Bill author Rep. Laurie Halverson, DFL-Eagan, said that the aim of this legislation would be to ensure that all Minnesotans can breathe clean air in public places. The Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation, are in support of the bill and hope it will get a hearing in the Senate.
Research has indicated that vapour from e-cigarettes has a minimal impact on indoor air quality.
“It’s an important step in making sure we’re not normalizing the use of e-cigarette tobacco use,” said Halverson. “And it’s also about keeping e-cigarette vapor away from you and me. We really don’t know what the off-gassing of e-cigarette vapor looks like in terms of health effects.”
Earlier this year, the House had voted in favour of the ban (100-25), in a move which was certainly fuelled by the alarming claims of an alleged growing teen vaping epidemic. Many communities and private establishments had already implemented such a ban, restricting vaping to smoking areas, but proponents of the ban believe that expanding the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act to include e-cigarettes will help reduce teen vaping.
However, not everyone agrees. Rep. Pat Garofalo, rightly thinks that there is not enough proof that the vapor from e-cigarettes is harmful. “Some of us still think that adults can do what they want free of government control,” said state Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington. “It’s another step in the wrong direction.”
Research Looking at the Effect of E-Cig Vapour on Indoor Air
Meanwhile, a peer-reviewed study released last Summer, had compared e-liquid vapour to cigarette smoke, indicating that exhaled e-liquid vapour product particles are actually liquid droplets that evaporate within seconds. In line with what previous air samples had suggested, this study had indicated that vaping probably has a minimal impact on indoor air quality.
The study titled “Characterization of the Spatial and Temporal Dispersion Differences between Exhaled e-cigarette mist and Cigarette Smoke,” was published in the renowned journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research. For both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes, the particle concentrations registered following each puff were in the same order of magnitude. However, for vaping products the particle concentration returned to background values within a few seconds, whilst for cigarettes it increased with successive puffs, only returning to background levels after 30-45 minutes.
Read Further: Star Tribune
