San Francisco Senator Mark Leno is looking to ban the use of e-cigarettes in all public areas in California through a new bill introduced on Monday, Reuters reported.
The proposed law, named as the Senate Bill 140, will treat e-cigarettes or vapes like traditional cigarettes and will even impose stricter regulations on establishments selling them.
If the bill gets passed, using vapes in bars, offices, restaurants and other public spaces will be banned. E-cigarette sellers will also face harsher punishments if caught selling to minors.
According to Leno, like cigarettes, vapes also release nicotine and can be harmful for one's health.
"Whether you get hooked on e-cigarettes or regular cigarettes, it's nicotine addiction and it kills," Leno told Reuters. "We're going to see hundreds of thousands of family members and friends die from e-cigarette use just like we did from traditional tobacco use."
Leno's bill is supported by various health organizations such as the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association, according to the Huffington Post.
Tim Gibbs of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network said that despite producing aerosols instead of smoke like real cigarettes, vapes are still considered as tobacco products.
"The primary use of an e-cigarette is to deliver nicotine in order to sustain a nicotine addiction," he told KCRA. "Nicotine is derived from tobacco. And that's why we believe e-cigarettes are tobacco products and should be regulated as such."
Although the public hearings for the Senate Bill 140 are yet to begin in March, advocates of e-cigarettes are already lobbying against the proposed law.
American Vaping Association president Gregory Conley criticized the bill and said banning the use of vapes in public places can hamper people's efforts to quit smoking traditional cigarettes.
"By classifying the use of vapor products as 'smoking,' this bill sends the incorrect and irresponsible message to California's 3.6 million adult smokers that vaping may be just as hazardous as smoking," he said in a statement.
"California smokers deserve truthful information about smoke-free alternatives, not hype and conjecture designed to scare them away from attempting to quit with these innovative technology products," he added.
