SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —E-cigarette users could see their privileges snuffed out under a controversial new bill just introduced Monday at the California state Capitol.
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Watch report: California bill to ban e-cigarettes sparks fight
E-cigarettes are very popular, especially with young people, where usage has tripled since 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
But that may change under Senate Bill 140, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.
The bill would prohibit the smoking of e-cigarettes at workplaces, schools, day cares, restaurants, bars and on public transportation. It also defines e-cigarettes as tobacco products.
"These small e-cigarette start-ups are now being purchased by Big Tobacco," said Leno, adding that those tobacco companies would "own 75 percent of the market within a few years."
But the regulation attempt is discomforting to 26-year-old Eric Cooke, who was vaping his favorite flavor, strawberries and cream, at the Vapor Room on the Grid in Midtown Sacramento on Monday.
Cooke said he’s a big fan of e-cigarettes.
“I enjoy them a lot actually," he said. "They helped me quit smoking four years ago."
Many vapor enthusiasts believe e-cigarettes have helped them kick the tobacco habit.
“I haven’t smoked a cigarette in like, eight months," Anthony Bacigaleupo said. "And I started this and I love it. It tastes good and it doesn’t bother other people."
But the new trend does bother some medical researchers, including those who found formaldehyde in e-cigarette vapors, according to an article published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine.
E-cigarette use would be banned in most indoor places under the Leno bill.
The senator said he believes the e-cigarette promoters are targeting kids.
"In flavors such as bubble gun and raspberry and chocolate,” he told KCRA 3. "So, they are marketing to children, again -- an attempt to hook a new generation through the poisonous product of nicotine."
Leno’s bill is sponsored by the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network.
“The primary use of an e-cigarette is to deliver nicotine in order to sustain a nicotine addiction,” said Tim Gibbs, a Capitol lobbyist with the Cancer Action Network. “Nicotine is derived from tobacco. And that’s why we believe e-cigarettes are tobacco products and should be regulated as such."
But there is strong opposition from e-cigarette advocates, including Shawn Kreb, co-owner of the Vapor Room on the Grid.
"It’s ridiculous," Kreb said. "Because it isn’t tobacco. I mean, it’s like comparing vodka to water. They look the same, but they’re completely different."
Senate Bill 140 does include an exemption for private smoking lounges.
Public hearings are expected to begin in March.
The scientific community is divided on the question of whether e-cigarettes can really help people quit tobacco use. One British study supported that contention. Read it here.
Yet, many health experts believe more research is needed before any definitive conclusions can be reached.
