Move to put electronic cigarettes beyond reach of tobacco smoking prohibitions

A senator in the US state of Wisconsin is sponsoring legislation that would make it clear that electronic cigarettes are not included in the state’s tobacco smoking ban, according to a WSAU report.

Glenn Grothman said the purpose of electronic cigarettes was to get people to stop using traditional cigarettes, which was something the state should be encouraging smokers to do.

While he had not heard more than a handful of complaints about businesses banning the use of electronic cigarettes, Grothman said he wanted to address the issue to keep it from becoming an ongoing problem as electronic cigarettes grew in popularity.

Grothman hopes to have a hearing held on the bill when the legislature returns in January.

Meanwhile, Melissa Horn of Health First Wisconsin believes changing the smoking ban so as to exempt electronic cigarettes is unnecessary because the current law includes no mention of the devices.

She said current interpretations of the law showed the devices were perfectly legal to use in public, though a business could move to ban them unilaterally.