The California Legislature will return later this month from its recess and one of the bills lawmakers will consider is from gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) who seeks to snuff out e-cigarettes and vaping that's growing in popularity and presenting a potential health hazard.
Partly because e-cigarettes are relatively new and the confusion of misinformation from the companies that make them, a lot of people are lulled into believing that e-cigarettes, which deliver an addictive drug nicotine, masked by fruity or other flavors, are not as dangerous as the old-fashioned cancer sticks. Don't be fooled. As Leno wrote in an op-ed for us earlier this year, "A 2015 report on e-cigarettes by the California Department of Public Health states that mainstream and secondhand e-cigarette aerosol contains at least 10 chemicals that are on our state's Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm." According to a UCSF study, e-cigarette devices deliver high levels of nanoparticles, which can trigger inflammation and are linked to asthma, stroke, heart disease, and diabetes.
Put simply, Big Tobacco, which has seen its profits decrease as more people quit smoking or don't take up the habit in the first place, has latched on to e-cigarettes as a new product to appeal to a younger generation. But it's the same old story: the vapors release chemicals, some of which have been linked to health problems. As Leno stated a few weeks ago, nicotine is a tobacco product, despite Big Tobacco's insistence otherwise.
As a result of these concerns, Leno authored Senate Bill 140, which called for statewide regulations on e-cigarettes. Last month, however, the chair of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, Adam Gray (D-Merced) added a hostile amendment that gutted the bill, and Leno withdrew it. Gray's amendment struck the language equating e-cigarettes to tobacco. The bill went from imposing regulations to becoming "toothless," Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) told the Sacramento Bee .
It looked like the e-cigarette battle was over for the year, but just before the break, Leno was back with SB 2X-5, which he said is almost identical to his previous bill.
SB 2X-5 is part of a package of bills that would help prevent tobacco-related illness in California. It protects the public against exposure to e-cigarettes by ensuring they are accurately defined as tobacco products and fall under the state's existing smoke-free laws. That means, if the bill is passed and signed by Governor Jerry Brown, no vaping at workplaces, schools, restaurants, and hospitals. It also requires that e-cigarette packaging be child-resistant. An identical bill, authored by Cooper, has been introduced in the Assembly. Both bills were introduced as part of the Legislature's special session on health.
The state is serious about the dangers of e-cigarettes. Public service announcement ads have started airing on TV, as state health officials work to prevent even more people �" especially young people �" from starting a bad habit.
Leno said he's "inspired" by the Legislature's "bold move to prevent tobacco-related diseases, reduce smoking among youth, and renew the call for statewide regulations on electronic cigarettes."
Smoking is disproportionately popular in the LGBT community. Surveys have shown that cigarette smoking prevalence in the U.S. is 19.5 percent for heterosexual adults and 32.8 percent for LGBT adults, according to findings from the National Adult Tobacco Survey. There are lots of reasons to explain why LGBTs smoke more than the general population �" psychological and societal �" but we've also been subject to aggressive marketing campaigns by tobacco companies. Locally, back in 1995 the RJ Reynolds tobacco company conducted a marketing plan called "Project SCUM" (sub-culture urban marketing) targeting urban San Francisco populations, including the LGBT community. The goal was to sell cigarettes in the so-called alternative lifestyle areas of the city, including the Castro. Materials from the project came to light after a court order forced RJ Reynolds to hand them over during California's litigation against the tobacco companies.
Decades later, we're seeing something similar: companies marketing sleek, attractive-looking devices �" often in urban areas �" to deliver nicotine to people. Increasingly, tobacco companies themselves are investing in e-cigarette companies or making the products themselves. But because they aren't actually cigarettes, most people think they're a safe alternative. They're not. And people who are tempted to use e-cigarettes as a method to quit conventional tobacco cigarettes should probably seek out other alternatives.
Lawmakers will undoubtedly be pressured from owners and employees of e-cigarette businesses, just as they were last month when Leno's first bill was gutted. This time, legislators need to stand firm. E-cigarettes are a public health issue and people shouldn't have to be subjected to secondhand smoke �" tobacco or vapor �" in public places.
California has often led the way in public health efforts. The Legislature needs to pass SB 2X-5 when it comes up for a vote.