News
Local health board urges ban of e-cigs in government buildings
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Lincoln Journal-Star
Electronic cigarettes should be treated the same as cigarettes that contain tobacco: banned in all local government buildings, according to the local Board of Health.
The board voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend that no one be allowed to smoke the battery-operated devices that simulate tobacco smoking, or anything that resembles them, in any building or vehicle owned or leased by county or city government.
There is not a lot of research yet on electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigs, e-cigarettes, electronic vaping devices, personal vaporizers (PV), digital vapor devices or electronic nicotine delivery systems.
So department staff could not report that e-cigs, which can dispense nicotine and flavors or flavors alone, are hazardous to health, or that second-hand vapor is hazardous.
Nor is there scientific evidence that e-cigarettes are a good method for quitting real cigarettes.
But members of the health advisory board believe studies will eventually show that smoking e-cigs is harmful.
In the meantime, they're being aggressively marketed like tobacco products used to be on TV and radio. And, they're being placed next to candy in convenience stores, according to a study done for the World Health Organization Tobacco Free Initiative.
Young people are rapidly adopting the nicotine-laced devices. And people who smoke electronic cigarettes often also smoke tobacco products -- they're called dual smokers -- according to the study given health board members.
Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department staff members have been getting questions from city and county employees about whether employees or visitors should be allowed to smoke e-cigs in offices and hallways.
Health Department Director Judy Halstead noted that it's difficult to tell across a hallway whether someone is smoking a fake cigarette or the real thing.
This wouldn't be the first ban on e-cigarettes locally.
County Treasurer Andy Stebbing banned smoking the electronic version of a cigarette in early January in his office and at both Department of Motor Vehicle locations at the request of staff who didn't want to be around the vapors.
The state Department of Administrative Services has banned e-cigs as part of its tobacco-free rules, according to Halstead, and some private businesses have banned e-cigs in their buildings, she said.
Although this ban would cover only local government buildings, not private offices, restaurants or bars, City Councilman Doug Emery reminded staff and board members that the next step could be expanding it to private buildings.
He cautioned against doing that unless state government takes the lead and outlaws e-cigs in businesses across the state. Emery is a member of the health board as part of his council duties.
Lincoln businesses, particularly bars, had a "considerable economic disadvantage" when Lincoln banned cigarettes in bars and restaurants five years before the state did, he said.
The local health board has no authority to ban the product on its own. Its recommendation now goes to the mayor, the Lancaster County Board and County-City Building Commission, which controls buildings owned jointly by the two governments.
It will also go to the Lincoln Library board and the Parks and Recreation advisory board, which recently banned cigarette smoking in some outdoor park areas. Parks and Rec likely would recommend that ban extend to e-cigs, Halstead said.
The board recommendation allows the two governments, which share a number of buildings, to adopt identical policies with definitions, Halstead said.
