Houston City Council to vote on banning e-cigarette use in certain public places

HOUSTON — On Wednesday, Houston leaders will vote on an ordinance that might ban e-cig use in all the areas cigarette use is presently not allowed. The Houston Well being Division is asking Metropolis Council to revise the ordinance as a result of a lot of elements.

READ THE ORDINANCE REVISION HERE

Proper now, cigarettes are prohibited in enclosed public locations or workplaces, inside 25 ft of a constructing entrance or exit doorways, outside arenas and outside seating areas of public spectator occasions and lined bus stops and lightweight rail stops.

The revision would come with banning digital cigarettes, digital cigars, digital cigarillos, digital pipes, digital hookah, vaping system, or another product that makes use of aerosol liquid or vapor.

At present, smoking is permitted in retail tobacco shops and personal residences so long as they don’t seem to be used as a childcare, grownup daycare or well being care facility.

Here is the reasoning for the revision, in response to the general public agenda:

“In response to the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management (CDC), most e-cigarettes comprise nicotine, a identified neurotoxin thought-about one of the crucial extremely addictive substances out there for public consumption, which might hurt the creating adolescent mind (which retains creating till concerning the age of 25), together with long-lasting adjustments in mind areas concerned in habit, consideration, studying, and reminiscence.

“Whereas customers inhale e-cigarette aerosol into their lungs, bystanders may breathe on this aerosol when the consumer exhales it into the air.

“The FDA has additionally raised considerations concerning the epidemic ranges of youth use of e-cigarettes, which can result in using typical tobacco merchandise like flamable cigarettes and has issued a coverage prioritizing enforcement in opposition to sure unauthorized flavored e-cigarette merchandise that enchantment to children.”