A city council health committee is expected to send to the full council a proposal to close loopholes in San Antonio's smoking ordinance.
The current ordinance does not prohibit electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) smoking or vaping indoors.
Dr. Claude Jacob, the head of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, told the community health committee that the city's smokefree policy was adopted in 2010. Four years later, e-cigarettes entered the marketplace. Jacob said the proposed changes would make it clear that those too are not allowed at public spaces.
"First, it will modernize our policies. Second, it will move us towards a more comprehensive policy. And third, it will create uniform standards between both types of cigarettes, combustible and electronic."
The most recent state figures show about 6% of area adults use e-cigarettes, and around one out of four students do the same.
Jacob told the committee during its Thursday meeting that tobacco companies market smokeless tobacco, little cigars, and e-cigarettes in youth-friendly flavors, like "cotton candy, gummy bear, cherry, and watermelon."
He also said e-cigarettes are not a safe alternative to cancer causing cigarettes or a safe way to quit tobacco smoking. He added that the toxicants from secondhand aerosols pose an increased risk to the health of all bystanders.
Jacob said there is concern indoor vaping might renormalize tobacco smoking in smoke free environments.
El Paso, Austin, Houston, and Dallas have already added e-cigarettes to their smokefree city policies.
The proposal could go before the full city council for a formal vote in the next couple of months and be effect by January.
