Los Angeles City Council Unanimously Passes E-Cigarette Ordinance
On Tuesday, March 4th, 2014, the Los Angeles City Council approved new regulations on the use of e-cigarettes. The city council members unanimously decided to ban vaping e-cigarettes anywhere smoking is prohibited, with the exception of vaping lounges. The passage of this ordinance is a tremendous victory for Los Angeles tobacco control advocates as it will protect the public from exposure to secondhand e-cigarette emissions in the City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles—the nation’s second largest city—now joins New York, Boston, and Chicago in restricting e-cigarette use in public.
Pictured from left to right: Timothy Kordic, Dr. Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanti, Dr. Michael Ong, and Cynthia Hallet at the City Council Arts, Parks, Health, Aging and River Committee Hearing on February 24, 2014.
Dr. Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, the Principal Investigator and Director of the Tobacco Education and Materials Lab (TEAM Lab), testified at both the City Council Committee hearing and the City Council hearing on behalf of Dr. Jonathon Samet, and the Institute for Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. TEAM Lab commends Dr. Baezconde-Garbanati for her contributions towards the passage of the e-cigarette ordinance, as well as all the tobacco control advocates, and the Los Angeles City Council for being a leader in protecting the air we breathe.
Pictured from left to right: Dr. Michael Ong, Cynthia Hallet, LA City Attorney General Mike Feuer, City Councilmember Paul Koretz, City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, Dr. Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanti, and City Councilmember Bernard Parks at the press conference after the E-cigarette ordinance was passed.