Chris Putnam lights up at his desk several times a day. And, surprisingly enough, nobody seems to care.
“We
can pretty much do it anywhere we want,” said Putnam, who is allowed to
smoke electronic cigarettes while he handles phone and front-counter
sales for XL Parts in Fort Worth.
By being allowed to use the
e-cigarettes inside the workplace, Putnam and his co-workers at the auto
parts distribution company who also use the devices say they get more
work done. They are commonly known as “vapers.”
A pro-vaping
policy “helps the company and me,” said Putnam. “To smoke here you have
to go completely outside the building, a good 15-minute round trip that
you’re not working.”
XL Parts may be part of a growing number of
employers who still don’t want to see tobacco smoke in the workplace,
but who turn a blind eye to e-cigarette vapors, changing policies that
often banish employees to the far corners of the property, advocates of
smoking alternatives said.
Some companies, unlike XL Parts, are reluctant to publicize that they allow vaping, the
Star-Telegram found.
Many of the 1,200 or so members of North Texas Vapers — an organization
that has more than doubled its membership in the last year — have a
don’t-ask-don’t-tell-like arrangements with their employers, said Mike
Wright, founder of the group.
They can use their e-cigarettes in
their cubicles or offices “as long as it doesn’t draw negative
attention,” he said. “That improves efficiency about 30 percent because
they’re not stopping work to get up and go somewhere to vape. But if
there are one or two yoyos that want to make smoke signals, it ruins it
for everybody.”
It’s difficult to tell how many employers are pro-vaping, said Carl V. Phillips, a spokesman for
Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association.
Unfortunately,
there’s “an enormous amount of political pressure to shut down the
freedom of e-cigarattes that has nothing to do with anything
legitimate,” he said.
Stop-smoking aid
An
e-cigarette simulates smoking by vaporizing a liquid inserted into the
device into an aerosol mist. The vapor produced by e-cigarettes isn’t
completely odorless, but the aromas aren’t unpleasant and don’t hang in
the air or cling to the users like tobacco smoke.
For the vapers,
the devices give them the nicotine hit they crave, and they are often
used by individuals who are trying to stop smoking. Putnam, for example,
is a former cigarette smoker who kicked tobacco by switching to an
e-cigarette.
Linc Williamsthe director of
We Are Vapers , a documentary on the vaping movement, said e-cigarettes help people quit smoking, but don’t encourage anyone to smoke, or vape.
“The
ASH UK, which is an anti-smoking group in the United Kingdom, did a survey of people and found no evidence to support this gateway argument,” he said.
Awareness of the tobacco alternative is growing. According to
studies by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
about 10 percent of adult cigarette smokers had tried e-cigarettes in
2010. In 2011, that number grew to 21 percent. A CDC spokesperson said
that about 6 percent of all adults surveyed in 2011 had tried
e-cigarettes, roughly double the number in 2010.
Despite claims that e-cigarrettes are a better alternative, anti-smoking organizations are also anti-vaping.
The
American Cancer Society’s advocacy arm, the
Cancer Action Network, has called on the
Food and Drug Administration to regulate e-cigarettes, said spokeswoman Joy Donovan Brandon.
“There
has been a dramatic increase in use, so there’s a push for the FDA to
regulate these products,” Donovan said. “We think people have the right
to know what they’re inhaling.”
The
American Lung Association
also is concerned about e-cigarettes “because no one knows what’s in
them and what the ultimate impact on our health will be,” said
spokeswoman Mary Havel McGinty.
“We don’t know what the long-term
consequences of the use of electronic cigarettes are, and whether or
not it will start kids on a lifelong addiction to nicotine,” McGinty
said.
Vapers who mix their own or buy liquids from specialized
dealers and online sources know what they’re inhaling, Wright said. It
is a vaporized solution of water,
propylene glycol and/or
vegetable glycerin, food-grade flavoring and nicotine in strengths that typically vary from about 18 milligrams to zero, he said.
But many vapers are just as interested in FDA regulation of e-cigarettes, said Spike Babaian, president of the
National Vapers Club.
The group has concerns about the health of its members who have
consumed an unregulated product “and we hope that the FDA will expedite
the process of proposing safety regulations for e-cigarettes in the
interest of public health,” she said.
Secondhand vapor
The
perception that the e-cigarettes are at least safer to those who sit
around someone who is using them was enough for the new owners of XL
Parts, who banned smoking in the warehouse but did allow e-cigarettes to
be used by employees at their desks.
“We have several people who
use them, probably six or eight,” said Cecil Traister, a shop
supervisor who has never smoked. “They’re basically odorless.”
Junior
Del Angel, a vaper who’s on the management team of a Fuzzy’s Taco in
Arlington, said he and other vaping employees don’t do it around the
food or in the dining area. But his occasional vaping behind the cash
register hasn’t upset anyone.
“Sometimes people see me do it and
they’re curious about the e-cigarette,” he said. “But I explain it to
them and they’re OK with it.”
So far, the city of Arlington’s OK
with it, too, despite the fact that tobacco use is forbidden almost
everywhere. The use of e-cigarettes is not prohibited under the city’s
smoking ordinance, said spokeswoman Sana Syed.
“Since vaping is
not prohibited under our current smoking ordinance, it would be left to
each property or business owner to set their own policies regarding the
use of the product,” she said.
Area cities that don’t treat vaping and smoking differently include Fort Worth and Colleyville.
The issue of whether to allow or prohibit vaping hasn’t come up in Southlake, said spokeswoman Pilar Schank.
Euless
also doesn’t have an official policy on vaping. But it imposes a
monthly surcharge on health insurance for employees and their spouses
who use tobacco products, said spokeswoman Betsy Deck. Tobacco cessation
products prescribed by a physician are 100 percent covered by the city,
but not e-cigarettes.
“With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, electronic cigarettes are no longer considered a viable option for quitting smoking,” she said. “I’m not sure the reason.”
But
policies and opinions aside, Wright said that clever vapers can do it
virtually anywhere with impunity. Because the vapor dissipates so
quickly, stealth vaping can be done practically under people’s noses
without them being aware.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/07/13/4999807/smokers-welcomed-back-inside-the.html#storylink=cpy
