Health Highlights: Sept. 18, 2019

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

New York First State to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes

Using his executive powers, New York governor Andrew Cuomo is banning flavored e-cigarettes in the state.

The ban goes into effect immediately and makes New York the first state to institute such a regulation. Michigan will ban some of these products, but how the ban is to be structured hasn’t been finalized, according to the Associated Press.

The Public Health and Health Planning Council voted to ban all flavored vaping products except menthol and tobacco flavors.

Stores have two weeks to clear their shelves of these products.

The ban is a reaction to the popularity of flavored e-cigarettes among teens. The state health department says the nearly 40% of high school seniors and 27% of high school students in the state use e-cigarettes, the AP reports.

The ban lasts 90 days and will have to be reinstated if the legislature hasn’t passed bill to permanently ban these products.

The New York legislation comes in the midst of an outbreak of vaping-linked lung illnesses across multiple states. This week, a California man became the seventh person reported to die from a virulent lung illness brought on by using e-cigarettes.

This 40-year-old is the second to die in California and is added to other fatalities from Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Oregon, CNN reported.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, so far 380 people in 36 states have come down with the vaping-related lung sickness. On Monday, the agency activated an Emergency Operations Center to investigate these illnesses.

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Journalist Cokie Roberts Dies of Breast Cancer at 75

Long time journalist Cokie Roberts has died at age 75 from complications of breast cancer.

Recently she admitted her struggles with the disease, according to ABC News.

“Over the summer, I have had some health issues which required treatment that caused weight loss. I am doing fine,” she said in a statement after appearing on the ABC news program This Week.

She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, which was successfully treated. After her diagnosis, Roberts urged women to have regular mammograms.

“Fortunately, in the course of my efforts to inform others about the disease, I learned about the benefits of early detection,” The Washington Post reported at the time. “Now I am the beneficiary of that information.”

Roberts is best known for three decades of work at National Public Radio and ABC News. She had hoped to cover the 2020 election, ABC News reported.

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