COSTA MESA – The city has begun the process of banning vaping and electronic cigarette smoking in its public parks and city buildings in a move designed to protect residents from secondhand “smokeless” vapor.
The Planning Commission approved the ban Monday as part of a larger proposal that would lift a moratorium on hookah lounges and create rules for how and where new smoking lounges could operate. The ordinance will head to the City Council next Tuesday.
With the change, Costa Mesa would join 131 other California cities and counties that have passed laws to limit the use of e-cigarettes as of April, according to the Orange County Healthcare Agency. Anaheim, Garden Grove, Seal Beach, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel all have approved limitations.
Costa Mesa staff said the new ordinance was created simply to update the city’s existing smoking laws to include e-cigarettes, which vaporize liquid rather than burn tobacco. But other cities, such as San Clemente, have taken a “wait and see” approach to the devices, opting not to ban e-cigarettes, unsure whether secondhand vapor is as dangerous as secondhand smoke.
Amy Buch, of the OC Health Care Agency, said Monday that even though e-cigarettes don’t have combustible elements, they are still harmful. She pointed out that the California Department of Public Health declared e-cigarettes a health threat in January, when it released a report saying the devices emitted cancer-causing chemicals.
“(Cigarette bans) have been to protect nonsmokers,” Buch said. “Secondhand e-cigarette aerosol has been found to have at least 10 chemicals that are on California’s Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm… including nicotine, benzene, formaldehyde, nickel and lead…(though) not to the same extent that it would be in a traditional cigarette.”
Several vape shop owners and e-cigarette enthusiasts spoke at Monday’s meeting. While most praised the city’s ordinance for not placing burdensome restrictions on how vape shops can operate, they disputed the narrative that e-cigarettes are harmful.
“Vapor products are not a nuisance or a threat,” said Doug Hughes, co-president of the Southern California branch of the Smoke Free Alternative Trade Association. “Instead, they should be viewed as the most promising pathway to significantly reducing health care costs associated with smoking-related illnesses.”
Scientific studies have split on the danger of vaping, as well. Studies published in 2015 from the Public Library of Science ONE and Tobacco Control journals found e-cigarette smoke may harm the respiratory and immune systems. However, a July 12 study in the Toxicology in Vitro found e-vapor no more harmful than air.
California has had a similarly difficult time deciding how to treat the products. The state Legislature abandoned a bill July 8 that would have regulated e-cigarettes like other smoking tobacco, barring vaping in public places.
Costa Mesa’s proposed smoking lounge rules would allow hookah and vape lounges in some commercial shopping centers, such as The Triangle or Harbor Center, or in industrial properties. The ordinance would prohibit the lounges from opening within 1,500 feet of each other and within 500 feet of schools and parks.
Contact the writer: jgraham@ocregister.com or 714-796-7960
