LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt an ordinance banning flavored tobacco products, including menthol, and to call on Gov. Gavin Newsom to pass a statewide ban on vaping.
The board had originally held the item for discussion, but ultimately approved it without comment from any of the supervisors as the meeting ran long.
The board’s vote to ban flavored tobacco came out of a request last year by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to better regulate tobacco shops.
“The growing popularity of e-cigarettes and vaping puts the health and well-being of our communities, particularly our youth, at risk,” Ridley-Thomas said following last week’s initial vote to introduce the ordinance. “This is not an assault on businesses but a thoughtful and balanced approach to legislation.”
The ordinance, which will take effect in 30 days, will also require new business licenses for tobacco shops. Tobacco retailers will have 180 days after it takes effect to obtain licenses and to clear their shelves of flavored tobacco products.
The county acted in spite of protests last week by dozens of tobacco business owners and advocates who support vaping and e-cigarettes as aids to quitting smoking.
Online sales will not be prohibited and users will not be punished under the ordinance, according to county lawyers.
Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told the board last week that flavored tobacco products “are driving the current vaping epidemic among youth” and encouraging experimentation that can lead to lifelong addiction.
“Evidence is mounting that vaping can severely impact lung function,” Ferrer said, pointing to nine recent vaping deaths nationwide — including one in Los Angeles County — and decisions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and surgeon general to declare youth use an epidemic.
One pod of a popular vaping product has as much nicotine as a entire pack of regular cigarettes and nicotine can affect brain development up until the age of 25, according to Ferrer.
But dozens of vaping advocates said flavored products had helped them quit pack-a-day smoking habits and improved their health.
Business owners said they had no interest in selling to kids and pointed out that minors are violating the law when they use e-cigarettes and vaping products, but Ferrer said a compliance check showed that one in four shops inspected sold to underage customers.
The ordinance requires a new county business license for tobacco and e-cigarette retailers with an initial fee of $778 and an additional $142 fee every two years after that. Businesses will also be required to maintain a tobacco retail license — expanded to apply to stores that only sell electronic cigarettes or vaping products — that costs $235 per year.
Separately, Supervisors Hilda Solis and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl recommended sending a letter to the governor urging him to ban all vaping products until investigations into vaping-related hospitalizations and deaths could be completed. California’s Department of Public Health issued a health advisory last week urging everyone to refrain from vaping until those investigations can be resolved.
Solis issued a statement after the vote thanking Newsom for allocating $20 million to a vaping awareness campaign and directing state agencies to come up with recommendations to limit the sale of vaping products to anyone under 21.
“As the number of vaping-related deaths and hospitalizations climb, and as more states have taken steps to protect youth from the harmful effects of vaping products, we need to support our state leaders and ask them to step in to protect the public,” Solis said.
To date, some 102 Californians with a history of vaping have been hospitalized for severe breathing problems and lung damage, according to the state DPH. Two of those people have died, including one in Los Angeles County.
Though a specific cause has not yet been identified, the state agency warned that anyone inhaling a foreign substance puts themselves at risk and that vaping may lead to serious illness and death.
“Vaping is not just a concern for youth; the vaping cases under investigation affect youth and adults alike,” Acting State Public Health Officer Dr. Charity Dean said in a statement last week.
Officials are urging anyone with difficulty breathing after vaping to contact a doctor immediately. They also asked affected users not to discard used vaping cartridges, to allow state labs to analyze the remaining substance.
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Maria R Mainella says
I attended the Board of Supervisor’s Meeting simulcast at the Lancaster city library on the day the issue of the flavored vaping ban was taking place. I listened intently to the arguments of the unincorporated area business people who would be affected by the ban. I listened to the consumers of these products also. While I choose to live life un-addicted I know that nicotine is a powerful drug. I was surprised by the comments of the majority of users and how proud they were to have “stopped smoking” and now they use flavored vape. Do they not see or realize that they are still addicted to nicotine and not only that but each cartridge is the equivalent to one pack of cigarettes worth of the addictive chemical. This is what the tobacco companies are getting our children hooked on. Our lungs are not meant to inhale anything other than clean air. It is why coal miners were dying, why inhaling car fumes kill us, etc. These flavors attract children. A person I spoke to told me, kids wait outside the smoke shop waiting for someone to purchase it for them. All the adults should know just how hard it is to quit.. oh wait, they didn’t they just switched brands. If the adults can’t quit, imagine children going through that addiction that will eventually take away their future.
William says
@Respecting elected officials
I was holding Magnetlady to her own rules. She has a double-standard: adults should be able to do what they want with their bodies and she’s unhappy with what they do with their votes.
No pass. My comment went right over your head.
I wasn’t the one stating what adults should be allowed to do while complaining about what they do do at the ballot box. She was.
So, she’s unhappy with the elected officials. Now we know.
Addicted says
“Online sales will not be prohibited…”
The LAC ordinance was more of a hollow political move.
Sick and tired of our politicians telling us what we can do what we can't says
This is an insult on the people.
We should not be told what we can smoke and what we can’t smoke what we can drink what we can drive how we drive or anything else we are free you sucking politicians are a clown
If none of that came out right that’s just too bad I use voice messaging but I’m sick of our damn politicians telling us what we can do and what we can’t do it’s our lives leave us alone you want to dictate go to Russia or Cuba our politicians are just a bunch of socialists for their gain only no one else
Magnetlady says
Yes, you’re right… We’re ADULTS & we should be able to make our own decisions!! All of the County Supervisors are Liberals, only Barger is Conservative… We don’t have to keep voting in these people who want ”CONTROL” over our lives, banning straws is one example! Don’t we have more important things to worry about, like homelessness, Veterans, Gangs, Illegals in our Community… geesh, the list is tooooo long!!
William says
Hey, Magnetlady.
You unwittingly sank your own comment.
ADULTS voted for the County Supervisors or didn’t you know that? So, respect their DECISIONS.
Respecting elected officials says
Hey, William: You unwittingly sank your own comment. ADULTS voted for Mayor Hofbauer, so respect their DECISIONS.
East Lancaster says
Adults do not always make sound decisions. Google the Darwin Awards. Consider the fact that we have Rex and Marv running the Titanic.
We can only hope the next generation of voters will save the AV from the current crop of self centered cronies.
Respecting elected officials says
You’re absolutely right, but if you are going to tell another commenter to respect the decisions of adults that voted for your elected officials, it’s best to not have a hypocritical moment. Don’t preach, if you don’t practice what you preach. William preaching what he doesn’t practice; do you?
East Lancaster says
I preach and practice not voting for Rex, Marv, and their underlings. Does that make me a hypocrite?
William says
I was holding Magnetlady to her own “rules”. She has a double-standard: it’s okay for adults to do what they want substance-wise but isn’t satisfied when adults vote for whomever they vote for.
She trusts them with substances that could be harmful but doesn’t trust their judgment at the ballot box.
And, you thought you caught me in a hypocritical whatever. No, you didn’t. I didn’t make those 2 contradictory statements about adults from both sides of my keyboard. Sshe did. That’s why I wrote “unwittingly”.
So, there’s that. Nice try but no pass. My original comment went right over your head.