SAN ANTONIO — The Community Health Committee met at City Hall to consider revising an ordinance pertaining to smoking. The proposal: adding language that prohibits electronic cigarettes and vaping indoors in San Antonio.
Currently, only smoking isn't allowed in indoor spaces.
Metro Health Director Claude Jacob and a host of partners spoke and/or attended the Thursday meeting to voice their concerns and make their case for why the changes should go into effect.
"Permitting indoor vaping might normalize tobacco usage in a smoke-free space," Jacob said.
He also mentioned the harmful effects of breathing in secondhand vaper and aerosol.
Magda De La Torre, a professor at UTSA, said e-cigarette/ESD vapor or aerosol can have a negative impact on the person inhaling it.
“The toxins in there are potentially toxic agents," De La Torre said. "So when it’s let out into the environment, there are still all these toxins… all this nicotine."
The plan is for Metro Health to launch an Education and Marketing Strategy against e-cigarette use this fall if City Council votes for it. If passed, the updated ordinance would take effect in January.
This new ordinance would forbid smoking or vaping of ESD devices inside buildings within the City of San Antonio.
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