Edmonton council took a hard line on e-cigarettes Tuesday but when it came to back yard fire pit enforcement the conversation was a bit more hazy.

"I'm pleased that council took a precautionary approach with this until it's better understood," said Mayor Don Iveson following a vote to treat e-cigarettes with the same public scrutiny as conventional tobacco products, a move that puts Edmonton as the largest city of its kind in Canada to do so.

Until now, there has been no bylaw to prevent people who smoke the e-cigarettes - or vapers as they've become known - from using them in public places including on the LRT.

And though no evidence has yet been presented to suggest second-hand vapour from the e-cigarettes could be as dangerous as their non-electronic counterparts Iveson said siding with caution until that evidence surfaces is "a superseding good."

He isn't alone in his thinking.

"What the city did is a move in the right direction," said Jeff Cummings, spokesman for the Lung Association of Alberta.

Cummings said anything that mimics smoking can be considered a kind of gateway to the real thing for young people and trends have been seen recently of youth engaging in the electronic version more than ever.

He said it's now up to the province to follow the lead of municipalities like Edmonton, Red Deer, Cold Lake and Bonnyville and include e-cigarettes in their anti-tobacco legislation.

"Anybody under the age of 18 can still buy an e-cig and that's something we'd like to see change," he said. "A 10-year-old should not be going out and buying an e-cig at a vape shop."

Meanwhile, talk of backyard fire pits got a far more polarized reaction from council.

A motion to amend the fire pit bylaw so enforcement officers can better deal with residents who ignore pleas from smoke-sensitive neighbours to extinguish their fires had some supporting and others questioning how it would play out.

"There were people left with no recourse and at some point our ability to enforce ran out," explained Coun. Scott McKeen, who introduced the motion. "There's no sort of teeth at the end of a dispute like this."

The bylaw already includes ways for enforcement officers to deal with people breaking the existing bylaw through escalating fines, mediation and trying to get voluntary compliance. But it doesn't say how to deal with special circumstances involving people with particular sensitivity to smoke including asthma or other lung problems.

Council heard, however, that of the 200-300 nuisance complaints they have on file, none would fall into the category of sensitive residents complaining about fire pits.

"This has subjective nuance. That's the phrase that concerns me greatly," said Coun. Mike Nickel, suggesting without a hard line to follow when enforcing the bylaw it won't work as well.

Council voted to ask administration to bring a report of how to solve that problem.

david.lazzarino@sunmedia.ca

@SUNDaveLazz

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