AP Photo/Ed Andrieski
A sales associate demonstrates the use of a electronic cigarette and the smoke like vapor that comes from it in Aurora, Colo. on Wednesday, March 2, 2011.
Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 | 11:58 a.m.
The Southern Nevada Health District today issued an advisory condemning electronic cigarettes and pledging to back efforts to restrict their sale.
Citing continued studies that show e-cigarettes contain carcinogens — cancer-causing substances — the Health District is urging lawmakers, health care providers parents and users to become educated about the harmful chemicals in these products.
“Electronic cigarettes have become a new trend among young people with national companies using celebrities to advertise their products,” Joe Iser, Clark County’s chief health officer, said in a statement.
“If appropriate restrictions are not put into place now, the recent efforts of public health to limit smoking and to make the habit socially unacceptable will be reversed,” Iser said.
The Health District wants lawmakers to include e-cigarettes in the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act, which regulates where people can and cannot smoke.
It also supports placing age, marketing and flavor restrictions on e-cigarettes and similar devices, as well as taxing them as tobacco products, requiring tobacco licensure to sell them and restricting their sale to minors, officials said.
Nearly 12 percent of high school students surveyed in 2013 admitted to using electronic cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
E-cigarettes release a vapor that contains nicotine and low levels of toxins that are known to cause cancer, officials said. The CDC has reported an increase in calls about e-cigarettes to poison control centers — most often because children and pets have accidentally ingested the liquid nicotine.
Regulations for e-cigarettes from the Food and Drug Administration are expected soon. Iser also noted that e-cigarettes have not been approved to be marketed or sold as a smoking cessation device.
“There are other effective tools that are approved and successful in the effort to quit smoking,” he said.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy