North Texas Town To Re-evaluate E-Cigarettes
MANSFIELD, Texas — A North Texas town is targeting electronic cigarettes with a six-month hold on all new permits for the shops that sell them. The Mansfield City Council plans to use that time to figure out how e-cigarettes fit into their current smoking ordinances. “I feel like this thing is saving my life,” Bryan Heftler, E-cigarette User said. “My wife is a lot happier that I’m not smoking cigarettes. I don’t smell like a stinky cigarette when I get home.” Brian Heftler, a federal government accountant, says he smokes at work and pretty much everywhere he goes, including airports, restaurants and department stores. Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices with a liquid nicotine solution that, when heated, creates a vapor. They’re extremely popular, and cities are trying to figure out where e-cigarettes fall into their smoking bans. On Monday night, Mansfield’s City Council voted for a 180-day moratorium on all new permits for businesses selling these products. Toby Gooch, co-owner of Vicious Vapors, a local vapor shop, was there. “I think that every business should have the opportunity to come up with whether they want to allow them or not,” Gooch said. “I mean, if the city chooses to make an ordinance on that, I would think that would be fine, too.” There are already some businesses already banning the devices. E-cigarette user Tiffany Pearson believes the smoke or vapor from the device is safe. “I use it everywhere, even in places it says not to because, in my opinion, if it’s not harming my kids, then no one else is being harmed by it either,” Pearson said. The product does have its critics and is not regulated by the food and drug administration. Forty attorneys general, not including Texas, have asked the agency to step in to do more e-cig research and to set rules, including sales to minors.
