Heart and Stroke Foundation hopes other cities follow Vancouver’s lead in e-cig restrictions

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – After Vancouver City Council’s decision to restrict e-cigarettes in the same way as traditional tobacco, the Heart and Stroke Foundation is hoping other governments across the country follow suit.

“Unfortunately, we don’t know about the long-term health consequences of e-cigarette use, and for that reason we want to protect Canadians — those who are inhaling, but also those who experience second-hand smoke,” says Lesley James with the foundation.

James believes that since there are a lot of unknowns surrounding e-cigarettes, their use should be restricted.

“There are a lot of things governments can do based on their jurisdictional mandate,” she says. “We want to see the restriction of use in public spaces, obviously.”

Meanwhile, doctors with Vancouver Coastal Health are applauding the City of Vancouver’s move to restrict e-cigarettes with new bylaws.

“It’s reasonable to say that this is a precautionary approach based on some signals of concern,” says Dr. Milan Khara. “But not an absolute clear understanding of what the harm may be from electronic cigarette vapour.”

“Based on research of others, such as the World Health Organization, there is certainly a signal that there are constituents of concern within electronic cigarette vapour,” he adds.

Vancouver’s new e-cigarette bylaws were passed by council with unanimous support last night, and James says she’d like to see other cities adopt similar laws to protect people from second-hand smoke.

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