Leeds Court Bans Electronic Cigarettes

[lindsayfox]

In what seems to be a very short sighted move, employees at the Leeds criminal courts have been asked to prevent people from smoking electronic cigarettes while in the building. The rationale employed was that it will lead to wrong behaviors even though the court acknowledges that e-cigarettes are not harmful to health in any way.

In September of this year, we saw a similar ban on e-cigarette, where a few Asian countries decided to ban e-cigarettes from train stations and shopping malls. Though their reasoning behind the ban was that they find it unsafe for people to smoke e-cigarettes in crowded places. I personally don't see the danger of holding an electronic device that produces vapor in any location regardless of how crowded it may be.

Anti-smoking groups had only criticism for this move. Surprisingly, pro-smoking groups shared the opinion. After all, it is widely known that e-cigarettes are extremely effective because they contain enough nicotine to deal with cravings.

What this particular rule illustrates is that there is a lot of confusion about electronic cigarettes; the sad fact is that a lot of people have no idea that this product can help them quit the habit with a great deal of ease. This lack of knowledge is sure to have a negative effect on public health because it will subvert people’s efforts to stop smoking.

The Yorkshire Evening Post carried a detailed story on this subject which you can read in detail here: http://www.yorkshire...s-ban-1-5063327

-Lindsay

Edited November 7, 2012 by lindsayfox

[Mike]

There is a ban of e-cigs in public buildings and work places in my city. Vaping is not very popular around here(Massachusetts) and the laws vary from county to county, set in place by the board of health. No one seems to know what the rules are and it isn't much of an issue, I vape everywhere and I don't get asked not to but I do it discretely. I'm not against these laws because it's not very fair to smokers to let people vape where they can't smoke...even though we can get away with it. ha ha, lol.

[ElixirVapors]

I think that the biggest problem is that while they are helpful and people are uneducated about the benefits...you can't exactly educate them about the benefits for risk of making "health claims" that aren't FDA approved..thus now giving the FDA a reason to take someone to court and further try to regulate them or ban them further because we all know where thier alliegences really are (money in taxing cigs). Until the FDA can find a way to tax cigs aswell we dont want to open a can of worms for them to potential find some ridiculous ground to ban them altogether.

[Jayden]

From the sounds of a lot of these bans, it's just because they don't really understand vaping and it's still relatively new I suppose.. people take too long to adjust to things and keep closed minds. Hopefully it wont be long before we see these bans being lifted

[BHam]

From the sounds of a lot of these bans, it's just because they don't really understand vaping and it's still relatively new I suppose.. people take too long to adjust to things and keep closed minds. Hopefully it wont be long before we see these bans being lifted

9/10 times when people tell me about bans in their workplace it's because the HR or the governing body lumps ecigs with tobacco use.

[JimHarris]

9/10 times when people tell me about bans in their workplace it's because the HR or the governing body lumps ecigs with tobacco use.

Exactly what I was coming in here to say. Luckily for me, I work at a company where the HR Directors smokes E-cigarettes, so they're basically allowed throughout the office, as long as it's not considered "disruptive."

[seanben]

Actually it is a kind of weird that you cant even vape in place prohibited for smoking..Its not right..