NYC Bans Electronic Cigarettes In Public Places After City Council Vote; Will Other States Follow Suit?

New York City has lumped e-cigarettes with traditional cigarretes, barring them from public places like bars, restaurants and parks. The City Council approved the bill with a vote outcome of 43-8 on Thursday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to sign the ban and it would take effect in four months. Electronic cigarretes have been increasingly popular being endorsed by celebrities and come in different flavour options. The devices are battery-powered and heat up liquid nicotine and emit vapor. Companies market these are safer alternatives to traditional cigarretes that can help addicts combat their habit, but opposers say this can lure in non-smokers into converting them to regular smokers.

E-Cigarretes are not regulated but The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said it intendes to regulate the devices as tobacco products. "Companies like us want to be responsible, but when you have municipalities prematurely judge what should be and what shouldn't be, based not on the science, I think it does the public a disservice," Miguel Martin, president of e-cigarette brand Logic, told AP. Restaurateurs are having a difficult time regulating this new trend as it resembles tobacco smokes, to which Martin adds, "That's like saying we shouldn't be able to sell water because it looks like vodka."

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn talked to CBS2 NY about the ban that would make it easier for the city to enforce the Smoke-Free Air Act. “Because many of the e-cigarettes are designed to look like cigarettes and be used just like them, they can lead to confusion or confrontation,” Quinn said. “It’s not the norm anymore. Very few people feel uncomfortable now saying you can’t smoke in public. We don’t want to step backwards in that.” What do you think of the ban of e-cigarretes in NYC?