Iowa City Looks to Curb E-Cigarette Use in Smoke-Free Zones
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If local leaders approve legislation, Iowa’s fifth-largest city would follow other jurisdictions that have restricted electronic cigarettes.
Electronic cigarettes would be banned from “smoke-free” areas in Iowa City, Iowa, under legislation city leaders there gave a preliminary nod of approval on Tuesday.
Iowa state law currently makes it illegal to smoke cigarettes and other tobacco products in workplaces, certain public areas and enclosed city buildings. Iowa City itself has additional regulations, which preclude smokers from lighting up on municipal parking ramps, most of the city’s main Plaza, and in certain parts of parks.
During a Tuesday evening meeting, City Council members cast an initial 6-0 vote in favor of an ordinance that would make it illegal to use electronic cigarettes, also called “e-cigarettes,” any place where smoking traditional tobacco products is already prohibited.
The council's action was only a “first consideration.” Further deliberation will take place before a final vote on whether to formally enact the ordinance.
With a population of about 71,500, Iowa City is located on the eastern side of the Hawkeye State, along Interstate 80. It is home to the University of Iowa and is recognized as a UNESCO City of Literature.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, e-cigarettes have not been fully studied, and their possible risks are not entirely understood. Among the unknowns is how much nicotine, and other harmful chemicals, may be inhaled in the aerosol the devices emit.
“I’m really convinced that there is not good science out there yet to determine that these are safe,” said Council member Susan Mims during the meeting on Tuesday.
But for some of the public commenters that turned out, the proposed ban was about more than just e-cigarettes.
“I don’t use e-cigarettes. It doesn’t gore my ox if they’re banned in areas where they’re currently not banned,” said Joseph Dobrian, an Iowa CIty resident. “This is a trumped up issue, the objective is not to protect public health, I submit, but to make it harder and harder for anybody to deliver nicotine into their system. It is spiteful legislation.”
That said, Iowa City is not the only place that has moved to restrict electronic smokes.
A ban on using e-cigarettes in public spaces where tobacco smoking was previously not allowed went into effect last Friday in Montgomery County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.
And Michigan State University’s board of trustees included e-cigarettes in a tobacco-free ordinance approved on Wednesday, which will go into force on Aug. 15, 2016.
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