Los Angeles has become the the third major U.S. city, after New York and Chicago, to ban e-cigarettes from public spaces.
Bloomberg reports that LA’s city council unanimously voted to extend existing smoking bans to the odorless vapors of e-cigarettes. The “vaping” ban will encompass bars, restaurants, parks and, of course, farmers markets.
City council members feared that e-cigarettes could lure non-smokers into a habit dangerously akin to smoking. “I will not support anything that might attract one new smoker,” said City Council President Herb Wesson. E-cigarette makers contend that the vast majority of their customers are smokers trying to quit, and that it’s a “gateway” out of an addictive habit rather than into one. Either way, that gate has now closed on Angelenos looking to light up in public.
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