As mystery continues to swirl around a rash of severe lung illnesses affecting hundreds of electronic cigarette users across the nation, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Thursday he’s creating a task force to examine how New Jersey’s government can respond to the growing concern over vaping.
Murphy also urged Garden State residents to stop vaping completely until further notice — at least until investigations into the outbreak are finished.
“Many people have no idea what chemicals their vape pen is putting into their bodies,” the Democratic governor said during a news conference at his office in Trenton. “At this moment, there is no safe vape."
“The only safe alternative to smoking is not smoking. Period. Full stop," Murphy said, surrounded by state lawmakers and top members of his cabinet.
Murphy did not go as far as supporting banning flavored electronic cigarettes or a complete ban on all vaping products in New Jersey, as state Senate President Stephen Sweeney is seeking.
Instead, the governor signed an executive order to create a multi-department task force to identify ways to protect New Jerseyans from any ill effects of vaping — especially kids and young adults, with whom e-cigarettes are popular.
The panel will issue its initial findings and recommendations by Oct. 3, Murphy said.
That could lead to some form of executive action from Murphy’s administration or new proposed laws that the Democratic-controlled state Legislature will consider.
Acting state Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli, who will head the task force, called vaping an “urgent health hazard facing primarily our youth.”
Proponents of vaping — in which e-cigarettes turn liquid with some nicotine and other chemicals into vapor — say it’s healthier than smoking and has helped thousands quit smoking.
But more than 450 illnesses associated with vaping have recently been reported in 33 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Six people have died. The CDC has not yet identified a specific cause for the outbreak, including whether black-market or legal vaping products are to blame.
Persichilli said the New Jersey Health Department has confirmed three cases and is investigating 19 others of severe lung illness in people who vape since early August. None of the deaths occurred in New Jersey.
Persichilli said there have been no confirmed cases from products sold at New Jersey’s medical marijuana dispensaries. She said the state has directed the dispensaries to actively education patients about CDC warnings.
At the same time, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced Thursday the state’s division of consumer affairs is seeking information from 15 e-cigarette companies, including industry leader JUUL.
Grewal said one focus will be on whether these companies are directly marketing these products to kids, which he argued would violate state consumer laws.
“At a time when we are fighting tooth and nail against a raging opioid epidemic, we simply cannot allow another generation of young people to fall prey to another addiction,” Grewal said.
The announcements came one day after Sweeney, New Jersey’s most powerful state lawmaker, said he’s planning legislation that would phase in a statewide ban on all vaping in the state — something no other state has done or proposed.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday his administration would propose rules that would create a nationwide ban on flavored electronic cigarettes, which are extremely popular among children and young adults.
Murphy didn’t go that far Thursday, though he and other New Jersey lawmakers have said in recent days they’d at least consider supporting a statewide ban on flavored e-cigarettes. Those come in flavors like bubblegum and strawberry, and officials say that lures children to try vaping.
Other states are considering similar moves.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently used executive authority to ban flavored e-cigarettes in her state. It’s unclear whether Murphy has the authority to institute something similar in New Jersey.
Sweeney, D-Gloucester, appeared with Murphy on Thursday and said the task force a good step. But he stressed he’s still moving forward his plans for a ban.
“This is a real epidemic,” the Senate president said. “It’s not getting better. It’s getting worse.”
In the meantime, Sweeney said, he’s calling on New Jersey businesses to stop selling black-market vaping products.
There are more than 250 vape shops in the state, according to the New Jersey Vapor Rights Coalition.
New Jersey Vapor Right Coalition President Danish Iqbal said Wednesday that public officials are attacking the legitimate vaping industry when the majority of people who have gotten sick used black-market products containing the active ingredient of marijuana, THC.
“We think that all of this is misguided and based on what we consider to be a hysteria,” Iqbal said.
Vaping rose 78 percent among high school students and 48 percent among middle school students from 2017 to 2018, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
A 2018 National Academy of Medicine report found evidence that youth who used e-cigarettes were more likely to take up tobacco products, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.
Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.
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