Forum editorial: The ‘no’ applies to e-cigs
Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.
Under the smoke-free law approved by North Dakota voters in 2012 the use of
so-called electronic cigarettes is prohibited in all places where smoking tobacco is not allowed. It’s that simple. The law, which won voter support in every county in the state, is unequivocal. No spinning by the tobacco lobby and its lackeys can make North Dakota’s e-cig prohibition less clear.
One argument for treating e-cigs differently than tobacco cigarettes is the devices do not generate secondhand smoke, and that they help smokers who want to quit tobacco. Therefore, e-cig advocates contend they should not be in the same banned-nearly-everywhere classification as other tobacco-based smoking products.
It’s all smoke and mirrors promulgated by Big Tobacco and others who know e-cigs can be (and early research shows they are) gateways for young people to start smoking tobacco.
First, the claim the vapors produced by e-cigs are harmless has no good science behind it. Rather, the substances generated include humectants used in fog and smoke machines, and vaporized nicotine and artificial flavors. Manufacturers have been cited for contaminants, including nickel, arsenic and chromium. There is no FDA oversight, no product-specific taxes and no restrictions on age of buyers.
No matter how dressed up they are, e-cigs are simply a nicotine-delivery device. The dangers of nicotine, a poisonous water-soluble alkaloid, are known. Furthermore, e-cigs are being marketed by emphasizing their candy-like flavors and seemingly benign brand names. Young people are responding as expected. A recent Youth Tobacco Survey showed a spike in e-cig use by youth, doubling to 10 percent in one year.
Also, the claim that e-cigs help cigarette smokers quit, and therefore should be unregulated, is a phony argument. There is nothing in law that prevents smokers from using e-cigs, as long as used in compliance with North Dakota’s smoke-free laws.
E-cigarettes represent the latest attempt by tobacco companies and their allies to hook more young smokers, and thus ensure a nicotine-addicted customer base into the future. The effort to characterize the devices as a way to help smokers quit is cynical and predicated on a falsehood. That effort has wormed its way into legislatures, including the North Dakota Legislature, where a handful of lawmakers have bought into the lie.
Voters overwhelming said “no” to cigarettes in 2012. That “no” included e-cigarettes. Legislators who don’t get it might want to find other work.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/432045/group/Opinion/
