Dear Jon Update: E-cigarettes still largely allowed

They’re fast becoming one of the biggest public health concerns, electronic-cigarettes. As more and more people take up using this tobacco alternative, some cities are pushing back. So where can you use e-cigarettes? At least two cities here on the Central Coast say “not in our public places.”

I received this question anonymously, “Dear Jon, is it legal to smoke e-cigarettes in restaurants, bars or outside patios?

The answer is, yes and no.

Update 1.28.15: The city of Santa Cruz has added e-cigarettes to their tobacco ban ordinance. And now the City of Watsonville has followed suit. But as of yet no other Central Coast city has done that.

A new California Department of Public Health report highlights these findings Health Advisory :

Exposure to nicotine during adolescence can harm brain development.
E-cigarettes do not emit a harmless water vapor, but an aerosol that has been found to contain at least 10 chemicals that are on California’s Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.
E-cigarettes are not FDA-approved cessation aids.
Between 2011 and 2013, e-cigarette advertising jumped more than 1,200 percent and used marketing tactics to appeal to youth. Those tactics include the use of cartoon characters which is prohibited in traditional cigarette advertising.

E-cigarettes, there’s no tobacco hence no smoke, but a battery powers the unit to heat the liquid laced with nicotine and the user inhales and exhales the vapor. For many, they’re an attractive alternative to real tobacco.

Tobacco is banned in restaurants and bars and workplaces in California, but as of yet, there’s no state policy on e-cigarettes. It is on the radar of lawmakers as a new Senate bill my Mark Leno seeks to ban E-Cigarettes in public places.

But, like the plastic bag bans popping up in cities and counties in the state, cities currently are left in the position of considering possible controls on usage in public.

But Bob Godshall, Executive Director for Smokefree Pennsylvania, says mounting evidence ways in on the side of E-cigarettes including these numbers:

– are 99% (+/-1%) less hazardous than cigarettes,
– have never been known to cause any disease,
– are consumed almost exclusively (i.e. >99%) by smokers and ex-smokers who
quit by switching to e-cigs,
– have replaced more than 1 Billion packs of cigarettes in the US in the past five years (that otherwise would have been purchased and smoked if not for e-cigs),
– have helped several million smokers in the US quit smoking and/or sharply reduce cigarette consumption,
– are more effective than FDA approved nicotine gums, lozenges, patches
and inhalers for smoking cessation and reducing cigarette consumption,
– pose fewer risks than FDA approved Verenicline (Chantix),
– pose no harm to nonusers,
– have never been found to create nicotine dependence in any nonsmoker (youth
or adult),
– have never been known to precede cigarette smoking in any daily smoker,
– have never poisoned anyone (youth or adult), and
– have further denormalized cigarette smoking, as youth and adult smoking rates have declined every year since 2008 when e-cig sales began to skyrocket.

Yet as time goes by more and more research on the impacts of using the devices is surfacing. Monterey County’s Public Health Director Dr. Edward Moreno tells me he’s concerned that e-cigarette’s may be turning back the clock on public health.

“It’s taken decades for California businesses to set a new culture here, a culture in which people have the privilege to breathe smoke free air while shopping or dining,” says Moreno, “Businesses that allow e-cigarettes on their property are allowing or maybe allowing that culture to shift.

Moreno points to tobacco as an example of where we are with regard to understanding the impacts of e-cigarettes. He says 50 to 60 years ago the tobacco industry pushed their products on adults and youth. Then when research showed the devastating effects of tobacco on public health we started to see tobacco bans being put in place.

Says Moreno, “Even if we don’t know if it’s harmful yet, the concern I have is that it may, it may increase the number of people in California in the future who will become tobacco users.”

Currently Santa Cruz is the only Central Coast city that has included e-cigarettes in their public tobacco ban policy. Seaside has discussed this issue; Salinas, Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel have no policy. Watsonville is looking at keeping the devices out of the hands of children, but no policy yet.

Some businesses and restaurants are making their own call, ahead of any city ordinance, and adding verbiage such as “including e-cigarettes” on signs that remind patrons of their ‘no smoking’ policy.

Moreno believes tolerance of e-cigarettes could be turning back the clock on public health, “So allowing people to have something that looks like a cigarette and has vapor emitting from it publically and they are not prohibited, may have a detrimental impact on the culture of health that we’ve actually been able to achieve here in California.”

Moreno says there needs to be more research on the impacts of e-cigarettes and second-hand vapor. He points to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study from 2011 to 2013 that has poisonings occurring from e-cigarettes doubling and tripling year to year in a given month.

Godshall is not buying the warnings from the CDPH or Moreno, “By grossly misrepresenting the scientific and empirical evidence on e-cigs, by exaggerating the negligible, hypothetical and disproved risks of e-cigs, by equating vaping with smoking, and by falsely claiming e-cigs could increase smoking, Moreno is committing public health malpractice and is actually lobbying to protect cigarettes, which kill 500,000 Americans annually, compared to 0 deaths caused by e-cigs.”

E-cigarette users may find there ‘vaping’ lounges will come under fire in the future as this debate ratchets up and as communities or the state decides what to do.

It’s easy to contact me with your question, email me at ‘DearJon@KionRightNow.com.’ Or on social media, ‘JonKBrent’ on Facebook and Twitter.