A new hunt against businesses that sell vapes has begun in New York City where the government has sued 22 distributors.
The demand, oriented to the online stores of the distributors, is because none of these allegedly had an age verification system, which allows the acquisition of these products by minors without any difficulty.
The war against Vaping
The regulation of this market began to occur strongly about a month ago when President Donald Trump announced that he would seek to ban all electronic cigarettes that had no tobacco.
Multiple states have adopted similar policies in an effort to limit the consumption of these products, whose effects on health are still a matter of debate. Various diseases of unknown origins that have occurred in different states are believed to be related to the consumption of e-cigarettes.
New York is taking action from the top of the government – lead by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Last month he said they want to ban the sale of all electronic cigarettes that aren’t tobacco or menthol.
This time, the lawsuit comes from NY Mayor Bill de Blasio, who said the measures are to protect the health of children and the future of the city.
Blasio also said that these distributors that do not have an age verification system are predators that are subjecting possible life-long addictions to youth, all for generating the greatest amount of profits without considering how deadly the products can be.
The investigation for the demand
In New York City, the minimum age required to acquire these products legally is 21 years, but this does not stop young people from buying them. To demonstrate how easy it is to buy an e-cigarette, the government conducted a couple of supervised tests with the help of two young people under 21, where they were asked to try to buy cigarettes in these online stores.
The process was so easy that they only needed an email (which could have been created just minutes ago) and an accessible payment method, such as a prepaid gift card. After that, the product would be sent without other prior verification, like any other online purchase.
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