Holden contract bans e-cigarette use

In recognition of the health concerns raised by e-cigarettes, the town of Holden and the Holden Firefighters Association have agreed in their recent contract to ban electronic cigarettes.
 
The three-year contract, which goes into effect on July 1, 2016, may be the first municipal contract in the country prohibiting the use of e-cigarettes by covered employees.
 
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that vaporize a nicotine solution, usually flavored, that is inhaled and exhaled by the user. E-cigarettes range from inexpensive disposables to expensive “tank systems” that can hold a larger amount of nicotine solution.
 
Sales of e-cigarettes – to new users as well as traditional tobacco smokers – have grown dramatically in the last few years. While smoking rates have decreased for both adults and youth in Massachusetts, this trend could be reversed with a new generation of young adults becoming addicted to nicotine through e-cigarettes.
 
Nearly 7 percent of American adults used e-cigarettes in 2013, and 10 percent of high school students tried them in 2012, according to research of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.
 
There are hundreds of e-cigarette products on the market, none of which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a smoking cessation aid. E-cigarettes are not currently regulated by any federal agency.
 
State law in Massachusetts does not ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, though 149 cities and towns prohibit such sales.
 
The use of e-cigarettes in the workplace or in public places is a public health concern because it is not fully known what is contained in the vapor exhaled by e-cigarette users, particularly when the nicotine solution is homemade and could contain illegal substances. To protect the public from this vapor, 82 cities and towns have banned the use of e-cigarettes in locations that are smoke-free under local and state law.
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