Public vaping on the agenda for Illinois state senate

The US state of Illinois’ Senate is considering a bill that would expand the state’s general ban on smoking in public places to include e-cigarettes and other alternative nicotine products, but the vaping industry is resisting, saying their products do not produce “smoke” and don’t pose the same public health risks, according to a story on the dailyherald.com.

During a hearing Tuesday in the Senate Public Health Committee, supporters of the bill argued that the public health effects from exposure to secondhand fumes from those devices are still unknown, but that the state has an interest in regulating their use, according to the story.

“Electronic cigarettes are completely unregulated tobacco products that have been sold in the United States for a little over a decade,” said Kathy Drea, vice president of the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest. “Because there has been no (Food and Drug Administration) review of the products on the market, we do not know what is in each individual product.”

The bill being considered is Senate Bill 1864, which passed out of the committee on March 5 but was sent back recently for a technical amendment to make the language consistent with the state’s new “Tobacco 21” law, which prohibits selling tobacco products to people under age 21, according to the story.