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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

A Cigarette By Any Other Name: Safety Concerns in NY

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Monday, March 10, 2014   

NEW YORK - Electronic cigarettes - also known as e-hookahs, hookah pens and vape pipes - are growing in popularity in New York. Celebrities in advertisements tout them as a safer alternative to smoking. However, experts warn there is not enough science to back up those claims. It's estimated that more than 250 different e-cigarette brands are for sale in the U.S. today.

Since they are unregulated, manufacturers are not being held accountable for potential health risks, said Ed Miller, vice president for public policy, American Lung Association. Lawmakers in Albany are considering a ban on sales to minors, and Miller said they have good examples to follow.

"New York City has been the real leader, as has Suffolk County," Miller said, "so you've got some of the larger areas of the state that treat these products just like tobacco products."

The Food and Drug Administration has proposed a rule that would allow the agency to regulate e-cigarettes as it does tobacco products.

A tobacco cigarette contains thousands of chemicals, dozens of which are carcinogenic. While e-cigarettes may be considered less harmful, Miller said there is little research about the effects of the chemicals in them.

"There's glycol, which is a substance that they use in some of these, but there's no ingredient label on these and they're manufactured, many of them, all over the world," he explained.

Miller added that he hopes lawmakers in Albany decide to treat e-cigarettes like other tobacco products.




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