Electronic cigarette sellers say Evanston aldermen may be making a big mistake if they approve new restrictions on the up-and-coming products Monday night.
A proposed ordinance would ban the use of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, from all places where other types of smoking are outlawed. Earlier this month, City Council postponed a vote on the issue at the request of city manager Wally Bobkiewicz.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid solution to simulate tobacco smoking. Health experts say it remains unclear whether they pose fewer risks than regular cigarettes, though e-cigarette proponents point to several studies showing that not as many toxic substances are found in the products.
The city says e-cigarettes look too much like regular cigarettes and may cause the impression that it is OK to use them in already smoke-free areas.
Smoque Vapours owner Jared Yucht said he and many other residents at the council’s Oct. 14 meeting find the restriction unnecessary.
“The only people who were at the meeting were against the ban,” Yucht said. “It’s silly. The whole ban is from misinformation. Electronic cigarettes are no danger to the general public.”
Although they do deliver a nicotine mist to users, Yucht said they pose no risks to people nearby.
They do not have any of the known carcinogens that cigarettes have, said Brian Sklena, marketing and sales manager for Northbrook, Ill.-based Vapor4Life E-Cigarette.
“People don’t realize that there’s no combustion,” Sklena said. “When you use it, it’s just vaporizing, so there’s no carbon dioxide in the process.”
Sklena added that they have thousands of customers who say that the electronic cigarette completely changed their lives for the better.
“My dad is one of our customers who used to smoke one pack a day of Marlboro Lites,” Sklena said. “Now he is down to I’d say at most five cigarettes a week because of the electronic cigarettes.”
Sklena said he can understand why council members are against selling the cigarettes to minors, but he does not support banning e-cigarette use in public places.
A city staff memo supporting the proposed restrictions states that these products are relatively new, so few studies can determine what the exact health consequences of their use are.
Regardless, Yucht said the use of electronic cigarettes in Evanston is growing and becoming more accessible to the public.
“And everyone who comes here is a former smoker,” Yucht said. “We are now getting well over 1,000 people who are buying these, as opposed to the real cigarettes.”
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