REDWOOD CITY — The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to ban the sale of menthol and flavored tobacco products in unincorporated parts of the county.
The ordinance, which was sponsored by supervisors David Canepa and Carole Groom, passed unanimously.
“Big Tobacco is in decline and desperate to groom lifelong addicts,” Canepa said. “They are trying to create a new generation of smokers by luring them with e-cigarettes and thousands of juice flavors like cotton candy and bubble gum that directly appeal to children.”
“Passage of this ordinance is a clear message to Big Tobacco that luring new customers with these deceptive products will not be tolerated in San Mateo County,” he added.
E-cigarettes have been touted as both a safer alternative to cigarettes and a potential avenue by which existing smokers might quit. However, a study published in March found that vaping has led more people to start a real smoking habit, rather than avoid tobacco or quit in favor of e-cigarettes.
Researchers at Dartmouth College’s Norris Cancer Center determined about 2,070 cigarette-smoking adults in America quit in 2015 with the help of electronic devices. At the same time, an additional 168,000 adolescents and young adults who had never smoked cigarettes began smoking and eventually became daily cigarette smokers after first using e-cigarettes.
The passage of the ordinance came the same day voters in San Francisco threw their support behind a similar ban.
Bloomberg contributed to this report.
