E-Cigarettes: How Long Before San Francisco Bans Them?

By Erin Sherbert Mon., Apr. 25 2011 at 4:05 PM

e-addictions can be regulated, too

It wasn't enough to restrict smokers so much so that about the only place they can light up now is in the path of oncoming traffic. San Francisco is now looking at tossing out electronic smokers from their local bars.

The FDA ruled today that e-cigarettes are in fact tobacco products, making it that much easier for local politicians to justify a blanket restriction on e-smokers.

Health officials in San Francisco have already talked about the dangers of these quasicigarettes; they look, taste, and feel like the real deal. And the fact that you can still get a buzz from the nicotine inside them is fueling the fire, so to speak.
Last week, Tomas Aragon, health inspector with the San Francisco Public Health Department, told reporters that the e-cigarette, which is battery operated, sends the wrong message to young people about smoking.

E-cigarettes have been deemed healthier alternatives to smoking because they have smaller traces of nicotine and fewer chemicals than traditional cigarettes. They use heat to vaporize glycerin, giving smokers a similar sensation of puffing away on a real cigarette.

Yet the FDA ruled today that they can be regulated as tobacco products, since they still contain nicotine and derive from tobacco.

Local health leaders told SF Weekly that they want the city's smoking ordinance to cover e-cigarettes as well, meaning e-smokers would not be able to light up at bars, restaurants, or in line at the ATM. They plan to take the proposal to the Health Commission next month.

"The big concern is the ability for people to become addicted to nicotine, and also to be smoking in an environment where smoking is not permitted," Aragon told KTVU last week.

But Ray Story, CEO of the Tobacco, Vapor, Electronic Cigarette Association, told SF Weekly that putting e-smokers in the same section as real smokers is just ignorant. It would be like asking people who are chewing nicotine gum to sit in the smoking section, he says.

"They'd be pushed to specific places [with smokers] so now they would be subject to second-hand smoke," he says. "They will have to show that this product emits something to ban it."

This sounds like a good fight for Supervisor Eric Mar.

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Shala Ohms

The FDA ruling that places e-cigarettes under the classification of tobacco products did not come as a surprise. The question as to when a ban for said devices will be enacted, meanwhile, is a cause for concern. Devices like this can surely come in handy for people who are determined to erase their habit of smoking.

electronic cigarettes

E-cigarettes become very popular these days. There are many advantages which e-cigs have from which you can benefit too. They are not made with any of the harmful substances with which the regular tobacco cigarettes are made. But it criticized also because it works with the use of a rechargeable battery.

vehicle tracking devices

How long .....

Micalaryas Micalaryas

It wasn't abundant to bind smokers so abundant so that about the alone abode they can ablaze up now is in the aisle of advancing traffic. San Francisco is now searching at casting out electronic smokers from their bounded bars.

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yahoo-4RF53RTESGPIK7M3SYJBVSIQIY

already got banned here,. so now I buy electronic cigarettes,. its just the best way to go,.

Electronic Cigarette

This e cigarette is an electronic device that is just like a cigarette but it contains no tobacco, no smoke, no tar, and it never has to be lit...http://www.ecigator.com

Doccarrie

E cigarettes are a nucitune deliverfy system, just like the nicotine patch and nicotine gum. They would have to be all banned under the logic so far given, and that is just totalitarianism run amok.

Doccarrie

*nicotine delivery*

#Handmade #Soap

San Francisco is to liberal place , That is why US is on bad shape for people like that , everything is normal to then

Tinadiane23

This is control freak behavior. Totally unacceptable.

Traver

The FDA has never said that E cigarettes are dangerous in any way. What they have said in many different and ominous sounding ways is we don't know. As far as safety goes I agree the with the FDA it doesn't it know anything. Not exactly a convincing argument that lung cancer is a better option. After 16 or more studies showing no serious side affects It's a no brainer I chose to live and vape. After over 40 years of smoking it took about three puffs to quit cigarettes.

Here is what we do know:Deaths related to smoking 400,000 and up.Deaths from electronic cigarettes 0. That's right zero.

sfsoma

this seems about controlling behavior that is not harming others. banning cig smoke for health resons perfectly reasonable. science supports it. This seems to be just for nany state control purposes. detestable to me.

J. Delacosta

Really? Recent statistics show that marijuana smoking among teenagers is at an all time high. Why isn't DPH taking on the so called 'canibus clubs'? Why aren't the board of supes talking about this serious issue? San Francisco banned smoking in public parks in 2005, so why isn't SFPD out in force on 4/20 enforcing the law? Golden gate park? Hippie hill? Have you seen how many minors are out in hippie hill on 4/20 smoking pot? But were more concerned with what?

Sidtripp22244

Is anyone at all surprised that SF Weekly is once again on the side of the tobacco companies? A more credible article came out today in the Los Angeles Times that explains why the FDA is moving to regulate:

"...half of the 19 brands of e-cigarettes it (the FDA) sampled contained nitrosamines, a carcinogen found in real cigarettes, and many contained diethylene glycol, a poisonous ingredient in antifreeze."

Source:

http://www.latimes.com/health/...