Ordinance would ban electronic cigarettes on BART

BART passengers may no longer be able to use electronic cigarettes on trains, after the transit system’s board of directors voted Thursday to adopt an ordinance that would ban the use of such devices in the BART system.

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“A number of complaints have reached the board of directors about people using electronic cigarettes and vaping devices on BART property,” said board member Robert Raburn in the release. “Other transit providers have enacted prohibitions that we now propose to enact.”

E-cigarettes, also called vapes, do not burn tobacco but instead heat liquid nicotine and flavoring to form inhalable vapor. Unlike their traditional counterparts, e-cigarettes do not release as much secondhand smoke, according to Nikolas Ignacio, an employee at Skyline Vape, an e-cigarette retailer on San Pablo Avenue.

“It’s a lot healthier,” Ignacio said. “I actually use it to help myself quit smoking cigarettes. I feel better going about my day.”

Various health advocacy groups, such as the American Lung Association, were present at the Thursday meeting and said they supported the ordinance because they see e-cigarettes as just as harmful as their traditional counterparts.

Serena Chen, policy director for the American Lung Association in California, received several complaint emails from San Francisco residents regarding people using e-cigarette devices aboard trains. She then contacted Raburn, who brought the concerns before the board and drafted the ordinance.




http://www.dailycal.org/2015/01/25/new-ordinance-ban-e-cigarettes-bart/