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New Jersey on Thursday moved closer to banning flavored vaping products amid a national health crisis that continues to claim lives.

The legislation cleared state Senate and Assembly committees at the Statehouse in Trenton, and will now go to full house votes on Monday, the final day of the two-year legislative session.

In addition to the flavor ban, the committees approved a bill that would levy harsher penalties on New Jersey shops caught selling e-cigarettes to minors and others that focused on licensing and tax revenue.

If passed, Gov. Phil Murphy would need to sign the measures into law. The flavor ban would take effect 90 days later, a short time-frame some argue leaves vape shops without enough time to adapt.

Lawmakers across the country began taking action to ban or curtail e-cigarettes last summer, when a mysterious lung illness associated with vaping spurred national alarm. Since then, 2,602 have been hospitalized in all 50 states, and 57 people ultimately died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Murphy, a Democrat, called last year to bar flavored vaping devices and products in the state as the national health crisis unfolded.

Critics say flavored e-cigarettes attract young people, turning a new generation into smokers. But others say vaping has helped many former cigarette smokers kick that habit, and has bolstered small businesses. Without flavors, though, the small vape shop owners say they will lose nearly all of their customers.

And many argue the ban is a misguided approach to the problem, coming after legal, tax-paying small businesses instead of the black market or big tobacco.

The Senate appropriations committee approved a bill (S3265) that would bar vendors from selling and distributing flavored e-cigarettes in New Jersey.

The measure initially included a ban on menthol cigarettes, but state Senate President Stephen Sweeney said they removed it for now, and plan to bring it up as part of a budget discussion later this year.

“We separated it so we could at least move something now,” Sweeney, D-Gloucester, told NJ Advance Media, noting the concerns around the vaping crisis.

“Would I have like to have gotten more done now? Yes,” Sweeney continued. “Sometimes, you’ve got to throw 20-yard passes until you get into the end zone.”

Danish Iqbal, president of the New Jersey Vapor Rights Coalition, said if passed, the bill would immediately affect 250 businesses that employ nearly 4,000 people. He asked the crowd gathered to raise their hands if the proposed law would shutter their stores, and dozens of arms shot up.

“What are these people going to do?” he asked.

Several vape shop owners gave tearful, passionate testimony, saying they would have to fire employees and declare bankruptcy.

Sheryl Agro, owner of InnoVapes in Wrightstown, said she has operated her business for five years. At 50, she wonders who would hire her.

“There are so many amendments that would achieve protecting the youth without putting hundreds upon hundreds out of business," she said. “It will push our customers over the bridge, where it’s not going to be banned.”

Some critics don’t think the bill does enough. Corinne Orlando, director of government relations at the American Heart Association, said she was encouraged by the bill, but hoped to see a more aggressive tax and a ban on all flavors.

Following the testimony, the committee took a break for more than two hours as the bill’s sponsors discussed it. After the vote, state Sens. Sandra Cunningham, D-Hudson, and Linda Greenstein, D-Middlesex, said they voted yes in committee but could choose differently in the full Senate on Monday.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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