The battle over smoking has largely been settled. A decade ago, Washington voters approved an initiative banning smoking in public places — restaurants, bars, and workplaces — and keeping smokers at least 25 feet from doors and windows.
But with electronic cigarettes morphing from a novelty to a product in such high demand that specialty shops have sprung up throughout the county, the Snohomish Health District is asking the public: Should the same restrictions that apply to smoking apply to vaping?
“We’re seeing a dramatic increase in use by youth of these devices,” said Dr. Gary Goldbaum, health officer for the Snohomish Health District. “That’s why we need to approach the issue now.”
Local bars and restaurants also have been asking the public health agency, “OK, what are the rules about the use of these devices?” he said.
If approved, Snohomish County would join four other counties — King, Pierce, Grant and Clark — in regulating e-cigarettes as they do tobacco, said Heather Thomas, a health district spokeswoman.
The topic is hot enough that mere mention of the health district’s proposed ban unleashes a wave of competing pro-and-con comments on social media.
Part of the debate is fueled by what the health district could include in its regulations. So far, the public health agency has said simply that it’s considering banning vaping in public places.
A draft ordinance probably won’t be prepared until October or November, Thomas said. The health district first wants to hear from the public, she said. A meeting on the issue is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 21 at Everett Community College. Comments also can be sent to the health district by mail or email.
Owners of vaping stores already are responding to the proposal. “We’re trying to understand a little more of what the health board is after,” said David Nguyen, one of the owners of Clouds the Limit in Everett.
The liquid nicotine used in the electronic cigarettes can be flavored and bought in varying concentrations. Nguyen said he worries the regulations could hurt his business by preventing sampling of e-cigarettes inside his store. “I’d have to walk out to the parking lot and let them sample it,” he said.
Goldbaum said that some counties that regulate vaping the same as smoking allow sampling, with conditions, such as only in stores were minors are prohibited.
On Thursday, a group of 10 men and women gathered in Nguyen’s store, some sampling new nicotine flavors, others around a table sharing end-of-day conversations as they sent large clouds of vapor into the air.
“If they make it like the smoking law, that’s fine,” said Danielle Moan, of Mukilteo. Aimee Young of Everett agreed. “I think it needs to be exactly like the smoking law,” she said.
Jason Knisley of Snohomish opposes the ban. Vaping “is a whole lot different than smoking,” Knisley said. He smoked cigarettes for 18 years, but quit last October. “I think you should be able to vape in shops,” he said.
Kenneth Wilfong of Everett said vapers need to be respectful of others who don’t. They shouldn’t use e-cigarettes around playgrounds, and middle school and high school students should not be vaping, he said. Wilfong said he disagrees with those who say vaping could be a gateway to cigarette use. “That’s the opposite of what vaping is,” he said “The idea is to get away from tobacco.”
Matt Bradley, owner of Sky Vapor stores in Everett and Arlington, said he previously was a three- to four-pack-a-day smoker. He is among those who say e-cigarettes helped them quit smoking.
How effective vaping is as a stop-smoking aid is just one of the questions under hot debate. Others include whether the mist produced by e-cigarettes poses a health risk and whether vaping, popular among youth, can cause addiction to nicotine.
Part of the problem in answering these questions is that vaping is relatively new and there are no regulations on the manufacture of the electronic devices.
“There are a variety of devices; all look and operate differently,” said Scott Neal, a tobacco prevention program manager for Public Health – Seattle &King County. There are more than 400 of brands of e-cigarette devices and more than 7,000 flavors of the nicotine “juices,” according to the American Heart Association.
“None of the devices are regulated for quality control,” Neal said. No one knows what’s being delivered in one product versus another, he said. “There’s a concern about the unknown potential here. It could be great.”
One of the reasons the Snohomish Health District decided to consider a ban on use of e-cigarettes in public is their rising popularity among teens and young adults.
In a survey of Snohomish County students last year, 22 percent of high school seniors reported they currently use electronic cigarettes. That’s more than a four-fold increase over the number of seniors who said they used them in 2012, Goldbaum said.
Last year, Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that e-cigarette liquids are a threat to small children because the packaging isn’t required to be childproof, and it comes in kid-friendly flavors such as candy and fruit. A bill requiring the liquid nicotine to have child-proof packaging died in the Legislature this year.
“Nicotine in large quantities can be fatal,” said Alexander Garrard, the clinical managing director for the Washington Poison Center. Last year, the center fielded 182 calls about children being exposed to the liquid nicotine products. So far this year, there have been 38 calls, Garrard said. The reduction may be due in part to the national publicity on the danger of liquid nicotine, particularly to young children.
Just a few drops of “E-juice” absorbed by the skin or swallowed can send a child to the emergency room, according to the state Department of Health.
The risk isn’t just to young children. A Washington woman in her 20s committed suicide by drinking the liquid, Garrard said.
The liquid in e-cigarettes typically contains nicotine, flavoring, water, glycerin and propylene glycol, according to a 2014 analysis of e-cigarettes by the American Heart Association. There is little information on the health effects of long-term exposure to pure nicotine, the study notes.
One study of the second-hand smoke created by e-cigarettes found that it contained nicotine and several potentially toxic chemicals, but at much lower levels than found in cigarette smoke. Bystanders could be exposed to substantial amounts of nicotine when e-cigarettes are used in confined spaces, according the American Heart Association.
Researchers have found unusually high levels of formaldehyde, which can cause cancer, from e-vapors, according to test results published earlier this year in the New England Journal of Medicine. The finding has been contested by some e-cigarette industry groups.
The Snohomish Health District’s vaping proposal isn’t about prohibiting all use of e-cigarettes, but prohibiting them in public where others, who choose not to use them, could be exposed, Goldbaum said.
“We don’t know if long-term exposure to the aerosol produced by these devices poses a serious health risk to a fetus, pregnant women and people who have heart disease,” Goldbaum said. “As a physician, I’m concerned about the most vulnerable in our community being exposed to what we just don’t know about these devices.”
Have your say
A public comment session on a proposed ban on use of electronic cigarettes in public places is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 21 in the Wilderness Auditorium at Everett Community College, 2000 Tower St. in Everett. Campus parking passes and other information on vaping are available at www.snohd.org/Healthy-Living/Smoke-Free-Living/Vaping-Vapor-Products.
Comments also can be sent to the Snohomish Health District at sipp@snohd.org or mailed to Snohomish Health District, Attn: SIPP Comments, 3020 Rucker Ave, Ste 306, Everett, WA 98201. Comments will be accepted through July 31. There’s also an online survey on the health district’s website.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com
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