Legislation to Ban E-Cigarettes Sparked Debates; Opposition Claims Secondhand Vapor is Safe to Everyone

Calif. State Senator Ellen Corbett introduced a legislation, SB 648, that would treat e-cigarettes entirely like a cigarette and have them banned from restaurants, schools, and workplaces.

Health advocates including the Calif. Medical Association expressed their support on this legislation as the product is not yet approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration.

"Health professionals are very alarmed. These are cigarettes. They might be fancy, high-tech cigarettes, but they're still cigarettes," told Corbett as stated in Sacramento Bee.

E-cigarettes first made its entry in the market in 2004 by China promoting it as an effective way to help people quit smoking. It had received a huge following. In fact, the revenue has doubled since 2008 and may reach $1 billion this year. Even known cigarette makers had shifted to manufacturing e-cigarettes instead to compensate with their lost sales. The device had also evolved to look more fashionable with new versions designed to look more like a cigarette.

Meanwhile, there were debates about Corbett’s proposal to regulate e-cigarettes in which some say that there were no health risks on using it. The cigarette industry also refused to be regulated by the FDA even if health advocates are requesting to have them regulated like tobacco.

A similar proposal was filed by Corbett in 2010 in which she would like to have e-cigarette banned for minors. It already passed the Senate and is now awaiting approval in the Assembly.

The California Association of Alcohol/Drug Educators, a group that certifies addiction counselors and their training programs, has been endorsing e-cigarettes to help people quit their smoking habits, also opposed Corbett’s SB 648. They also cited several studies suggesting that e-cigarettes do not pose health risks to its users and the people around them. Secondhand vapor are safe based on the result of a Swiss study while a Polish study confirmed that the amount of toxins in e-cigarettes are far lower than that of cigarette smoke.

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