News: San Francisco may ban e-cigarettes ahead of health evaluations

San Francisco officials have proposed a law that would ban e-cigarette sales in the city, until their health effects have been evaluated by the US government.

This proposition comes after San Francisco became the first US city to ban flavoured tobacco and vaping liquids, last year.

If this new bill is passed, it’ll be the first of its kind in the US.

Given the proliferation of young people using e-cigarettes in the US, San Francisco officials hope that this move will curb this rising use among American youngsters.

But critics of the proposed bill just believe this will make it harder for current smokers to quit.

San Francisco city attorney, Dennis Herrera, who co-authored the bill, told the BBC:

“These [e-cigarette] companies may hide behind the veneer of harm reduction, but let’s be clear, their product is addiction.”

He also said that the products should have been reviewed before going on sale and mentioned that San Francisco, Chicago and New York had sent a joint letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calling for investigations into the effects of e-cigarettes on public health.

The FDA have already extended an existing deadline for companies to voluntarily have their e-cigarette products evaluated, to 2021.

The new bill is yet to be approved.