Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 22 June 2017
San Francisco to ban sales of vaping flavored liquid

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —
San Francisco city super-
visors unanimously ap-
proved a measure that
bans the sale of flavored
nicotine-laced liquid used
in electronic cigarettes
and flavored tobacco
products, saying nicotine
masked in cotton candy,
banana cream, mint and
other flavors entices kids
into a lifetime of addiction.
Other cities have passed
laws reducing access to
flavored vaping liquids
and flavored tobacco but
San Francisco is the first in
the country to approve a
sales ban.
Sales of vaping liquids that
taste like tobacco will still
be allowed.
“We’re focusing on fla-
vored products because
they are widely considered
to be a starter product for
future smokers,” said Su-
pervisor Malia Cohen, who
sponsored the bill. In this April 23, 2014 file photo, a man smokes an electronic cigarette in Chicago.
Gregory Conley, president Associated Press
of the American Vaping the number of high school effect in April 2018. “Menthol cools the throat Zouzounis, a board mem-
Association, a nonprofit or- and middle school students Cohen, who represents the so you don’t feel the smoke ber of the Arab American
ganization that advocates using e-cigarettes fell to 2.2 historically black Bayview- and the irritants and it masks Grocers Association whose
for vaping products, said million last year, from 3 mil- Hunters Point neighbor- the flavors. This legislation father owns a small corner
the ordinance is “complete lion the year before. The hood, said tobacco com- is about saying enough is store, told the San Francis-
nonsense” and ignores the CDC also estimates that panies advertise 10 times enough,” she added. co Chronicle.
benefits of flavored vaping the number of middle and more in black neighbor- Businesses that violate the She added: “Even at 15 per-
products. high school students using hoods and market candy law could have their city cent of our stock, it’s what
“There is a great deal of tobacco products fell to and fruit flavored products tobacco sales permits sus- brings people through the
evidence that flavors are 3.9 million last year, from 4.7 to young people, the LG- pended. door. We can’t compete
critical to helping adults million the year before. BTQ community and other Small business owners have with Safeway or Walgreens
quit smoking by helping “Unfortunately, minorities. said they will lose business for food and milk items, let
them disconnect from the San Francisco supervi- “For too many years, the because people can still alone the online retailers fill-
taste of tobacco,” said sors ignored that data tobacco industry has se- buy the flavored “e-liquid” ing the gap for everything
Conley, who quit smok- and the stories about how lectively targeted our and tobacco products in else.”
ing in 2010 with the help of vaping was the only thing young adults with prod- neighboring cities or pur- The San Francisco ban is
watermelon flavored “e- that helped many smokers ucts that are deceptively chase them online and the latest restriction on to-
liquid,” the liquid used in quit,” he said. associated with fruits and have them delivered to bacco products approved
electronic cigarettes. The measure approved mint and candy,” said Co- their San Francisco homes. in California. The state’s
Conley pointed to a report Tuesday requires another hen, whose grandmother “Those tobacco products cigarette tax increased in
by the Centers for Disease vote by the board next smoked menthol cigarettes aren’t 100 percent of our April by $2 per pack, more
Control and Prevention re- week, which is expected for years and died of em- revenue, but they are an than doubling the previous
leased last week that found to pass. The law would take physema. anchor product,” Miriam tax of 87 cents a pack.q
Fake quake: Report of major California temblor a false alarm

By ANDREW DALTON that happened in the same But suspiciously there were Santa Barbara Channel, on edge. Reporters and
Associated Press area nearly a century ago. no tweets or posts from and somehow set off the editors often use the au-
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The “The quake did happen, anyone having felt the tem- automated alert that went tomated emails from the
only tremors from a report- but it happened in 1925,” blor, which usually precede out to email accounts. USGS to begin their cover-
ed major earthquake off said Rafael Abreu, a geo- the official alerts and come The fake quake never ap- age, though the reports
the California coast came physicist from the US Geo- in big numbers. A quake of peared on the USGS web- themselves warn that they
on the internet. logical Survey. that size would have been site. contain automated infor-
Seismologists said Wednes- The report caused huge rip- felt by millions. A USGS statement said the mation that has not been
day’s automatically gener- ples on Twitter, where doz- It turns out that researchers research “was misinterpret- reviewed by a seismologist.
ated report of a magnitude ens of automated tweets from the California Institute ed by software as a current The Los Angeles Times was
6.8 quake in the Pacific were generated, and con- of Technology had been event. We are working to put in an especially bad
Ocean 10 miles west of cerned citizens were hop- using new information to resolve the issue.” spot. The newspaper sent
Santa Barbara was a false ing the people of California relocate the epicenter of The report also set news- out a robotic story that it
alarm based on a quake were OK. a 1925 earthquake in the rooms around the country quickly had to retract.q