City staff will ask aldermen at the Human Services Committee tonight to support a proposed ordinance that would impose the same restrictions on electronic cigarettes as exist for traditional tobacco products in Evanston.
That would make it illegal to sell them to minors or distribute them from vending machines.
It would also make using electronic cigarettes in places where smoking is now prohibited illegal.
While there is controversy about the risks associated with electronic cigarettes and whether they may be beneficial in smoking cessation programs, the proposed ordinance argues that the restrictions are necessary because of the health dangers associated with the liquid nicotine that e-cigarettes contain.
Top: An image from the website of blu eCigs, a product of Lorillard Technologies.
Related document
Committee packet containing the propsed e-cigarette ordinance (.pdf)
Health Department: Back off!
Good ol' government overreach–the kind that made President Reagan popular. Electronic cigarettes do not emit smoke and there is no need to ban them from public places. Mr. City Manager–if you are looking to cut the budget, Health Department policy makers are making themselves an obvious choice.
Misguided
As an avid e-cig smoker I can say one thing for sure… I feel significantly better smoking e-cigs than real cigarettes. Nobody can say e-cigs are 100 percent "safe" but e-cigs contain only a handful of ingredients while traditional cigarettes contain thousands of chemicals. E-cigs do contain nicotine, but nicotine is not the cancer causing ingredient of cigarettes… nicotine is akin to caffeine.
E-cigs have allowed me to quit traditional cigarettes at the snap of a finger… it is an amazing product for those of us that suffer from a nicotine addition.
Of course, minors should be prohibited from purchasing any nicotine products.
Here's a good, unbiased overview of e-cigs:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3110/are-electronic-cigarettes-noncarcinogenic
Blu Cigarettes
In none of the plethora of articles on e-cigs has anyone mentioned that, at least with Blu e-cigarettes, the option for NO NICOTINE is available when ordering replacement cartridges. Granted, this is only one of the many brands of e-cigs now available; I don't know about the others. My wife has been using these (peach or vanilla flavor, NO nicotine) since May and has not had a "real" cigarette since then.
Electronic cigarettees
I am a longtime Conservative Republican and Business owner who supports personal rights. However, we really do not know what is in these electronic devices since no real studies have been done. We DO know that tobacco companies are pushing them so that is enough for me to back restricting their use in public places.
Small tobacco
My experience with e-cigs has been that a good chunk of the industry is not manufactured by "big tobacco" but small, independent businesses. For me, I buy my e-cig juice from a very small organic mom n' pop operation out of California.
The big picture
The big picture is that electronic cigs do not need to be advertised on TV. Guess who watches TV….kids and teenagers. Lets not forget the ads from the past. Or the tactics of the cigarette bubble gum sold to children. They are trying to get more people to buy their product by convincing you that all of the negative things about smoking is now gone so now buy these electronic cigs. I guess they want to keep up with the new technical world. Please see through it. Get in touch with your congressman, petition a network, and put an end to this new era of disguised trickery.
Trickery? I think not.
Again, as an avid adult e-cig smoker I strongly disagree that I am somehow being duped. I fully understand that it would probably be best for my health to not smoke e-cigs at all, but compared to traditional cigarettes, it appears to be a far "healthier" choice and my body agrees.
By advocating a prohibition on e-cigs, you are, essentially, taking the position that people like me should only smoke real, very-bad-for-you tobacco cigarettes, if anything at all.
Not true at all
Not true at all. The City is saying that if real cigarettes cannot be smoked in certain places, then the e-cigs cannot also. Tthey are not telling you to go and buy real ones.
One restriction should cover all forms of cigarette and cigar smoking.