STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4308 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 1, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. GRIFFIN -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the tobacco product waste reduction act The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "tobacco 2 product waste reduction act". 3 § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares the 4 following: 5 1. The use of tobacco products causes death and disease and continues 6 to be an urgent public health challenge. The United States Department of 7 Health and Human Services and the New York State Department of Health 8 have reported the following: 9 a. Tobacco-related illness is the leading cause of preventable death 10 in the United States, accounting for about 480,000 deaths each year, 11 including 28,200 New York adults. 12 b. Annually in New York State, 10,600 youth become new daily smokers 13 and an estimated 280,000 New York youth now alive will die early from 14 smoking. 15 c. Tobacco use can cause chronic lung disease, diabetes, eye disease, 16 rheumatoid arthritis, coronary heart disease, stroke, ectopic pregnancy, 17 and infertility, in addition to leukemia and cancer of the lungs, 18 larynx, colon, liver, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, cervix, bladder, 19 stomach, and mouth. 20 d. Tobacco-related health care annually costs New Yorkers $10.4 21 billion, including $3.3 billion in Medicaid expenses. 22 2. Cigarette filters, also known as butts, do not improve the safety 23 or healthfulness of cigarettes or other tobacco products, and research 24 indicates that they likely increase the negative public health effects 25 of tobacco products. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03494-01-1A. 4308 2 1 a. According to a 2014 Surgeon General's report, "evidence suggests 2 that ventilated filters may have contributed to higher risks of lung 3 cancer by enabling smokers to inhale more vigorously, thereby drawing 4 carcinogens contained in cigarette smoke more deeply into lung tissue." 5 b. The perception that filtered cigarettes are safer encourages smok- 6 ing and leads to increased public harm. In 2010, the United States 7 joined Canada and the EU in prohibiting the use of tobacco packaging or 8 advertising using terms like "light," "mild," or "low," which convey the 9 false impression that filters reduce risk. 10 c. A 2017 study from the National Cancer Institute recommended that 11 "the FDA should consider regulating {filter use}, up to and including a 12 ban." 13 3. Electronic cigarettes and similar products pose health hazards and 14 may contribute to youth smoking and reduced smoking cessation, regard- 15 less of nicotine content. 16 a. These products contain or produce chemicals other than nicotine 17 known to be toxic, carcinogenic and causative of respiratory and heart 18 distress. 19 b. Emissions from these products may contain particulate matter, harm- 20 ful to those exposed, including bystanders involuntarily exposed. The 21 United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has presented evidence 22 of nicotine and other toxicants in exhaled electronic cigarette aerosol 23 and stated exposure should be limited. 24 c. Nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes are the most common nico- 25 tine products used by students, with three million middle and high 26 school students using them since 2015, according to a study published in 27 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 28 d. The FDA has expressed concern that use of these products, whether 29 or not they contain nicotine, will provide visual cues to youth and will 30 renormalize cigarette smoking and use of tobacco products, undermining 31 tobacco control effort and contributing to smoking initiation and 32 reduced cessation, particularly among youth. 33 4. Cigarette butts are a plastic product that significantly contrib- 34 utes to pollution in soil, waterways, and beaches, and impacts the 35 health of fish and other wildlife, as well as the safety of the food 36 supply for humans. 37 a. Cigarette butts are the most collected item internationally in 38 beach and waterway cleanup programs. It is estimated that 5.6 trillion 39 cigarette butts end up as litter annually worldwide, totaling 845,000 40 tons of waste. Plastic cigar tips, commonly sold and used with cigaril- 41 los and small cigars, are also among the world's most littered objects. 42 b. Cigarette butts have been described as "the last socially accepted 43 form of litter." A 2012 survey of cigarette smokers published in the 44 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found 45 that 55.7 percent reported littering cigarette butts in the past month. 46 c. Nearly all cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a king 47 of plastic. They are not biodegradable. Instead, they break down into 48 small particles that end up in waterways, in the bodies of fish and 49 other animals, and eventually in our food supply. 50 d. Even if filters could be made of biodegradable materials, they 51 would still be rendered hazardous due to toxins accumulated in the smok- 52 ing process, including arsenic, cadmium, toluene, nicotine, and ethyl- 53 phenol, as well as bio-accumulated toxins from the environment. 