LA City Council Considers Banning e-Cigarette Sales to Minors

The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday will consider banning the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors.

The 15-person council will take up a proposal by Councilman Paul Koretz to take the first steps in prohibiting the sale of so-called "e-cigarettes," which allow users to inhale nicotine-laced liquid as vapor, to young people and children, or to extend existing restrictions on traditional cigarettes and tobacco products to e-cigarettes.

The number of high school students who said they used e-cigarettes doubled between 2011 and 2012, from 4.7 to 10 percent, according to Koretz's original motion.

Before the vote, Koretz will be joined by City Attorney Mike Feuer, council colleagues Mitch O'Farrell and Bernard Parks, and the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Dr. Jonathan Fielding, to discuss the proposed ban on e-cigarette sales. They will also announce another motion to regulate how e-cigarettes are used.

Several municipalities are now seeking to regulate e-cigarettes as they grow in popularity.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors last month voted to look into regulating electronic cigarette use under the county's anti-tobacco policy.

In August, Seal Beach's City Council set a 45-day moratorium on e-cigarette sales in new stores, something Los Angeles should also do, Koretz's motion states.