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E-Cig Users Hit by Smoking Bans

Bans being retooled to cover smokeless devices

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 10, 2011 3:48 AM CDT

(Newser) – Electronic cigarettes don't burn anything and emit an odorless vapor instead of smoke, but users say they sometimes get treated as if they'd lit a reeking cigar. Use of the devices in places where cigarettes are banned has sparked fierce debate, and some states, cities, and workplaces have reworked smoking bans to include them, AP reports.

Anti-smoking groups want the devices covered under smoking bans until it can be proven that the vapor does no harm whatsoever. Users say anti-smoking groups should be on their side because the ability to use the devices in public is a powerful incentive for cigarette smokers to quit. "Not one cigarette in almost two years now," boasts one user who switched after 45 years of smoking. "How could you be against that?"

Cliff Phillips, a 61-year-old retiree and former smoker, and his wife, Vali, enjoy electronic cigarettes at their home in Cuba, Ill.
Cliff Phillips, a 61-year-old retiree and former smoker, and his wife, Vali, enjoy electronic cigarettes at their home in Cuba, Ill.   (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
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The whole purpose of a smoking ban is to protect people from secondhand smoke, and there isn't any smoke from an electronic cigarette. - Elaine Keller, vice president of the nonprofit Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 14 comments
carbonatedturtle
Jun 10, 2011 1:27 PM CDT
Looks like ignorance wins again. Rather than encouraging people to use e-cigs, because they absolutely do help you quit smoking, these ignoramuses see something that looks like smoke and go into attack mode. Unless humidifiers are harmful, then there are no harmful effects from vaping. These things have been around for a few years, and many tests and studies have proven that they'll do you no harm. Some people just need to mind their own damn business and stop trying to get their jollies by being vigilantes.
genghisKhanifer
Jun 10, 2011 12:16 PM CDT
Just bought one on my lunch break after reading this. They taste like water from last night that someone tossed their butts into.. I'll give it a few days, but damn.. They shouldn't have flavored the vapor at all in my opinion. It's the physical motion that I'm after, but I liked the idea of vapor, cause I tried to quell the urge with half a bic pen once. I missed the pull and exhale though. Where's the happy medium?
zdaydream
Jun 10, 2011 10:48 AM CDT
It's a little annoying at how anti-smoking groups can want this little item banned like cigarettes.  They are like homo-phobes.  Can't get close to a gay man, he might rub off and then:  " OMG I'm GAY!!"     <:-)
 

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