Sopris said.
The new law will also void contract provisions that suppress research into the health consequences of vaping.