E-cig ban passed in Philadelphia City Council
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Greg Conley vaporizes with his e-cig after giving testimony in Philadelphia City Hall on Thursday, Mar. 27, 2014 (Tom MacDonald/WHYY)
By a unanimous vote, Philadelphia City Council has approved a bill prohibiting electronic cigarettes in the same public places where you can’t light up a traditional one.
Councilman William Greenlee introduced the bill to prohibit e-cigarettes in public places. He says there are too many uncertainties about the mini-vaporizers and their contents.
“Oftentimes there are different things in different electronic cigarettes,” Greenlee said. “Most respected health experts have said that we need to do a bill like this like other major cities have done to be cautionary to protect people because we don’t know what’s in a lot of these products.”
Gregory Conley put his e-cigarette to his mouth while testifying before council.
“Now did I just use my electronic cigarette or did I simply hold a metal object up to my lip to simulate using one which would not be not be illegal under this act,” Connoly asked. “You have no hope of enforcing this bill.”
A second bill that was approved bans the sale of the e-cigarettes to minors.
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