It might be an excess of caution to include e-cigarettes in the Capital Regional District鈥檚 clean air bylaw, but in this case, too much caution would be better than too little.
The CRD staff recommends the board give the first two readings to a bylaw that would ban smoking in all parks, playgrounds, playing fields, public squares and bus stops and expand the three-metre no-smoking zone at building doorways, windows and air intakes to seven metres.
Electronic cigarettes mimic the smoking of tobacco cigarettes, allowing the user to inhale vapours produced by heating a flavoured liquid, some containing nicotine. It鈥檚 legal to sell e-cigarettes in Canada, but Health Canada says a liquid containing nicotine is a drug and is not approved for sale in Canada. However, nicotine-based liquids are easily obtained through the Internet or from stores defying Health Canada.
Dr. Richard Stanwick, chief medical officer for Island Health, has recommended the CRD include e-cigarettes in its clean air bylaw. His concern is that the devices have the potential to be a 鈥済ateway鈥� to nicotine addiction among young people.
The jury is still out on e-cigarettes. The Royal College of Physicians in the U.K., in an article published on its website in March, says there鈥檚 no evidence that using the devices is a gateway to tobacco use.
鈥淪ome non-smoking young people are trying e-cigarettes, but in very small numbers,鈥� says the article, 鈥渁nd any gateway risk should be assessed in the context that nearly one in five 16- to 19-year-olds in Britain has already become a regular tobacco smoker. Given the small risks of exclusive e-cigarette use, progression to tobacco use will thus be a problem only if it adds to the total number taking up tobacco smoking.鈥�
But a study by University of California San Francisco researchers came to the opposite conclusion.
鈥淒espite claims that e-cigarettes are helping people quit smoking, we found that e-cigarettes were associated with more, not less, cigarette smoking among adolescents,鈥� said lead author Lauren Dutra, a post-doctoral fellow at the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
鈥淓-cigarettes are likely to be gateway devices for nicotine addiction among youth, opening up a whole new market for tobacco.鈥�
That鈥檚 reason enough to be concerned and to keep the devices out of the hands of minors, but is it reason enough to ban them from parks and playgrounds, given that they produce far fewer emissions than tobacco smoke?
Yes, says Kim Bruce, regional manager of tobacco control for Island Health, who notes that e-cigarettes are not emission-free.
鈥淯ntil we kind of look at the health effects, it鈥檚 better to use a cautious approach so that we don鈥檛 get in the same situation that we got in with tobacco,鈥� he says.
A larger issue than the CRD鈥檚 bylaw is the lack of clear regulation. Health Canada advises against the purchase and use of e-cigarettes, as do other health organizations, but the rules regarding their use are a grey area. The federal government should institute appropriate regulations, not overlooking the possible good e-cigarettes can do in helping smokers quit or reduce the health hazards of smoking.
When tobacco smoking first began to spread among Europeans, it was touted to have an endless list of beneficial properties, but research and experience have shown otherwise. We should apply that lesson to e-cigarettes until more is known.
Even if research shows there鈥檚 no threat from second-hand vapours, a ban will have done no harm.
