IRVINE – Just two weeks after taking effect, a UC Irvine campuswide ban on smoking is being revised to include a prohibition on electronic cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, the university said Monday.

The ban is being expanded to bring the Irvine campus into alignment with a University of California systemwide directive that prohibits the use of all nicotine products in indoor and outdoor areas, university spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon said.

Although UC issued its directive a year ago, UC Irvine crafted a policy in the ensuing months that exempted chewing tobacco and e-cigarettes. The campus argued at the time it had the “autonomy” to come up with its own policy.

“After the New Year, the new UC president clarified her position on the new smoking policy,” Lawhon said of Janet Napolitano.

Prior to Jan. 1, smoking was banned within 25 feet of campus buildings and on the grounds of the Student Center. E-cigarettes, which are battery-powered devices that emit nicotine-infused vapors, were banned indoors only.

A Jan. 1 Register report chronicled how UC Irvine was the only one of 10 UC campuses continuing to permit e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

“They know what the ban means,” UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein said last week, “and we’ll be working with them to make sure they do implement the ban in its entirety.”

Each of UC’s nine other campuses banned all smoking as of Jan. 1, plus e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco, according to a review of the new policies posted to their websites.

David Timberlake, a UC Irvine associate professor of public health and epidemiology, said he was troubled that the ban was apparently being revised for political rather than public health reasons.

“I’m a little displeased we didn’t have greater discussion of the impact of e-cigarettes,” said Timberlake, a member of the campus committee that developed the policy.

Timberlake said that from a public health perspective, the jury is still out on the health consequences of e-cigarettes.

UC Irvine’s ban won’t include punitive measures, such as fines, for at least two years; enforcement will consist of a request to extinguish, plus a brochure on how to kick the habit.

UC Irvine’s smoke-free task force will meet in the next few weeks to approve the policy’s final language, Lawhon said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or smartindale@ocregister.com