From beaches to battery fires, California moves to outlaw disposable vapes

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Set us as preferred Vape pens and other disposable e-cigarettes soon could be illegal in California.On Wednesday, the state assembly approved Assembly Bill 762, which, if signed by Gov.Gavin Newsom, will make the battery-powered disposable devices illegal to manufacture, distribute or sell in the state.

The bill passed the senate Tuesday.“We are hopeful the Governor will recognize the threat these devices pose to our communities and that the costs of cleaning up the mess these devices leave are borne by ratepayers,” the bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), said in a press release.The bill targets single-use, battery-embedded electronic cigarettes containing tobacco products.Cannabis devices are exempt.

To be legal under the new law, a vaping device must be both refillable (or use replaceable pods) and have a rechargeable battery.Vapes have become a trash plague on streets and beaches and in parks where they leak toxic chemicals such as lead, lithium, cobalt, cadmium, chromium, copper, zinc and nickel as well as microplastics and battery acid.According to CalPIRG, 500,000 disposable vapes are thrown away every day in the U.S.That’s one every 5.7 seconds.Vapes use a small, lithium battery to heat liquids such as nicotine for users to inhale.

Disposable vapes can be used only a few times before they become useless and have to be discarded.The vaping industry says the technology saves lives and the cartridges are not nearly as bad a blight as cigarette butts.Neither the Vapor Technology Assn., the largest industry trade group, nor the American Vapor Manufacturers, an industry group representing independent vapor manufacturers, could be reached for comment.However, in comments this past spring, a spokesman for the vapor manufacturers, Jim McCarthy, said: “Vaping is the single most popular and...