NYC Council has made the move to ban e-cigarettes in all places that smoking regular cigarettes are already banned; offices, restaurants, bars and parks. Other cities are soon to follow. City council speaker Christine Quinn and Health Commissioner Thomas Farley backed the ban that was passed yesterday in a 43 to 8 vote.
E-Cigarettes are small cigarette-looking tubes run electrically, that produce “nicotine vapor” but may actually make smoking harder to quit. Those who support e-cigarettes note that the nasty things like tar and carcinogenic byproducts aren’t produced in what they term “vaping.” Many people who try to smoke but are quitting or are trying to quit turn to e-cigarettes as smoking light, in order to “wean themselves off regular ones, according to a pro-industry website funded by NJOY Inc, an Arizona based e-cigarette maker.”
Quinn commented, “E-Cigarettes threaten to undermine enforcement of the Smoke-Free Act.” Notably, the city council has made attempts and has put efforts to reduce smoking in NYC in a move to make city life healthier for all of its residents.
According to Bloomberg, “since Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2002, the city has raised tobacco taxes and banned smoking in public places.” The mayor notes that residents life expectancy has risen to 81 years as a result of the smoking rates decreasing as they have. Not to mention his other initiatives that would reduce excess sugar intake and improve type II diabetes rates.
Image Credit: Medical Plasticsnews.com