Electronic cigarettes would be banned in public places under a proposed amendment to the Kansas City, Kan., smoking ordinance.

Currently, smoking tobacco is banned from use in public places, including City Hall, public meeting rooms, enclosed workplaces and restaurants in Kansas City, Kan.

Unified Government Commissioner Ann Murguia asked other UG commissioners on a UG committee to approve the ban on the electronic cigarettes. She and health professionals from the University of Kansas Medical Center made a presentation at the Administration and Human Services Standing Committee meeting Monday, May 18, at City Hall.

The committee approved sending the issue to the full UG Commission at a future meeting.

Kim Kimminau, an associate professor in family medicine at KU Medical Center, who is director of the Center for Community Health Improvement, and who holds a doctorate degree, told the commissioners that adult smokers of electronic cigarettes are less likely to quit smoking when they use the electronic devices. Claims about health benefits from use of e-cigarettes have not been supported by scientific evidence, she said.

She said there were health hazards to electronic cigarettes. Nicotine, added to aerosol used for electronic cigarettes, is addictive, she said.

She said containers for electronic cigarettes are made in such a way that they can be tampered with, and drugs could be added to it.

Poison control centers are getting calls about children who are getting into the electronic cigarettes, she said.

Because a lot of the current city ordinances use language banning smoking and tobacco, the electronic cigarettes may fall through the cracks of the current smoking ordinances, according to the doctors.

With aerosol and a chemically produced nicotine, they are not always tobacco products, she said.

She said the KU School of Law has made a full study nationwide of amendments that may be put in place to protect the nation’s health, and model ordinances have been provided so that the UG can easily change its ordinances. The same level of coverage of cigarettes would be provided about electronic cigarettes.

McPherson, Overland Park and Olathe have already modified their ordinances to exclude electronic cigarettes, she said.

Joe Connor, assistant county administrator, said this would be a citywide ordinance for Kansas City, Kan., not affecting the other cities in the county. It would go to the UG’s full commission for consideration as a new separate ordinance, according to UG chief legal counsel, Jody Boeding.

Also, Misty Brown, a member of the UG legal staff, said she has already done a little work to modify the ordinance and put together a draft in advance of the issue going to the commission. She said there was some language drafted earlier about e-cigarettes that were heated, but now the technology has evolved so that they are not heated. With some minor changes, the ordinance could be updated.