L.A. Approves of E-Cigarette Restictions

The Los Angeles City Council has approved new legislation that will effectively treat electronic cigarettes like their traditional tobacco-based counterparts.

These sweeping regulations will ban the use of e-cigarettes in most public places, including parks, schools, government buildings, and certain beaches. In a narrow vote, the use of the nicotine delivery devices was even outlawed in most 21-and-over nightlife establishments, such as bars and clubs.

Of course, much like tobacco smoking in hookah lounges, the legislation still permits indoor use of the devices at "vaping lounges," where patrons can sample various flavored cartages of the liquid nicotine their e-cigarettes vaporize for inhalation.

Interestingly, L.A. Times reporters say that the majority of the debate consisted of councilmen talking about the difficulties cigarettes have caused among loved ones, with Council President Herb Wesson even discussing his own current tobacco addiction, one he says will certainly be the cause of his eventual death.

However, one of the arguments commonly brought up against e-cigarette regulation is that they are not cigarettes. They are not even tobacco products, vaporizing pure liquid nicotine for a user's inhalation.

Councilman Joe Buscaino reportedly argued this very thing, introducing an amendment that would at least allow the devices in bars and nightclubs. However, the amendment only received six votes of support, falling short of the eight required for it to be enacted.

While e-cigarettes have shown preliminary evidence of being perfectly safe indoors -- showing none of the consequences of second-hand smoke that traditional cigarettes do -- many cities have already enacted similar legislation, citing fears that children exposed to e-cigarettes use constantly in public will be more likely to develop a nicotine or even tobacco smoking habit of their own.

Los Angeles will be joining notable cities including Albany, Beverly Hills, and the entire state of Utah with these restrictive measures against e-cigarettes.

Using that next-generation technology, Human Longevity Inc. hopes to be the first to map over 100,000 human genomes, building the world's largest database of human genetic information in the course of only a few years.

The company has declared on startup that their initial sequencing efforts will be aimed at cancer, adding to the already substantial genetic research, and hopefully tackling the disease once and for all.

The company published its first press release declaring its mission statement on March 4.

© MD News Daily.