The mayor who banned trans fats and tried to kill large sugary drinks has turned his attention to electronic cigarettes, those pen-shaped devices that are supposedly a safer way to get your nicotine fix. The city's Health Committee is considering several proposed ordinances related to cigarettes, including one that would classify e-cigarettes as tobacco products, according to a leaked copy of those proposals obtained by the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association.
The proposals, via CASAA, would:
• Redefine "tobacco products" under New York City law to include e-cigarettes and related components, parts, and accessories
• Ban the display of e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in retail stores
• Ban the sale of e-cigarettes or e-liquid in flavors other than tobacco, menthol, mint and wintergreen in areas other than an age-restricted "tobacco bar." New York City law prohibits "tobacco bars" that were not open in 2001, and thus even an e-cigarette store in New York City would be prohibited from selling flavored e-cigarettes!
• Mandate that e-cigarette products and parts, components, and accessories only be sold in their original packaging [CASAA]The battery-powered cigarettes typically use liquid cartridges containing nicotine and some other chemicals. They do not, however, contain tobacco, so they technically fall outside the laws that regulate traditional cigarettes. Would-be smokers are therefore allowed to "light up" in city establishments, like bars, confounding bouncers and patrons who often mistake an e-cig's small cloud of vapor for the real thing.
The proposals under consideration, critics say, would effectively outlaw e-cigarettes by regulating them into extinction.
"This is a de facto ban on electronic cigarettes," Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, tells Gothamist. "Pretty much all electronic cigarettes are flavored; they're essentially flavored products. You're basically telling a bunch of ex-smokers to go back to cigarettes."
Across the country, California's legislature is considering similar legislation that would treat e-cigarettes like other tobacco products.
Yet whether e-cigarettes are actually safer than the real thing is still up for debate.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about the products back in 2009, saying some samples contained ingredients found in anti-freeze. The agency added that the products were not approved by the FDA, and could not be deemed safe without further testing. Furthermore, critics say e-cigarettes serve no purpose but to perpetuate nicotine addiction.
A more recent Drexel University study released this month, however, concluded that the supplementary chemicals in e-cigarettes were not harmful to users or bystanders.
http://news.yahoo.co...-154000941.html
I'm fine with this. I hate anything smoke-related.
