Utah E-Cigarette Ban Based On Junk Science

Electronic cigarettes ("e-cigs") are not popular among politicians. Several states have tried to regulate or tax the smoking alternatives in some way, and now legislators in Utah are attempting to prohibit e-cig "vaping" in the same public spaces where smoking is outlawed. The legislation (HB245) is undoubtedly meant to promote public health, but it's also unnecessary and based on junk science.

"There is no safe level of tobacco smoke," said David Neville, spokesman for the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program at the Utah Department of Health. With tobacco cigarettes a user generally knows how much nicotine is being consumed. ... When it comes to an electronic cigarette, you just don't know ..." This is also entirely false. E-cigs contain no tobacco and give off no smoke whatsoever, as the paper admitted above. Furthermore, when consumers purchase the nicotine solution for e-cigs they have to specify the strength of the liquid. And no manufacturer offers it in strengths smokers haven't been exposed to from smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.