NYC expands smoking ban to include e-cigarettes

[Jesus Malverde]

Source: AP

Years after being exiled to New York City's sidewalks by a ban on smoking in indoor public places, some smokers relished electronic cigarettes as a way to come in from the cold.

Now they're down to their last few puffs after the City Council voted 43-8 Thursday to expand the ban to include the devices.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to sign the measure before leaving office in a few days. The ban would take effect in four months.

Also Thursday, the council paved the way for an eventual ban on plastic foam containers and approved the creation of a website that will help the public track federal dollars budgeted for Superstorm Sandy-related damages. The flurry of activity — more than two dozen introductions and resolutions were passed — came on the council's last legislative session of the year.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/medical/article/NYC-expands-smoking-ban-to-include-e-cigarettes-5081675.php

[brett_jv]

1. Weak sauce ...

There's no evidence that '2nd Hand' (which is always pre-filtered by the inhaler before being exhaled, unlike w/tobacco smoke) e-cig vapor is in *any* way harmful to others. Heck it's not even proven harmful to the person using the device, other than the nicotine addiction involved.

I vape in the car with my wife (who HATES cigarettes & smoke), sometimes with the windows up ... she doesn't notice or complain. The vapor is not even remotely as noxious as tobacco smoke, and it disappears into the air within a few seconds. There's some 'flavors' where the odor of the flavoring can be 'smelled' in the air if you stick your face right where someone is exhaling, but for the most part, 2nd hand vapor is really quite innocuous, and there's no proof it's harmful to others.

If you're gonna get into regulating this stuff, you oughta get into regulating where people can wear perfume as well.

This is nanny-state over-regulation, IMHO.

[yeoman6987]

3. This is crazy

You cannot sneak a real cigarette inside because it will definitely smell everywhere, but an e-cigarette can EASILY be smoked in doors without anyone knowing. People are definitely going to continue to smoke inside but will do so inconspicuously.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. Anti-smoking zealotry trumps science and evidence.

[alp227]

7. What about respecting other people's airspace and not forcing fumes there? nt

[Dr Hobbitstein]

8. What fumes?

e-Cigs have no fumes. Just vapor. Which dissipates in seconds.

[onehandle]

14. If it's not smoke, it's perfectly harmless.

So say e-cig manufacturing CEOs.

[LiberalAndProud]

15. Have you ever been offended by e-fumes?

I would wager not.

[JackRiddler]

4. So fucking stupid & neo-puritanical

How about a resolution against the state's disgusting advertising campaigns pushing the lottery 24/7?

Nothing shows the hypocrisy of the present establishment than a comparison of publicly financed anti-smoking ads against those claiming that you could get filthy rich (and tell your boss to fuck off) if only you buy some lottery tickets and get yourself addicted to scratch-off cards. Which are attached to the big lie that the money goes for education!

And the common factor in both cases is revenue, from the lower classes to governments unwilling to tax the rich.

[frazzled]

5. Why didn't they ban chewing nicotine gum in public, too?

Or the patch?

This is incredibly stupid, almost Salem-witchcraft-level hysteria and hocus pocus.

[Go Vols]

6. I have friends that smoke the e-cig

and use no nicotine on their path to completely quitting.

[former9thward]

9. E-cigarettes threatens the taxes cities take in from tobacco.

They want people to keep smoking and keep the revenues coming in.

[Helen Borg]

10. I do not smoke...

And I hate second-hand smoke, but I don't get this. Are there any negative health consequences to others by somebody who smokes an e-ciggy???

[bitchkitty]

11. None.

The vapor dissipates almost immediately. It's just propylene glycol and nicotine. Some juices are made with glycerin, but I prefer the ones made with PG.

[onehandle]

13. E-cig manufacturing CEOs say none.

That's science, right?

[onehandle]

12. It's not a ban. It just rolls them into the same place restrictions as regular cigarettes.

Inevitable from coast to coast.