Asheville was wise in recently passing an ordinance that bans the use of e-cigarettes in places where regular cigarette smoking is also banned.

While e-cigarettes use a mechanical heating element, battery or electronic circuit to heat and vaporize a liquid solution in a cartridge usually containing nicotine, it is not known whether they are less addictive than cigarettes and their health affects.

E-cigarettes have been on the market for only a decade, explaining the lack of exhaustive testing necessary to establish whether they are safe for those who use them, or those near those who use them. 

“There is no consistency with what is in them, so they haven’t gotten a real take on their safety,” City Councilman Cecil Bothwell said during a March 10 council meeting at which the ban was passed as a noncontroversial item.

Deputy City Attorney Martha McGlohon told council that the Food and Drug Administration had conducted a study on two leading e-cigarette brands and found “evidence of toxic chemicals in both.” 

Some studies have shown the release of measurable amounts of carcinogens from exhaled vapors, she added. “Finally, in the last six months, there have been battery explosions either during charging of the e-cigarette or while in use,” McGlohon noted.

The ban does not affect private restaurants or other establishments, but it — thankfully — prohibits e-cigarette use from city buses, parks and greenways, along with the Asheville Regional Airport, the U.S. Cellular Center and Pack Place Education, Arts and Science Center, except in designated smoking areas.