E-Cigarettes’ Effect Lingers

State, Local Laws Silent On Electronic Devices

Jesse McCoy, of Bentonville, smoke an electronic cigarette Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013 during a concert at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville. Electronic cigarettes have risen in popularity recently, but where they fall on health concerns and public smoking ordinances is confusing to some.
Jesse McCoy, of Bentonville, smoke an electronic cigarette Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013 during a concert at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville. Electronic cigarettes have risen in popularity recently, but where they fall on health concerns and public smoking ordinances is confusing to some.

The country’s leading electronic cigarette maker advertises its products as giving people the “freedom to smoke anywhere.”

“No tobacco smoke, only vapor,” according to ads for Blu.

The claims are partly true.

At A Glance

State, Local Law

According to the Arkansas Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006, smoking is prohibited in all public places and enclosed areas within most workplaces. Private residences, designated hotel and motel rooms, workplaces with fewer than three employees, retail tobacco stores and restaurants and bars that require patrons to be at least 21 to enter are excluded.

Fayetteville’s smoking ordinance, which went into effect in 2004, defines smoking as “holding a lighted pipe, cigar or cigarette of any kind or lighting or emitting or exhaling the smoke of a pipe, cigar or cigarette of any kind.” Smoking is prohibited in all public places, workplaces and city vehicles in Fayetteville, except for bars and retail tobacco stores.

Source: Staff Report


At A Glance

Tax Laws

• E-cigarettes aren’t subject to the same tax laws as tobacco products.

• Traditional cigarettes are taxed at $1.15 per pack.

• Other tobacco products are taxed at 68 percent of their invoice price.

• E-cigarettes are only subject to state and local sales taxes.

Source: Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration


Web Watch

Need Help Quitting?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration encourages smokers to call 1-800-QUITNOW (1-800-784-8669) to talk to a smoking cessation counselor or go to smokefree.gov for online resources to help quit.

E-cigarettes contain different substances than traditional cigarettes. E-cigarettes don’t have to be lit with a match or a lighter like tobacco cigarettes, cigars and pipes. They feature a battery used to heat a nicotine-infused liquid. Users inhale a vapor or mist, not smoke.

But Northwest Arkansas residents are restricted in where they can use e-cigarettes. Some people aren’t comfortable with the idea of being exposed to a nicotine product, even though early studies indicate e-cigarette vapor may be safer for bystanders than tobacco smoke.

Several places have banned e-cigarettes, including the University of Arkansas, Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, Rogers Public Library and restaurants such as Bordinos on Dickson Street in Fayetteville.

Three states and more than 100 U.S. cities have banned e-cigarettes in places where tobacco products are prohibited. New York City officials decided last month to prohibit e-cigarettes in bars, restaurants, parks and beaches.

The devices aren’t addressed in the Arkansas Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006 or in Fayetteville’s smoking ordinance, which went into effect in 2004. The laws prohibit smoking in most workplaces.

The national debate about e-cigarettes could make its way to Northwest Arkansas where a handful of specialty shops have popped up in Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Springdale and Rogers.

Fayetteville officials have yet to take on the issue. City Attorney Kit Williams said aldermen have the legal authority to regulate e-cigarettes if there’s an indication the vapor is harmful to others. The city’s smoking ordinance was used as a model for the state ban enacted two years later.

The Arkansas General Assembly approved two laws last year prohibiting e-cigarette sales to minors and preventing e-cigarette use in or on public school property. No steps have been taken to include e-cigarettes in the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act.

“E-cigarettes just weren’t on the horizon at the time,” said Robert Brech, an attorney with the Arkansas Department of Health who helped write the 2006 law. “It was all written to keep people from smoking combustible items.”

Brech said Arkansas law gives state officials the authority to ensure “the proper control of chemical exposures.”

Officials would have to demonstrate adverse health effects from e-cigarettes before laws are changed.

E-cigarettes aren’t regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, so manufacturers don’t have to follow federal guidelines for labeling or list product ingredients.

“Because these products have not been submitted to the FDA for evaluation or approval, at this time the agency has no way of knowing, except for the limited testing it has performed, the levels of nicotine or the amounts or kinds of other chemicals that the various brands of these products deliver to the user,” according to a 2009 news release by the FDA.

A more recent study published in the December issue of Nicotine and Tobacco Research concluded e-cigarette vapor exposes nonusers to nicotine, but not to “substantial” amounts of other toxins found in traditional cigarette smoke. Average concentrations of nicotine are 10 times higher in traditional cigarette smoke than e-cigarette vapor. Researchers said more study is needed on nicotine exposure as well as exposure to other toxins, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein.

The FDA has proposed rules for regulating e-cigarettes. But the rules aren’t yet public while the Office of Management and Budget and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs review them.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens,” said Conrad Lenzmeier, an employee at Vapor World, an e-cigarette shop that opened in August on College Avenue in Fayetteville.

“Anywhere where you can’t vape, it’s because people don’t understand what it is,” Lenzmeier said. “It looks like smoking, so there’s a stigma with it.”

Vapor World markets the products it sells as better smelling and better tasting than traditional cigarettes. Users won’t go home smelling like an ashtray, Lenzmeier said. The nicotine liquid, or “juice,” comes in various flavors, such as tobacco, gummy bears, pina colada and bacon. Users can adjust nicotine levels to get their fix or to wean themselves off e-cigarettes, Lenzmeier said.

And e-cigarettes are less expensive than a heavy smoking habit, he said. Starter kits range from $45 to about $180. “About as much as you’d save not smoking for a month,” Lenzmeier said. Refilling a 10-milliliter cartridge, the equivalent of six to seven packs of cigarettes, costs about $7, he said.

Vapor World promotes the products it sells as tar and carbon monoxide free. Lenzmeier said they contain a mix of nicotine; propelyne glycol, which is used in some cosmetics and foods; and vegetable glycerin.

Jamie Thornton, project coordinator for the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco-Free Coalition, agreed e-cigarettes likely aren’t as bad for users as traditional cigarettes.

“With a lot of the information we have,” Thornton said, “they’re a safer alternative, but by no means a safe product.”

The 2009 laboratory analysis by the FDA concluded e-cigarettes contained measurable amounts of some carcinogens, including nitrosamies, and toxic chemicals, such as diethylene glycol, a chemical compound found in brake fluid, antifreeze and other lubricants.

“They may have 13 chemicals rather than 68, like cigarettes,” Thornton said. “It’s still not going to be safe to breathe in that secondhand vapor.”

He said the tobacco-free coalition would eventually like to see e-cigarettes included in Fayetteville’s smoking ordinance, but he acknowledged more study needs to be done on the devices’ effects.

Several businesses and public institutions in the area have implemented their own policies.

E-cigarettes were banned at the Rogers Public Library after complaints about people using them in the library’s computer lab, said Judy Casey, library director.

University of Arkansas policy expressly prohibits the use of tobacco products and electronic cigarettes. But cigarette smoking is enforced differently than chewing tobacco or e-cigarette “vaping.”

By state law, a person caught smoking on campus can be ticketed and fined. Students caught using other tobacco products or e-cigarettes will be asked to leave campus and could be referred to the university’s Judicial Board, according to Lt. Gary Crain with the University of Arkansas Police Department. For university faculty or staff members, their supervisors could be notified.

For places without specific policies in place, residents such as Connor Brown can puff away on the electronic devices.

Brown walked out of Vapor World with a SmokTech brand starter kit. The university sophomore said he has used smokeless tobacco for five years.

“With a girlfriend and bad breath — spitters are just gross,” Brown said. “It’s obviously not the safest thing,” he added. “But it’s a form of relaxation.”

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