Electronic cigarettes sold by regulated and responsible businesses did not cause the deaths of nine people and inflict serious lung disease on 500 others, nearly 100 vape business owners and ex-smokers told a state panel that is weighing a proposal that would ban the sale of vape products in New Jersey.

The state instead should bar the sale of vaping products outside licensed e-cigarette shops, which are more committed to enforcing the law that limits the sale of nicotine products to adults 21 and older than conveniences stores and gas stations, the business owners said.

The Tuesday hearing of the task force Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Sept. 13 was dominated by pro-vape sentiment, like that offered by Patricia Fusaro of Wall, a retired respiratory therapist who used vaping to quit smoking.

“There is a difference between what is being vaped and what is leading children to have respiratory problems," Fusaro said at the hearing in Trenton. “Maybe everybody here in the room is a vaper, and we have been vaping for years. I don’t know any one of us has gotten sick or ill or experienced any type of negative issue from vaping. In fact, I hear people saying their lung and pulmonary system has been greatly improved.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised the public to avoid e-cigarettes as it undertakes " a complex investigation that spans many states, involves hundreds of cases, and involves a wide variety of substances and products."

“What we do know is that all cases have one thing in common: the use of e-cigarettes or vaping devices. Most of the cases reported using THC or both THC and nicotine. Some of the cases have reported using only nicotine,” according to the CDC website.

President Donald Trump’s administration has discussed looking into a federal ban on flavored e-liquids because they are an enticement for minors. But several ex-smokers said they would never have kicked tobacco had there not been a palatable alternative, like creme brulee and peanut butter.

Sheryl Agro, owner of Innovapes in Wrightstown, said out of the 124 adult customers who purchased nicotine products from her shop over the weekend, 116 requested fruit and candy-flavored products while only eight chose tobacco or menthol.

“Flavors are vital to the success of of people trying to quit cigarettes,” Agro said in an interview before the hearing. “They are key to keeping people tobacco free.”

If vape products were sold only in licensed businesses like hers, buyers would be more carefully screened for their age, Agro added, holding up an ID card-reading device that helps weed out minors.

Assistant Professor Kevin Schroth at the Center for Tobacco Studies at Rutgers School of Public Health said in an interview before his testimony that if the government was going to outlaw flavors, they should start with flavored tobacco products like menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

“They should not have a place in the market,” Schroth said.

The task force will make recommendations on how state government can respond to the growing concern over vaping in a report due by Oct. 3, Murphy said. The task force was created a day after state State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, announced his interest in making New Jersey the first state to ban all vaping products.

Representatives from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Mothers Against Vaping and other health organizations encouraged the state to take action to protect kids from e-cigarettes, noting that one in five high school students and one in 20 middle school students use the nicotine products.

Physicians “are very worried about adolescent brains,” said Jennifer Chuang, a pediatrician and executive board member for the New Jersey chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “This is a very vulnerable time in their lives, and they are very vulnerable to flavored e-cigarettes.”

But the majority of attendees at the hearing said the federal government’s message against vaping was misleading and “dangerous,” considering how lethal cigarettes are and how successful they say vaping has been as a smoking cessation tool.

Boston University School of Public Health Professor Michael Siegal said the day New Jersey enacts a ban on e-cigarettes “will be a great day for Philip Morris, the country’s number one cigarette manufacturer...Electronic cigarettes are the greatest threat to cigarette sales that ever existed."

As of Sept. 19, 530 people have suffered lung injuries associated with the use of e-cigarette or vaping products, and nine people have died, although no one from New Jersey, according to the CDC.

The state Health Department has confirmed nine vaping-related illnesses with 34 others under investigation. Patient ages range from 15 to 51, the department website says.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.

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