S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4308
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             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:

   Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited  as  the  "tobacco
 product waste reduction act".
   §  2.  Legislative  findings.  The  legislature finds and declares the
 following:
   1. The use of tobacco products causes death and disease and  continues
 to be an urgent public health challenge. The United States Department of
 Health  and  Human  Services and the New York State Department of Health
 have reported the following:
   a. Tobacco-related illness is the leading cause of  preventable  death
 in  the  United  States,  accounting for about 480,000 deaths each year,
 including 28,200 New York adults.
   b. Annually in New York State, 10,600 youth become new  daily  smokers
 and  an  estimated  280,000 New York youth now alive will die early from
 smoking.
   c. Tobacco use can cause chronic lung disease, diabetes, eye  disease,
 rheumatoid arthritis, coronary heart disease, stroke, ectopic pregnancy,
 and  infertility,  in  addition  to  leukemia  and  cancer of the lungs,
 larynx, colon, liver,  esophagus,  pancreas,  kidney,  cervix,  bladder,
 stomach, and mouth.
   d.  Tobacco-related  health  care  annually  costs  New  Yorkers $10.4
 billion, including $3.3 billion in Medicaid expenses.
   2.  Cigarette filters, also known as butts, do not improve the  safety
 or  healthfulness  of cigarettes or other tobacco products, and research
 indicates that they likely increase the negative public  health  effects
 of tobacco products.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD03494-01-1

 A. 4308                             2
 
   a.  According  to  a 2014 Surgeon General's report, "evidence suggests
 that ventilated filters may have contributed to  higher  risks  of  lung
 cancer  by  enabling  smokers to inhale more vigorously, thereby drawing
 carcinogens contained in cigarette smoke more deeply into lung tissue."
   b.  The perception that filtered cigarettes are safer encourages smok-
 ing and leads to increased public  harm.  In  2010,  the  United  States
 joined  Canada and the EU in prohibiting the use of tobacco packaging or
 advertising using terms like "light," "mild," or "low," which convey the
 false impression that filters reduce risk.
   c. A 2017 study from the National Cancer  Institute  recommended  that
 "the  FDA should consider regulating {filter use}, up to and including a
 ban."
   3. Electronic cigarettes and similar products pose health hazards  and
 may  contribute  to youth smoking and reduced smoking cessation, regard-
 less of nicotine content.
   a. These products contain or produce  chemicals  other  than  nicotine
 known  to  be toxic, carcinogenic and causative of respiratory and heart
 distress.
   b. Emissions from these products may contain particulate matter, harm-
 ful to those exposed, including bystanders  involuntarily  exposed.  The
 United  States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has presented evidence
 of nicotine and other toxicants in exhaled electronic cigarette  aerosol
 and stated exposure should be limited.
   c. Nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes are the most common nico-
 tine  products  used  by  students,  with  three million middle and high
 school students using them since 2015, according to a study published in
 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
   d. The FDA has expressed concern that use of these  products,  whether
 or not they contain nicotine, will provide visual cues to youth and will
 renormalize  cigarette  smoking and use of tobacco products, undermining
 tobacco control  effort  and  contributing  to  smoking  initiation  and
 reduced cessation, particularly among youth.
   4.  Cigarette  butts are a plastic product that significantly contrib-
 utes to pollution in soil,  waterways,  and  beaches,  and  impacts  the
 health  of  fish  and  other wildlife, as well as the safety of the food
 supply for humans.
   a. Cigarette butts are the  most  collected  item  internationally  in
 beach  and  waterway cleanup programs. It is estimated that 5.6 trillion
 cigarette butts end up as  litter annually worldwide,  totaling  845,000
 tons  of waste. Plastic cigar tips, commonly sold and used with cigaril-
 los and small cigars, are also among the world's most littered objects.
   b. Cigarette butts have been described as  "the last socially accepted
 form of litter." A 2012 survey of cigarette  smokers  published  in  the
 International  Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found
 that 55.7 percent reported littering cigarette butts in the past month.
   c. Nearly all cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a  king
 of  plastic.  They  are not biodegradable. Instead, they break down into
 small particles that end up in waterways, in  the  bodies  of  fish  and
 other animals, and eventually in our food supply.
   d.  Even  if  filters  could  be made of biodegradable materials, they
 would still be rendered hazardous due to toxins accumulated in the smok-
 ing process, including arsenic, cadmium, toluene, nicotine,  and  ethyl-
 phenol, as well as bio-accumulated toxins from the environment.
   e.  Single-use electronic cigarettes and cartridges contain components
 such as lithium-ion batteries, as well as  toxic  chemicals  and  liquid
 nicotine  that together qualify them as electronic, toxic, and hazardous

