The Mayor’s Page

Protecting Our Youth from Flavored Vapes

By NYC Mayor Eric Adams

NYC Mayor Eric Adams announces a lawsuit against companies selling disposable flavored e-cigarettes. Photo via nyc.gov.

One of my most sacred obligations as Mayor is keeping our children safe from harm—and one of the leading risks to their health is nicotine-based products, including cigarettes and e-cigarettes, also known as vapes.

We have made great progress, as a city and nation, keeping our youth safe from traditional cigarette smoking—bringing down youth smoking rates from 23 percent in 2000 to 2.3 percent  in 2021. But with the rise of vaping, nicotine addiction among middle and high school students is once again on the rise. Vapes are packed with nicotine, a toxic and highly addictive chemical that is particularly damaging to adolescent minds and bodies.

Worse still, companies are luring our children by advertising youth-friendly vape flavors such as “strawberry milkshake,” “cola,” and “pina colada.” This is illegal. And my administration will not stand by while companies put our children at risk.

Last week, we announced a major, federal lawsuit naming four distributors of flavored vape that are putting profits over people and hurting our young people. We are seeking a court order that will prevent these distributors from further delivering their dangerous flavored products into New York City. And we are asking them to pay for the harm they have already caused our children.

We will do whatever it takes to keep our children safe, and our lawsuit seeks to stop these four companies dead in their tracks.