New York
Vape businesses in the Big Apple receive fines for breaking the law.
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by Dave Cross
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The companies involved were Rocket Sheep, Henley Vaporium, ECig Distributors Inc and Beyond Vape. The four face fines totalling $100,000 (£64,000) for providing e-liquid in non-compliant packaging. Henley and Beyond Vape operate out of New York whereas the other two have products distributed to the city.
Beyond Vape acted immediately to place a notice on their website offering to exchange or refund any bottle sent out after the law came into effect with one conforming to the legislation. It is a positive move not reflected by the other offenders. Rocket Sheep products are still widely available in the old style bottles while both Henley and ECD are selling CRFT juice with non-compliant caps.
A representative from Eric Schneiderman’s office, the Attorney General for New York, said that part of the judicial ruling included the removal of all liquid nicotine in offending packaging from stores and distributors immediately. It also compels them to introduce a documented testing procedure for the bottles and caps. The four companies are also obligated to place all employees into a training program instructing them on correct packaging regulations and selling procedures.
The law was brought into effect last year following the death in New York State of an 18-month old child after it swallowed the contents of a relation’s bottle. Critics have long held that packaging should not be able to be opened by children – a notion supported by most vapers in the UK.
Schneiderman commented: “I urge the federal government to do their part by requiring child-resistant packaging for these products nationwide,” although he went on to comment about advertising, marketing and flavours. He added that the investigation has not ended and that his office would be looking for other companies flagrantly operating without regard for the law. “We're sending a message to this rapidly growing industry…if you violate state law, we will come after you."
Some have taken the opportunity presented by the court case to ram home their personal agendas. Michael Davoli, representing the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, conflated the vaping industry with Big Tobacco once again: “The current controversy with e-cigarettes is nothing new, and e-cigarette retailers are using the same selling tactics cigarette retailers used 50 years ago. They lied, they were wrong, and lives were lost.” An occasion that would not have presented itself to him had juice makers adopted a common-sense approach to caps.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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