Heated talk on vaping law

Vaping will continue in Rockville Centre, for now.

The village postponed deciding on a bill that would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes after a public hearing at its Oct. 6 Village Hall meeting.

For the newly opened Clean Vapor Rockville Centre, which sells e-cigarettes and associated products, this is a reprieve. In August, the village served the store with a stop work order, citing Rockville Centre’s ban on hookah bars. The village eventually withdrew the order, and Clean Vapor has continued operating at its Sunrise Highway location (although it was issued another stop work order for altering a retail space without a permit).

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that convert liquid into a vapor that users inhale — an activity often called “vaping.” There are a wide variety of e-cigarette liquid flavors, and some are nicotine-free. The minimum age for buying either e-cigarettes or regular cigarettes in Nassau County is 19.

At the hearing, Clean Vapor’s attorney, John Turano, read a letter from Dr. Andrew Hararah, who practices across the street from Clean Vapor Lindenhurst. (There are four Clean Vapor stores on Long Island.) Hararah wrote that Clean Vapor had helped his patients quit smoking by converting them to e-cigarettes.

Turano also said that Clean Vapor had filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see if the village had conducted any studies on the effects of e-cigarettes or e-cigarette stores, but the village had not yet responded.

Village Attorney A. Thomas Levin said that the village is not required to undertake any such studies when a law is adopted. “If the law should be challenged after its adoption, the village can demonstrate any rational basis to adopt the law,” Levin explained. “As long as it is within their authority … and then whether it’s reasonable or rational.”