54 e. Single-use electronic cigarettes and cartridges contain components 55 such as lithium-ion batteries, as well as toxic chemicals and liquid 56 nicotine that together qualify them as electronic, toxic, and hazardousA. 4308 3 1 waste. A single user could discard hundreds of single-use e-cigarettes 2 every year. Such waste is inappropriate for standard municipal 3 collection. 4 f. The cost to individual municipalities of cleaning up cigarette 5 butts and single-use electronic cigarettes can run into the tens of 6 millions of dollars. 7 5. Littered cigarette filters and liquid nicotine from single-use 8 electronic cigarettes and cartridges pose a health threat to young chil- 9 dren. 10 a. In 2013, the American Association of Poison Control Centers 11 reported receiving over 8,500 reports of children under age 13 poisoned 12 by cigarettes, cigarette butts, and other tobacco products. 13 b. Children poisoned by cigarette butts or liquid nicotine can experi- 14 ence vomiting, nausea, lethargy, eye irritation, and gagging. 15 c. Calls to American poison control centers concerning liquid nicotine 16 exposures increased from one in February 2010 to 2,015 in February 2014, 17 most of which involved children under the age of five, according to a 18 study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 19 6. Efforts to prevent litter of cigarette filters or single-use elec- 20 tronic cigarettes by educating consumers have failed. 21 7. By banning the sale of cigarettes with single-use filters, New York 22 State will mitigate a source of plastic pollution while having a posi- 23 tive impact on public health. 24 § 3. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 25 1399-mm-4 to read as follows: 26 § 1399-mm-4. Prohibition on cigarettes utilizing single-use filters 27 and single-use electronic cigarettes. 1. As used in this section: 28 (a) "cigarette" means a cigarette as defined in section four hundred 29 seventy of the tax law; 30 (b) "filter" means a porous article, mass, or device through which 31 tobacco smoke or other related tobacco by-products pass for the purpose 32 of removing or appearing to remove tar, nicotine, or other toxins; 33 (c) "single-use" means designed or generally recognized by the public 34 as being designed for one-time use; 35 (d) "person" includes an individual, copartnership, limited liability 36 company, society, association, corporation, joint stock company, and any 37 combination of individuals and also an executor, administrator, receiv- 38 er, trustee or other fiduciary; and 39 (e) "tobacco products dealer" means any person operating a place of 40 business wherein tobacco products, herbal cigarettes, or electronic 41 cigarettes are sold or offered for sale, including any wholesale dealer 42 or retailer dealer as defined in section four hundred seventy of the tax 43 law, and any vapor products dealer as defined in section eleven hundred 44 eighty of the tax law. 45 2. No tobacco products dealer shall sell, permit to be sold, offer for 46 sale or display to another person in this state, whether in person or by 47 means of any public or private method of shipment or delivery to an 48 address in this state, any of the following: 49 (a) a cigarette utilizing a single-use filter made of any material, 50 including cellulose acetate, any other fibrous plastic material, or any 51 organic or biodegradable material; 52 (b) an attachable and single-use device made of any material meant to 53 facilitate manual manipulation or filtration of a cigarette or tobacco 54 product; or 55 (c) a single-use electronic cigarette.A. 4308 4 1 For the purposes of this section, electronic cigarette shall not 2 include any product approved by the United States food and drug adminis- 3 tration as a drug or medical device, or manufactured and dispensed 4 pursuant to title five-A of article thirty-three of this chapter. 5 3. Any person who violates any provision of this section shall be 6 liable for a civil penalty of five hundred dollars for the first 7 violation, one thousand dollars for the second violation, and one thou- 8 sand five hundred dollars for any subsequent violation in the same 9 calendar year. For purposes of this section, the sale of one to twenty 10 items specified in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of subdivision two of this 11 section constitutes a single violation. 12 § 4. If any provision of this act, or any application of any provision 13 of this act, is held to be invalid, that shall not affect the validity 14 or effectiveness of any provision of this act, or of any other applica- 15 tion of any provision of this act, which can be given effect without 16 that provision or application; and to that end, the provisions and 17 applications of this act are severable. 18 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of January, 2023. Effec- 19 tive immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or 20 regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective 21 date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective 22 date.