 A. 4308                             3
 
 waste. A single user could discard hundreds of  single-use  e-cigarettes
 every   year.   Such  waste  is  inappropriate  for  standard  municipal
 collection.
   f.  The  cost  to  individual  municipalities of cleaning up cigarette
 butts and single-use electronic cigarettes can  run  into  the  tens  of
 millions of dollars.
   5.  Littered  cigarette  filters  and  liquid nicotine from single-use
 electronic cigarettes and cartridges pose a health threat to young chil-
 dren.
   a. In  2013,  the  American  Association  of  Poison  Control  Centers
 reported  receiving over 8,500 reports of children under age 13 poisoned
 by cigarettes, cigarette butts, and other tobacco products.
   b. Children poisoned by cigarette butts or liquid nicotine can experi-
 ence vomiting, nausea, lethargy, eye irritation, and gagging.
   c. Calls to American poison control centers concerning liquid nicotine
 exposures increased from one in February 2010 to 2,015 in February 2014,
 most of which involved children under the age of five,  according  to  a
 study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
   6.  Efforts to prevent litter of cigarette filters or single-use elec-
 tronic cigarettes by educating consumers have failed.
   7. By banning the sale of cigarettes with single-use filters, New York
 State will mitigate a source of plastic pollution while having  a  posi-
 tive impact on public health.
   §  3.  The  public  health  law  is  amended  by  adding a new section
 1399-mm-4 to read as follows:
   § 1399-MM-4. PROHIBITION ON CIGARETTES  UTILIZING  SINGLE-USE  FILTERS
 AND SINGLE-USE ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES. 1. AS USED IN THIS SECTION:
   (A)  "CIGARETTE"  MEANS A CIGARETTE AS DEFINED IN SECTION FOUR HUNDRED
 SEVENTY OF THE TAX LAW;
   (B) "FILTER" MEANS A POROUS ARTICLE, MASS,  OR  DEVICE  THROUGH  WHICH
 TOBACCO  SMOKE OR OTHER RELATED TOBACCO BY-PRODUCTS PASS FOR THE PURPOSE
 OF REMOVING OR APPEARING TO REMOVE TAR, NICOTINE, OR OTHER TOXINS;
   (C) "SINGLE-USE" MEANS DESIGNED OR GENERALLY RECOGNIZED BY THE  PUBLIC
 AS BEING DESIGNED FOR ONE-TIME USE;
   (D)  "PERSON" INCLUDES AN INDIVIDUAL, COPARTNERSHIP, LIMITED LIABILITY
 COMPANY, SOCIETY, ASSOCIATION, CORPORATION, JOINT STOCK COMPANY, AND ANY
 COMBINATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ALSO AN EXECUTOR, ADMINISTRATOR,  RECEIV-
 ER, TRUSTEE OR OTHER FIDUCIARY; AND
   (E)  "TOBACCO  PRODUCTS  DEALER" MEANS ANY PERSON OPERATING A PLACE OF
 BUSINESS WHEREIN TOBACCO  PRODUCTS,  HERBAL  CIGARETTES,  OR  ELECTRONIC
 CIGARETTES  ARE SOLD OR OFFERED FOR SALE, INCLUDING ANY WHOLESALE DEALER
 OR RETAILER DEALER AS DEFINED IN SECTION FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY OF THE TAX
 LAW, AND ANY VAPOR PRODUCTS DEALER AS DEFINED IN SECTION ELEVEN  HUNDRED
 EIGHTY OF THE TAX LAW.
   2. NO TOBACCO PRODUCTS DEALER SHALL SELL, PERMIT TO BE SOLD, OFFER FOR
 SALE OR DISPLAY TO ANOTHER PERSON IN THIS STATE, WHETHER IN PERSON OR BY
 MEANS  OF  ANY  PUBLIC  OR  PRIVATE METHOD OF SHIPMENT OR DELIVERY TO AN
 ADDRESS IN THIS STATE, ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
   (A) A CIGARETTE UTILIZING A SINGLE-USE FILTER MADE  OF  ANY  MATERIAL,
 INCLUDING  CELLULOSE ACETATE, ANY OTHER FIBROUS PLASTIC MATERIAL, OR ANY
 ORGANIC OR BIODEGRADABLE MATERIAL;
   (B) AN ATTACHABLE AND SINGLE-USE DEVICE MADE OF ANY MATERIAL MEANT  TO
 FACILITATE  MANUAL  MANIPULATION OR FILTRATION OF A CIGARETTE OR TOBACCO
 PRODUCT; OR
   (C) A SINGLE-USE ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE.

 A. 4308                             4
 
   FOR THE PURPOSES OF  THIS  SECTION,  ELECTRONIC  CIGARETTE  SHALL  NOT
 INCLUDE ANY PRODUCT APPROVED BY THE UNITED STATES FOOD AND DRUG ADMINIS-
 TRATION  AS  A  DRUG  OR  MEDICAL  DEVICE, OR MANUFACTURED AND DISPENSED
 PURSUANT TO TITLE FIVE-A OF ARTICLE THIRTY-THREE OF THIS CHAPTER.
   3.  ANY  PERSON  WHO  VIOLATES  ANY PROVISION OF THIS SECTION SHALL BE
 LIABLE FOR A CIVIL  PENALTY  OF  FIVE  HUNDRED  DOLLARS  FOR  THE  FIRST
 VIOLATION,  ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR THE SECOND VIOLATION, AND ONE THOU-
 SAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR  ANY  SUBSEQUENT  VIOLATION  IN  THE  SAME
 CALENDAR  YEAR.  FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE SALE OF ONE TO TWENTY
 ITEMS SPECIFIED IN PARAGRAPH (A), (B) OR (C) OF SUBDIVISION TWO OF  THIS
 SECTION CONSTITUTES A SINGLE VIOLATION.
   § 4. If any provision of this act, or any application of any provision
 of  this  act, is held to be invalid, that shall not affect the validity
 or effectiveness of any provision of this act, or of any other  applica-
 tion  of  any  provision  of this act, which can be given effect without
 that provision or application; and  to  that  end,  the  provisions  and
 applications of this act are severable.
   §  5. This act shall take effect on the first of January, 2023. Effec-
 tive immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any  rule  or
 regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective
 date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective
 date.