Hawaii County Council is ready to ban the use of electronic cigarettes inside county buildings. But a council committee, after extensive debate Tuesday, said it wasn’t ready to extend that ban to beaches and outdoor parks.
Hawaii County Council is ready to ban the use of electronic cigarettes inside county buildings. But a council committee, after extensive debate Tuesday, said it wasn’t ready to extend that ban to beaches and outdoor parks.
The Committee on Public Safety and Mass Transit voted unanimously to postpone Bill 302 until the Nov. 6 meeting to give its sponsor, Kona Councilman Dru Kanuha, a chance to amend the measure to remove the outdoor references. Council members cited concerns about hampering individuals’ efforts to use e-cigarettes as a way to quit smoking, the difficulty of enforcing an outdoor ban and respecting individual liberties as factors in their reluctance.
“It just comes down to an overall respect,” said Puna Councilman Zendo Kern. “It’s a mutual respect for everyone’s choices that they make.”
Kern said someone using an e-cigarette in a seat in front of him at a movie theater bothered him, but people using them around him at an outdoor barbecue did not.
“We’re asking them not to smoke, and they’re moving over to e-cigarettes,” Kern said. “Hopefully, it’s a weaning process.”
Kanuha said his bill sought consistency by banning e-cigarettes in the same places conventional tobacco cigarettes are banned.
“This is not an attempt to take away anyone’s right to use electronic cigarettes,” Kanuha said, adding the county should regulate where the devices are used, “given the unknown potential health impacts and the current lack of regulations.”
Representatives of Tobacco Free Big Island squared off against e-cigarette vendors in the debate, each side citing conflicting information about the first- and second-hand health effects of e-cigarettes.
Scientific, peer-reviewed studies have yet to be concluded, said e-cigarette proponents. Opponents cited studies by advocacy groups as initial indications of the potential harm, saying people once thought conventional cigarettes were safe, too.
Sally Ancheta, with the anti-tobacco group’s Hilo region, said a recent survey showed more than 70 percent of island residents support the bill. More than 500 also have signed a petition in support, she said.
The use of electronic cigarettes “threatens the social norm,” Ancheta said.
That didn’t sit well with Puna resident Tim Michel.
“You’re not trying to govern,” he told the council. “You’re trying to parent.”
E-cigarette proponents cited testimony before a U.S. Senate panel in May by Mitch Zeller, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products. Zeller said e-cigarettes are safer than conventional cigarettes but the FDA is taking a “guilty until proven innocent” approach in regulating them until dozens of scientific studies are completed.
Kanuha said he decided to sponsor the bill following a move by the state Department of Accounting and General Services on Sept. 25 adding e-cigarettes to existing bans on smoking in state buildings and workplaces.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.