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Proposal 371 before the Marion County/Indianapolis Council seeks to ban (smoking in bars and ban) the use of e-cigarettes in all workplaces, but leading public health physicians and smokefree advocates aren't pleased that e-cigarettes were quietly included in the legislation.
Smokefree Pennsylvania and the American Association of Public Health Physicians urged the Marion County Council to strike the wording “the use of an electronic cigarette (also known as an e-cigarette)” from the proposal, stating that it was an issue that the Council had not even discussed.
Dr. Joel Nitzkin, in his letter representing the AAPHP, states:
"Banning smoking in public places and workplaces is an effective measure to both protect non-smokers and reduce exposure to tobacco-related toxic substances in cigarette smoke. Including e-cigarettes in this ban, however, will do more harm than good."
Smokefree Pennsylvania's letter was equally critical of the inclusion of e-cigarettes in the legislation, because it would ban the use of the products in several hundred thousand workplaces and because the legislation inaccurately defined usage of smokefree e-cigarettes as "smoking".
“Changing the legal definition of “Smoking”... to include usage of smokefree nicotine products defies science and common sense, and is inconsistent with the original purpose of the legislation... would encourage e-cigarette users to switch back to lethal cigarettes... and would discourage smokers from switching to lifesaving smokefree alternatives.”
Smokefree Pennsylvania also called on some extremist smokefree advocacy groups to reject their “abstinence-only anti-nicotine intolerance”, stating that the policy defies common sense and threatens public health.
The Marion County/Indianapolis Council will vote on the proposal on Monday November 30th at 7PM.
Submitted by E Cigarettes National. Visit their site at http://www.ecigarettesnational.com .
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