PANAMA CITY BEACH — The City Council on Thursday is scheduled to discuss an ordinance that would ban the use of electronic cigarettes in all city buildings.
If eventually approved, the city would become one of only a handful of governments in Florida that have passed laws regulating the use of e-cigarettes.
The ordinance, which is scheduled for a vote during the 6 p.m. council meeting at 110 S. Arnold Road, states the City Council “is concerned about a potential public health crisis caused by the use of e-cigarettes.” It adds the ordinance aims to “curb the use of e-cigarettes until reliable studies and data are available on the potential health risk to e-cigarette users and the impact of secondhand emissions. …”
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The proposed ordinance also states the Food and Drug Administration has expressed concerns publicly over the safety of the devices, and the city finds it necessary and appropriate “to protect the health, safety and welfare of city residents and guests against an untested product.”
The proposed ordinance was written after city employees complained of having an allergic reaction to a customer puffing on an electronic cigarette as they were paying a city bill, City Manager Mario Gisbert said. The ordinance is just a proposal to gauge the council’s position on the subject, and it could be voted on in a first reading if there were a majority that supported it, Gisbert said. There is no penalty for violating the law; Gisbert said that would not be necessary.
“We’ll be able to post a sign saying, ‘No e-cigarettes on the premises,’ ” he said.
Gisbert said that under current law businesses have the choice of whether to ban e-cigarette smoking in their establishments.
Marion County and Orange Park are among the handful of government entities in Florida that have banned the use of e-cigarettes in all places where smoking is banned, both public and private. The governments also outlaw self-service merchandising of e-cigarettes.
Gisbert said he consulted with the Florida League of Cities before legal staff drafted the ordinance to make sure Panama City Beach would not be chartering new territory in proposing the law, which sometimes makes it more likely a city might be sued. Gisbert said it would be up to the council to decide whether they might want to expand the ban to not only include city property but public places in the city limits where smoking is banned.
“It is a first-blush” review, he said.
Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, an e-cigarette advocacy group, said he would urge the Panama City Beach City Council not to pass the new law. He said e-cigarette use can be a public health benefit, as many people use e-cigarettes to get off regular cigarettes, and he is among them.
Kevin Skipper, president of VISTA Truth, another e-cigarette advocacy group, pointed to a study released in 2013 by Professor Igor Burstyn of the Drexel University School of Public Health, which concluded that the chemicals in electronic cigarettes pose no health concern for users or bystanders.
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“We really encourage lawmakers to educate themselves before they pass ordinances,” he said. “There is a lot of information that is already out there in the public.”
But The American Lung Association is among the groups that have raised concerns about the use of e-cigarettes. A statement from the association updated last month states it “is very concerned about the potential health consequences of electronic cigarettes, as well as the unproven claims that they can be used to help smokers quit.”
The statement goes on to say that a study has estimated that there are almost 500 different e-cigarette brands, with more than 7,700 different flavors. “In 2009, FDA conducted initial lab tests and found detectable levels of toxic cancer-causing chemicals, including an ingredient used in anti-freeze, in two leading brands of e-cigarettes and 18 various cartridges,” the statement read.