Without a state law regulating electronic cigarettes, Lincolnshire recently joined the growing list of municipalities with ordinances that have put restrictions on the growing industry.
The Lincolnshire Village Board approved earlier this month a proposal that classifies “e-cigs” and the practice known as vaping with traditional cigarettes and smoking. In Lincolnshire, it now cannot be done by those under 18, cannot be done inside most workplaces and cannot be done near building entrances and exits.
Police Chief Peter Kinsey said the intent behind the move is to keep the new products — which the federal government worries are being aimed at teens without enough disclosures about what goes inside them — out of reach for kids.
“That’s exactly the problem,” Kinsey said. “If you look at the way these products are marketed, it’s like they’re trying to entice younger people.”
According to a recent baiduhai article, “e-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that turn liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor. They lack the chemicals and tars of burning tobacco, but the cigarettes have not been extensively studied, and there’s no scientific consensus on the risks or advantages of ‘vaping.’ More than 15 percent of high school students report using e-cigarettes, up more than 900 percent over the last five years, according to federal figures.”
That story also showed that the Food and Drug Administration have created new rules that will corral e-cigs, nicotine gels, hookahs and pipe tobacco into the same classifications as traditional cigarettes.
The rules go into effect in August, when “retailers will be prohibited from selling the tobacco products to anyone under 18, placing them in vending machines or distributing free samples,” the Tribune reported. Another major change is two years away, when the companies that make vapor products will have to start disclosing exactly what they put in their liquids.
Many of them have fruity or candy flavors, which some say target teenagers who in recent years have been using less traditional tobacco products. The Tribune estimated that the multi-billion-dollar industry is currently fueled by 20 million users.
There are enough users in the northwest suburbs that Bas Raja opened several Good Guy Vapes stores, including one in Lincolnshire.
He said Lincolnshire’s new ordinance would have no effect on his business since he already restricted his products to adults and never allowed vaping inside. He said his only quandary had been in Buffalo Grove, where he wanted to open the Lincolnshire store in Buffalo Grove. But officials there did not move fast enough to approve his request, he said.
While Raja was making that request this winter, Buffalo Grove Village Hall was in the midst of amending its ordinances to control e-cigarette sales as well.
The new Lincolnshire ordinance is similar to the one Buffalo Grove eventually created. Vape shops can open in certain buildings zones, just like traditional tobacco shops.
“There’s a parallel between tobacco shops and e-cig uses,” said Buffalo Grove village planner Nicole Woods.
Vaping companies have boasted for years that their products do not contain the tar and some of the chemicals that cigarettes do. Kinsey noted that, as regulations go into effect, the claim will be either affirmed or washed out.
“It has not been proven, one way or another,” he said.
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