California Senator Mark Leno authored a bill in the state legislature in which he asked for e-cigarettes to be banned from public places.
The proposed bill is looking to ban e-cigarettes from public places in California like restaurants, bars and other places where regular smoking is currently banned.
Senator Leno addressed his concerns about the safety of using e-cigarettes and wants them to be treated as if they were regular cigarettes.
The American Vaping Association opposed the bill, arguing that e-cigarettes are not the same as smoking because they involve the act of inhaling vapors, known as “vaping”, and there is no burning and no smoke involved.
The American Vaping Association also said that banning e-cigarettes from public places would harm the smokers who want to quit smoking by switching to electronic cigarettes, since they are a healthier alternative to the regular tobacco cigarette.
The Association mentions that e-cigarettes have less chemicals that regular cigarettes and do not harm the lungs with burning smoke.
Gregory Conley, the president of the American Vaping Association explained that smokers need to know the alternatives of smoking and not be scared away from these “innovative technology products”.
On the other hand, the American Cancer Society supports Leno’s bill that wants to ban e-cigarettes from public places in California. The Society questions the safety of e-cigarettes, saying that they do not inhibit nicotine addiction but are actually a gateway into the smoking habit.
If the new bill will be approved, California would be the fourth American state to treat e-cigarettes like regular ones. So far, in California, 122 cities and counties have put a ban on e-cigarettes from certain public places.
Kimberly Amazeen, the vice president of public policy and advocacy for the American Lung Association in California, said e-cigarettes release vapors which contain chemicals that can cause cancer if inhaled by children who are in the proximity of people who use e-cigarettes.
Leno is backed by the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association and says that the vapors released by the electronic cigarettes contain carcinogen substances and the nicotine in them is addictive.
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