US: Time to Expand Ban to E-cigs

Source from:  Fosters.com 02/03/2016

On Feb. 10, there is a public hearing planned by the Dover City Council on a proposal to ban electronic cigarettes where conventional cigarettes already are prohibited.

We think this is a logical extension of the battle against tobacco and for protecting the public's health.

Residents will weigh in at the hearing, and we hope they will agree.

Conventional smoking already is banned in Dover at Henry Law Park, on school grounds and athletic fields, on McConnell Center grounds and at the Dover Public Library. It is not a big deal to include users of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, in this ban and makes a lot of sense.

These alternatives to traditional smoking heat flavored liquid made of propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerin into a vapor that is inhaled. The liquid is laced with nicotine so when a user ingests the vapor it feeds their tobacco craving.

Anyone who has seen e-cigarettes in use knows the vapor is exhaled into the air around them.

The growth of the e-cigarette industry attests to their effectiveness. Millions of Americans have been able to give up traditional smoking because of them and many eventually have been able to wean themselves off nicotine entirely.

We applaud this given tobacco smoke's known health impacts and costs to society in medical care and diminished quality of life.

But there are many places a smoker can enjoy e-cigarettes without imposing their habit on others at public places. The existing ban on smoking targets family- and child-intensive areas, such as Henry Law Park, which makes sense.

The e-cigarette industry has claimed their products are 99 percent less harmful than traditional tobacco smoke. Other research is not so clear, with some critics suggesting the effects from heating the base liquid and its flavoring are unknown.

Why risk any harm to young lungs, indeed the lungs of anyone in proximity to e-cigarette users? Extending the ban already in place to these vapor products is logical.

They can ingest them freely in most other areas, their vehicles or their homes. It just makes sense that they shouldn't be allowed to possibly harm others at public places.

There is another argument from the industry and the smoking public, that society keeps squeezing smokers with these public place bans and hefty taxes. Squeezing them to switch to safer alternatives such as e-cigarettes - only to now be going after them as well. The argument is the expansion punishes those making an effort to quit.

This surfaced recently during a national debate about the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development's threat to ban e-cigarettes in public housing. Some say these mostly poor and disproportionately disabled residents will have the hardest time with such a ban.

It is a dilemma when applied to public housing and people using legal products inside their homes. But not so when dealing with public spaces as is the case here in Dover.

As is the case with regular smoking in such spots, first offenders would be subject to a $50 fine, with each subsequent offense costing up to $100.

The ordinance is sponsored by Mayor Karen Weston at the request of Dover Youth to Youth. The youth group has done good work in the past raising awareness about tobacco and alcohol use and their dangers. It acted on the e-cigarette issue after being approached by Dover Youth Soccer.

The soccer players obviously think there is an issue at their fields. This is reason enough to support expanding the ban. Enditem