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Multnomah County health officials are seeking public input about electronic cigarettes before commissioners begin discussions about possible age restrictions and other regulations.
(The Associated Press)
Keep them away from children.
That's a no-brainer for both advocates and opponents of electronic cigarettes as local leaders weigh how to regulate the product.
Multnomah County health officials held a meeting Tuesday seeking input from the public as county commissioners prepare to look at age restrictions, licensing requirements and rules against using e-cigarettes at hospitals and outdoor public places.
The county has not released details about possible license requirements, and commissioners will continue discussions at their Feb. 5 meeting, Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury said.
On Tuesday, community members voiced support for placing age restrictions on the product. E-cigarettes, which are unregulated, vaporize liquid nicotine and deliver it to the lungs.
The Fairview City Council will vote on age restrictions next week. In Washington County, Hillsboro, Banks and North Plains have approved some restrictions on e-cigarettes as have some universities, school districts and Benton County, according to a Multnomah County report about e-cigarettes.
The growing number of regulations across the state has coincided with the product's popularity.
Bonnie Herzog, an industry analyst for Wells Fargo, told CNBC two weeks ago that e-cigarettes could reach $3.5 billion in nationwide sales in 2015, up from about $1.7 billion in 2013.
Health officials and other health advocates told county commissioners last year that young people can easily get e-cigarettes.
Clackamas High School senior Kyra Ortega-Schwartz, 17, opposes the product. She spoke to commissioners with other members of Rebels For a Cause, a three-county group of students opposing the use of tobacco.
"I don't see it (e-cigarettes) often at school," said Ortega-Schwartz referring that she sees more traditional cigarettes, "but on the weekends it's fairly common. If you go to someone's house, they're smoking an e-cigarette."
She said that when she tells fellow students to stop using e-cigarettes, they question why – since they're not using tobacco.
Ortega-Schwartz, who hopes to become a doctor, believes e-cigarettes are just as dangerous as tobacco products and tells her peers those thoughts, she said.
Many of the e-cigarettes come in various flavors, which opponents say target children.
Flavored options are not meant for children, said Matt Minahan, a lobbyist for the Northwest Vapor Association. Vaping is a term commonly used for using e-cigarettes.
"Most people don't like the taste of smoke or menthol," Minahan said. "So they need to explore the vanillas or strawberries and whatever their flavor happens to be in order for them to quit smoking and start vaping."
Other advocates said e-cigarettes helped them quit smoking after patches, gum or pills failed.
Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith said after the meeting that she appreciated hearing from students. Minahan's justification for flavored options was a new argument for her, she said.
"We're going to have to look at the data to help inform us," Smith said.
Despite hearing assurances from retailers on Tuesday, she added, "what we do know for sure is that young people are being sold vaping products."
Licensing
Luci Longoria, health promotion manager at the Oregon Health Authority, said any proposal to license e-cigarettes should regulate the number of retailers around schools and child-care centers, and ban flavored products.
"We know that when tobacco is sweet, cheap and available," Longoria said, "kids use tobacco."
In New Jersey, Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, said Tuesday that Oregon lawmakers bypassed the chance to set age restrictions in the 2014 legislative session.
He said retailers of regular and electronic cigarettes should have separate licenses.
Forty states ban sales to minors, including 35 that do not define the product as tobacco-related for licensing, he said.
Once local governments place licensing requirements for e-cigarettes and tobacco, Conley said, policymakers could limit the number of licenses issued per year. That could lead tobacco retailers to get licenses at the expense of businesses that sell only vaping products, he said.
"There are perfectly good alternatives to defining these smoke-free products as tobacco products for licensing purposes," Conley said.
Lawmakers could levy heavy fines on retailers caught selling e-cigarettes to minors, he said. In Oklahoma, repeat offenders can lose their sales tax licenses, Conley said.
That, he said, essentially shuts the business down.
-- Tony Hernandez
thernandez@oregonian.com
503-294-5928
@tonyhreports