Allegheny County Council on Tuesday decided to ban the use of electronic vapor devices in public indoor places.
The controversial ban, which was approved in an 8-5 vote, relegates the use of e-cigarettes and handheld vaporizers to the same status as tobacco products, forbidden in locations such as schools, government buildings, sports stadiums, restaurants and similar spaces.
The measure, which was supported by the Allegheny County Board of Health and county Executive Rich Fitzgerald, will take effect once Mr. Fitzgerald signs it into law.
Voting for the ban were Patrick Catena, Jim Ellenbogen, Paul Klein, Bob Macey, Chuck Martoni, John Palmiere, Denise Ranalli-Russell and DeWitt Walton. Council members Tom Baker, Samuel DeMarco III, Ed Kress, Cindy Kirk and Sue Means voted against it.
Council president John DeFazio abstained. Council member Nicholas Futules, who was absent, also abstained.
A two-hour debate on the ban was intense but never heated as the members were professionally courteous.
Opponents Mr. DeMarco and Ms. Means argued that despite the opinion of the county solicitor, they do not believe the county has the authority to ban vaping, something they noted the state Legislature could do but has not. They also said they thought the potential fines attached to the measure — which can run into thousands of dollars — are too harsh.
Ms. Kirk said she was troubled by the ban’s impact on businesses’ freedoms.
In supporting the ban, Mr. Klein said he did not believe the council could pass a public health question along to businesses to decide.
Mr. Ellenbogen said he voted for the ban because he didn’t consider it a tremendous burden to require people wishing to vape to go outside, away from those bothered or concerned by the vapor. He said he wasn’t convinced vaping is safe and preferred to err on the part of caution.
Mr. Fitzgerald, speaking earlier Tuesday, said the ban “sends a signal that Allegheny County is a vibrant place for healthy living and quality of life. This just adds to our reputation.”
The Health Department director, Dr. Karen Hacker, expressed her pleasure with the outcome in a statement saying, “This ordinance puts Allegheny County in the company of over 500 jurisdictions that have already passed similar regulations.”
Nine council members, sitting as the county’s Health and Human Services Committee, had forwarded the measure without a recommendation after a public hearing last month featuring input from health professionals, industry representatives, business owners and people who “vape.”
Some of those who had attended that and other hearings returned to make their final pitches during the council’s meeting, 14 arguing for the ban and five against.
Many people trying to quit smoking wean themselves off cigarettes by using e-cigarettes, which use a small heating coil to vaporize a nicotine solution into an aerosol mist. Users get the nicotine rush without exposure to tobacco’s cancer-causing tars.
Vaporizers — also known as vape pens or vapes — operate the same way but can contain different flavored liquids, different levels of nicotine or no nicotine at all.
“My concern,” Mr. Kress said in opposing the ban, “is that we're demonizing something that helps people.”
Proponents of the ban expressed concern that the devices could give young people a steppingstone yo smoking tobacco products. They also said more research needs to be done to determine the effect e-cigarettes have on users and others.
Vaping, Mr. Fitzgerald said, “impacts people who don’t want to be exposed to that.”
Referring to the county’s ban of tobacco products in public places, which went into effect 10 years ago, he said, “The smoking ban caused a lot of controversy, and I think it’s proven to be a very popular and a very good thing.” Mr. Fitzgerald had proposed that ban while he was a county council member.
Dan Majors: dmajors@post-gazette.com and 412-263-1456. Staff writer Adam Smeltz contributed.
First Published: March 8, 2017, 1:14 a.m.