Authored By: Maria Escamilla
According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking causes 480,000 deaths every year. Recently, vaping has become a popular alternative to cigarette smoking. But is it really the lesser of two evils?
In previous blogs, we have explored some of the controversies that surround e-cigarette companies, including allegations of defective devices and marketing strategies targeting underage youth.
Rolling Stone recently published some statistics from a National Institutes of Health study which notes that the number of teenagers who stated they had vaped within the past 30 days rose to 21% in 2018, as opposed to 11% the prior year. The Center for Disease Control has also reported that 4.9 million middle-and high-school students have reported using a tobacco product within the past 30 days, up from 1.3 million users in 2017.
On June 25, 2019, San Francisco officials voted to ban the sale of e-cigarettes within their city limits. According to Bloomberg, this ban makes it illegal to sell nicotine vaporizer products in stores or for online retailers to ship the goods to San Francisco addresses. Cigarettes and other tobacco products will remain legal in the city.
San Francisco is home to one of the most popular e-cigarette brands in the United States, Juul. After the city’s vote came to light, allegations surfaced implying that this ban was a personal attack against Juul and their products. City Attorney Dennis Herrera quickly came to the city’s defense and stated that “In the aftermath of this legislation what you will see is other jurisdictions looking at what they might be prepared to do to protect their young people.”
The city Mayor has ten days to review the legislation. Once signed, the ordinance will be placed into effect within seven months. The ban will require all nicotine vaporizer products to be removed from store shelves. Engadget notes that San Francisco plans to lodge fines of $1,000 and penalties of up to $1,000 per violation for any retailer that sells e-cigarettes or flavored tobacco products to a city resident.
San Francisco will become the 1st city to pass an ordinance of this nature.
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