San Antonio is on its way to adding vapes, or e-cigarettes, to its current indoor smoking ban ordinance.
Vapes aren’t the harmless smoking cessation tool they’re often portrayed as, and allowing people to vape indoors could “renormalize” the practice of indoor cigarette smoking.
Those reasons, plus the dramatic increase in youth vaping, prompted City Council’s Community Health Committee to vote Monday to bring the proposed amendment to the full council next month.
If approved, the ordinance could be updated by January, with an education campaign to let vapers know they can no longer puff in any enclosed public places within the city of San Antonio.
As with cigarettes under the current ban, vapes would also be banned outdoors at the San Antonio Zoo, at all outdoor sports arenas, stadiums and amphitheaters, pavilions and playgrounds in city-owned parks and within 20 feet of outdoor bus stops.
The current ban is complaint-driven rather than proactively policed.
Members of the council committee needed zero convincing after the presentation by Claude Jacob, health director for the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.
Jacob pointed out that many people are under the misapprehension that the vapor from e-cigarettes — hence the name vape — is harmless water vapor. It’s not, affecting those who inhale and those standing nearby. The concentration of toxicants in these aerosols poses an increased risk to the health of bystanders, he said.
E-cigarettes produce several dangerous chemicals, including acetaldehyde and formaldehyde, which can cause lung disease, according to the American Lung Association and other researchers. They also contain acrolein, an herbicide used to kill weeds that can cause acute lung injury and may cause asthma and lung cancer.
Second- and third-hand smoke and vaping aerosols also contain these chemicals. “Third-hand” refers to smoke and aerosols that settle on carpets, walls, furniture, clothing, hair and toys.
The American Thoracic Society says second and third-hand smoke and aerosols can be absorbed into the body through the skin and swallowed, especially by children who put their hands or other objects into their mouths.
“This is very much needed,” said chair Teri Castillo (D5). “It didn’t even need the presentation, right?” she joked.
E-cigarettes are increasingly popular among young people, as vape manufacturers offer these products in flavors like cotton candy, gummy bear, cherry and watermelon.
Much of the committee’s discussion focused on how the city could increase awareness of the dangers of vaping to young people, and keep the growing proliferation of cannabis vape shops farther from schools.
San Antonio schools have reported a steep rise in students caught vaping — with a majority of those apparently inhaling not nicotine but cannabis, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Northside ISD reported 1,664 vaping incidents last year — 1,077 for THC, 529 for nicotine and 58 for CBD, or cannabidiol. At SAISD, 498 of 677 vaping incidents involved THC last school year.
Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) was a city staffer in 2010 when San Antonio first passed its indoor smoking ban. She recalled fierce pushback by some businesses at the time.
Jacob said times have changed and he didn’t expect much, if any, pushback from businesses around this proposed amendment.
Adding vapes to San Antonio’s existing ordinance would bring it in line with Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Austin and dozens of other smaller cities across Texas, he said.
Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1) mimicked someone ducking down to take a drag off a vape pen. “It’s going to be so hard [to police it] but thank you for trying,” she said.