E-cigs kill Manhattan man, the 2nd in city
ALBANY — A Manhattan man has become the second New Yorker to die from a respiratory illness associated with vaping, officials said Wednesday.
The man, in his 30s, had a “reported history of using e-cigarettes and vape products,” according to Gov. Cuomo.
“[The Department of Health] is continuing its robust investigation into the cause of these illnesses, but in the meantime our message on vaping remains unchanged: If you don’t know what you’re smoking, don’t smoke it,” the governor said.
It was not immediately clear where the man was being treated for his condition.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state agencies have reported 2,172 lung injury cases and 43 deaths linked to vaping nationwide. More than 180 people have been hospitalized in New York alone, according to officials.
The first death in the state linked to vaping was reported last month when a 17-year-old from the Bronx died at Montefiore Hospital on Oct. 4 after dealing with a respiratory illness.
Sen. Brad Hoylman (DManhattan), who has sponsored legislation to ban all flavored vaping products and to ban all flavored tobacco products, called vaping “a public health crisis.”
“Today’s news that a Manhattan resident died of vaping-related illness is the latest reminder that these products are unsafe, irresponsible and potentially fatal,” he said.
A statewide emergency ban on flavored vape products, which Cuomo and other officials blame for luring kids into using the products, has been delayed by a state court amid a legal challenge.
The CDC has made clear that the majority of cases have been related to products containing THC with a linkage to Vitamin E acetate.
The vape products, the agency said, “were acquired from informal sources such as friends or illicit in-person and online dealers.”
Still, lawmakers have focused on stopping the sale of nicotine products and flavored e-cigs.
Attorney General Letitia James announced a lawsuit Tuesday alleging vape giant Juul illegally marketed flavored e-cigarettes to teens, igniting the vaping-related health crisis.
The lawsuit claims the company launched a coordinated marketing campaign aimed at hooking kids and downplayed the health risks of the high-nicotine products.
Cuomo, meanwhile, took a shot at President Trump, who backtracked on a plan to ban the sale of flavored vape products.
“We are taking every step possible to combat this crisis on the state level, but the federal government needs to take action now,” Cuomo said. “This is Big Tobacco all over again. Make no mistake: This is a public health crisis and until our ‘leaders’ in Washington do something to stop it, more lives will be lost.”
Mayor de Blasio agreed, calling for state and federal action.
“I think we now have constantly horrible, painful evidence that vaping is dangerous and needs to be quickly and aggressively limited,” he said.
A Harlem mother of two who was beaten and left unconscious on the street last month died eight days later — and now cops are looking for her on-againoff-again boyfriend who they believe delivered the fatal blows, police and relatives said Wednesday.
Renee Campbell, 31, was found unconscious and sprawled out on W. 127th St. near Lenox Ave., about 9:30 p.m. Oct. 2. Medics rushed her to Harlem
Hospital, where she died on Oct. 8.
She was on life support until her death, officials and relatives said. The city medical examiner has deemed her death a homicide.
“We thought she was going to pull through,” Campbell’s shattered mother, Aliasha Person, who is taking care of the victim’s 4-year-old daughter, London, and 8-year-old son, Bishop, told the Daily News Wednesday.
“We’re coping, [but] every day is different,” Person said. “She was an amazing, spectacular, wonderful mother. She loved the hell out of her kids. That was her life right there.”
“We have those days where [the children] they’re like, ‘I just want my mother,’ ” she said. “What can you say to that? There’s no explaining it.”
Campbell was punched repeatedly in the face before landing on the sidewalk outside the Harlem Ale House, police said.
“I saw when she fell. I heard it too. That sounded like a goddamn bomb. That’s how hard she fell,” a Harlem Ale House employ