The users of electronic cigarettes — those controversial smoking devices that some claim are safer than traditional smokes — are taking a couple of hits in Hawaii this week.
The state Department of Health announced Monday that electronic smoking devices, or e-cigarettes, are now banned from 49 state government buildings across Hawaii, including the state Capitol and Washington Place.
And on Hawaii island, a County Council committee Tuesday is expected to take up a similar proposal to prohibit e-cigarettes and their vapors at beaches, parks and recreational facilities.
Supporters of electronic cigarettes say the actions are unfair and unwarranted.
"It’s a political year. Some politicians are trying to make a name for themselves," said Steve Gabriel of Hilo, an independent distributor of inLife e-cigarettes.
The ban, which went into effect this month at all state buildings under the jurisdiction of the Department of Accounting and General Services, is being trumpeted as part of the state’s commitment to keeping workplaces and public locations smoke-free.
"Based on various tests, vapors or aerosols emitted from e-cigarettes contain nicotine and other carcinogens and toxic chemicals that are just as harmful as those in secondhand smoke of regular combustible cigarettes," Health Department Director Linda Rosen said in a statement. "It’s important that consumers be aware that e-cigarettes are not healthier than regular cigarettes, for users or those surrounding them."
The new policy adds e-cigarettes to smoking bans already in place at state workplaces and buildings.
E-cigarettes are now prohibited from any enclosed or partially enclosed area in state buildings, such as offices, lobbies, lanai, interior courtyards, patios, covered walkways and 20 feet from entrances, exits, windows that can be opened and ventilation intakes that serve enclosed or partially enclosed area.
Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said the state is taking the lead in anticipation that other employers will begin to include e-cigarettes in their smoke-free zones to protect their employees and customers.
"We hope other businesses will take the next step as well," Okubo said.
Hawaii County Council member Dru Kanuha is sponsoring a bill that places a similar prohibition at county beaches, parks and recreational buildings.
The bill will be reviewed by the Council’s Public Safety and Mass Transit Committee at a 2 p.m. meeting Tuesday at the West Hawaii Civic Center.
"There’s still much unknown about e-cigarettes. Its effects remain largely unknown," Kanuha told West Hawaii Today. "As a precautionary measure, they should be restricted until they’re proven safe."
Supporters claim electronic cigarettes, which heat a flavored liquid until it produces a vapor but no smoke, are safer than traditional smokes.
"Not one scientific study has found (e-cigarette smoking) harmful to humans," said Thomas Keklas, co-founder of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, a Georgia-based nonprofit that provides information and support to the e-cigarette industry.
Keklas said regular cigarettes have been shown to contain thousands of chemicals while e-cigarettes have only a handful, which makes them a less harmful and safe option to smoking.
"They should be supporting the technology, not demonizing it," he said. "In science the adage for hundreds of years has been it’s not the mere detection of a toxin that is important, but at what level is that toxin found, as it’s the dose that makes the poison, not its mere detection."
Keklas said it is scientifically unproven that secondhand smoke from an e-cigarette is hazardous. That argument, he said, is typically used by public officials with "a predetermined mindset" against e-cigarettes and the industry as a whole.
Gabriel, the Hilo distributor, said that instead of rejecting e-cigarettes, the state should be embracing them. While e-cigarettes aren’t designed to help smokers quit, many have used them that way, including both he and his wife.
"That’s why this is not about money to me," Gabriel said of his e-cigarette business. "It’s about helping people."
Keklas said e-cigarettes have been on the domestic market for close to eight years and are being used by more than 6 million Americans. The industry, he said, has grown to $3 billion in sales.
"In this time there have been billions and billions of uses of e-vapor products without a single incidence of harm," Keklas said.
But Lila Johnson, program manager for the state’s Tobacco Prevention and Education Program, said Hawaii health officials have a "fistful of citations" of scientific studies that cast doubt on the safety of e-cigarettes and their smoke.
With the mounting evidence, she said, the move to prohibit electronic cigarettes in public areas is the only responsible thing to do. But even if there weren’t studies pointing to potential dangers, it really is up to the industry to prove otherwise, she said.
Johnson acknowledged that there are well-meaning people who believe e-cigarettes are a better alternative to smoking. But the truth is they are not, she said.
A proposed bill to regulate e-cigarettes in Hawaii did not survive this year’s state Legislature.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meanwhile, is moving to regulate e-cigarettes with a proposed rule now being considered by the agency. Once the rule becomes final, the FDA will be able to use regulatory tools, such as age restrictions and scientific review of new tobacco products and claims to reduce tobacco-related disease and death.
The Hawaii Smoke-Free Workplace and Public Places Law, enacted in 2006, prohibits smoking tobacco products in places open to the public and places of employment. The Health Department says it has power to restrict e-cigarettes only in state government buildings.
