Ordinance will now include “vapor products” and “alternative nicotine products”
KCJJ Staff
02/27/19
Johnson County is expanding its ban on smoking and related products in public.
The Board of Supervisors discussed the issue during a Wednesday work session, adding “vapor products” and “alternative nicotine products” to its ban on e-cigarettes. The county previously adopted a ban on e-cigarettes in 2013, having already banned smoking and other tobacco products on county-owned property.
The updated ordinance also expands to include any public place, including restaurants and bars, matching it with its tobacco ban.
Susan Vileta, health educator with Johnson County Public Health, told the Board while tobacco has been demonized among young people, e-cigarettes and related products have not.
“One of the big misnomers – and to all age groups I talk about this – it’s not harmless water vapor,” Vileta said. “Unless you’re just putting water in there to smoke, it is not harmless water vapor. There’s all those chemicals you see listed (on the product) and many more. I assume at some point we’ll find out there are thousands, like there are with regular tobacco products, but these are just some of them.”
The new ban moves beyond the previously-banned products which mostly only included tobacco to include any product containing nicotine, a chemical stimulant found in tobacco and other plants.
Five cities in the county already have a ban on the use of e-cigarettes in public places: Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, University Heights, and Solon. Vileta says the cities of Lone Tree, Oxford, Shueyville, and Swisher asked to be included in the ordinance, while Tiffin is still undecided and the city of Hills asked not to be included.
But Ryan Maas, assistant county attorney, says if Hills doesn’t want to be included, its city council will have to specifically pass an ordinance opting out of the ban. He says anyone caught breaking the law would face a civil infraction, with fines starting at $100.
The update to the ordinance still has to be officially approved with a vote at a formal meeting.