Michigan's Flavored E-Cigarette Ban Blocked by Judge for Now

(Bloomberg) -- Michigan’s ban on flavored e-cigarettes was temporarily blocked by a state judge, who ruled that the emergency provision short-circuited normal lawmaking procedures.

The ruling Tuesday is at least the second to temporarily bar enforcement of a state measure targeting e-cigarettes amid a rising epidemic of illnesses and deaths linked to vaping.

An emergency ban on flavored e-cigarettes instituted by New York state was blocked this month by a state appeals court following a challenge by the Vapor Technology Association, a Washington-based trade group. The association said the overwhelming majority of the illnesses are directly tied to black-market products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and not regulated nicotine products.

To contact the reporters on this story: Joel Rosenblatt in San Francisco at jrosenblatt@bloomberg.net;Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg

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