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E-Cigarettes May Be Banned Indoors Under Update To Clean Air Act

FDA

Rules governing indoor smoking in Yellowstone County could soon include e-cigarettes.  A public hearing tonight in Billings will discuss the change.

The Montana Clean Indoor Air Act already prohibits smoking in enclosed public places. Officials with the Riverstone Board of Health want Yellowstone County to include e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems in that ban.

Kristin Page-Nei, the Government Relations Director of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network in Montana says vaping wasn’t popular back when the Clean Indoor Air Act was fully implemented in 2009, so it’s time for it to be updated.

“Back when the state clean indoor air act was passed we did not have the prevalence of e-cigarettes use and since then it has just gone through the roof, especially for our youth,” says Page-Nei.

She says information from a self-reporting survey finds 30% of Montana high school students report using e-cigarettes.

This is part of what motivated Riverstone Health into action.

“There are a variety of toxins including a number of carcinogens in second hand vapors that come off the electronic nicotine delivery devices,” says Michael Dennis, RiverSsone Board Chairman. “And we just do not know the extent of the risk associated with vapors.”

Second hand smoke is behind another proposal for Yellowstone County. It would push back the distance any smoke can be from doors, windows and ventilation systems.

“We are not doing anything revolutionary,” adds Dennis. “We are just following good public health policy.”

The Riverstone Board of Health is holding a public hearing on the proposed rule Wednesday, June 21, 2017, starting at 5 p.m. in the first floor conference room of the Lil Anderson Center on the Riverstone Health campus.

Public comments can be submitted to rule7@riverstonehealth.org. The public comment period will close at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 30, 2017.

If adopted, the rule would go into effect 60 days after being adopted and would apply throughout Yellowstone County.

Kay Erickson has been working in broadcasting in Billings for more than 20 years. She spent well over a decade as news assignment editor at KTVQ-TV before joining the staff at YPR. She is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, with a degree in broadcast journalism. Shortly after graduation she worked in Great Falls where she was one of the first female sports anchor and reporter in Montana.