In 2011, San Antonio banned smoking cigarettes in public places. However, the ordinance did not specifically include e-cigarettes as a tobacco product. As a result, smokers can use e-cigs indoors, at work, and, really, wherever they want.
While e-cigs were previously thought to just emit water vapor, recent studies have shown otherwise. Last week, the devices were connected to incurable Popcorn Lung. Though the exact risks are unknown,the German Cancer Research Institute found that the vapor includes "fine and ultrafine liquid particles" and "cancer-causing substances."According to Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, the clouds contain nicotine, heavy metals, and formaldehyde. These potential risks are not just limited to the smoker. Like regular cigarettes, e-cigs can produce second-hand smoke problems, as well as third-hand smoke, where the vapor gets back into the air. Because the vapor is more wet than cigarette smoke, Glantz says the potential for third-hand smoke is actually higher than with cigarettes.
Though this initial research is concerning, it is not entirely conclusive. The FDA has yet to weigh in and that's what San Antonio is waiting for. Cities already have this authority, as over 400 other cities have already included e-cigs in their public smoking bans. E-cig companies themselves have argued and proved that they count as tobacco products as method of initially evading FDA regulation, which labeled the items as "drug delivery devices."
All it would take for San Antonio to ban e-cigs in public would be to include them in the ordinance as tobacco products. So should they?
Guests:
- Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco
- Steve Barscewski, City of San Antonio Sanitarian Services Manager