BREMERTON — The Kitsap Public Health Board hosted its first of three “listening” meetings to hear public comment on the proposed vaping ordinance.

According to KPH health officer Susan Turner, “The Kitsap Public Health board began discussions about a vapor product health ordinance in 2012 when the health officer raised concerns about potential adverse health effects from exposure to vaping products, and about the tremendous popularity of vapor products among youth.”

VaperSoul.com defines vaping as, “the name given to the use of a vaporizer. The process involves applying heat to a liquid which generates vapor. The user, called a vaper (smoker in traditional cigarette circles) gets their nicotine hit through inhaling the almost odorless vapor (smoking equivalent of ‘smoke’).”

Relatively new on the scene, there are no definitive studies yet on the longterm health effects of vaping.

“Because the federal and state governments have not taken actions (to regulate vaping), the Kitsap Public Health board chose to move forward with the adoption of an ordinance,” Turner said.

The public meeting Thursday, March 10, in the Norm Dicks Government building in Bremerton, was the first of three meetings. The next meeting will be 6-7:30 p.m. Monday, March 21, in Port Orchard City Hall Chambers, 2016 Prospect St., Port Orchard. The final meting will be 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, in the Poulsbo City Hall Chambers, 200 Moe St. NE, Poulsbo.

These meetings are simply to receive feedback on the proposed ordinance, available at kitsappublichealth.org. No questions will be answered during the meeting.

Some key aspects of the proposed ordinances include: “No person may use a vapor product in a public place or any place of employment”; “The health officer is authorized to grant a limited exception to the (former) for sampling vapor products within vapor product retail outlets exclusively selling vapor products that meet all requirements of these regulations”; “No person shall sell, give or furnish, or cause to allow to be sold, given or furnished vapor products to a minor”; “No minor shall purchase, possess or obtain a vapor product”; “No person shall offer a vapor product for sale in an open, unsecured display that is accessible to the public without the intervention of a store employee, except in a retail outlet that has a valid permit”; “No person shall give, or cause or allow to be given, a vapor product or sample to any person at no cost or nominal cost, except to the limited extent allowed at vapor product retail outlets (with proper permits)”; and more.

At Bremerton’s meeting, about 20 members of the public spoke; most people spoke against the ordinances.

“The health department and our state legislature has concentrated so much on underage vaping that you have ignored me,” said Karen Johnson. “I am the invisible vaper. I do not walk down the street with my friends blowing clouds of water vapor. I don’t vape where you can’t smoke. You never see me, so you don’t know I’m out there.

“I am a person who smoked for decades and tried to quit using FDA-approved methods and failed. I’m the one who was running out of time to quit a 40-year habit. And I am not alone.”

Many of the people who spoke against the proposal said they used vaping products to quit smoking.

“I am a vaper,” said Patrick Turner. “I am 24 years old, and as of March 5, I celebrated one year clean off of cigarettes. I know this is a bit of a stretch, but I also celebrated, on the very same day, one year vaping.

“The day I picked up vaping, I put down a cigarette for the very last time.”

Kari Coykendall-Millard objected to the heavy restrictions on vaping in vape shops.

One woman, Kari Coydendall-Millard, said a doctor actually told her to start using e-cigarettes (a vape device).

Coykendall-Millard walked up to the podium at the meeting with the use of a cane.

“You guys were looking for information about people with chronic illnesses? Hello,” she said, with a bow and a gesture at her cane. She said that 20 years ago, she was in a car accident that “destroyed” her body. “I’m just telling you this because smoking destroys your entire immune system and it also makes you get sick more often.

“Three years ago, an ER doctor told me to go and get an e-cigarette, so I would stop getting blood clots in my leg.”

Kris Varner, a welder at Puget Sound Naval Station, said he has verifiable medical proof of the health benefits of vaping.

“I smoked for 17-and-a-half years. When I first started working at PSNS, I was a smoker. Six months after I started, I quit (smoking),” Varner said. “During your indoctrination, they have you go through an entire medical background … at my one-year mark, six months after I quit smoking, I did another pulmonary function test. I had a 27.5 percent increase in pulmonary function.”

Varner said that it’s important for him to “inform everyone that what I’m doing is not smoking.” He said vaping means he ingests water vapor with nicotine in it.

“That same chemical nicotine is in ketchup, French fries, eggplant parmesan. Have you ever had eggplant parmesan? It’s pretty good. But it has nicotine in it,” he said. “As a responsible person, I have an obligation to be informed of what smoking can do to me, and what the health benefits — benefits — of vaping are.

“Vaping is not bad for me. I know. I had a 27.5-percent increase in lung capacity. And that’s proven. My chest X-rays look better now than they ever have. I have medical proof for myself that it’s beneficial. I don’t know what more to say.”

One aspect of a vaping lifestyle that would be affected by the new ordinances is the ability to taste-test different vape juices, vape inside vaping stores, communicate at length with employees in vape shops and get demonstrations on how to use the equipment first hand.

“Without the ability to go into a shop, even initially back when I quit smoking using vapor products over three years ago, without the help of a staff member on the other side of the counter, I wasn’t going to be able to continue to use it, I wasn’t going to be able to figure out how to use the products,” said Dustin Hill at the meeting. “Without that, I probably would still be smoking, and we all know smoking kills.”

Brian O’Donnell said that restricting the amount of activities you can and can’t do in a vape shop with the employees “can be very detrimental. There are aspects of it that is dangerous, and without the professional knowledge given to us by vape store employees, we won’t be able to have that interaction.”

Shane Mabry, who commented at the meeting as well, owns “the largest vaping lounge in the state of Washington, and the only vaping lounge with a bar and a restaurant and a gaming area for vapers.” Mabry said the proposed ordinance will “destroy my business,” adversely affecting him and his 13 employees.

“To say the vaping community can not have a place to eat, vape and hang out is unconstitutional,” Mabry said. “If you are uncomfortable with vaping, don’t become a vaping store.”

Mabry said that after receiving an e-cigarette as a Christmas present one year, he was “a non-smoker” by the next, about a week later.

“I feel better, I can smell and taste things better than I could when I was a smoker,” Mabry said. “I’m healthier.”

Mabry added, “Vaping is at least 95-percent safer than smoking and well under the industry standards for a safe work environment. My 13 employees are all ex-smokers and most have quit using vapors. This ordinance threatens our business and our livelihoods, and if we are forced to, we will defend it.”

One argument against e-cigarettes includes the dangers of the devices themselves. Since many devices use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which can spontaneously combust if overcharged, there have been numerous reports of fires started due to vape devices. On Nov. 28, 2015, a room at Bremerton’s Oyster Bay Inn suffered fire damage due to an overcharged e-cigarette.

Julie Peterson, senior director of policy at the Foundation for Healthy Generations, spoke at the meeting in support of the ordinance.

Julie Peterson, senior director of policy at the Foundation for Healthy Generations, spoke at the meeting in support of the ordinance, and talked about this tendency.

Peterson said that a trauma and critical-care doctor said the instances of e-cigarettes causing burns and other related injuries was “increasing in frequency.”

However, other commenters pointed out that the ability to go to a vape shop and learn how to properly use the devices from employees with experience using them as well enabled vapers to avoid accidents.

“Of course something bad might happen; there’s always that chance,” said Bryce Posey. “You’ve got people in here, and I guarantee 95 percent have vaping devices on them, or in their cars. You don’t see any cars on fire … nobody’s on fire. Because they all know how to use them safely.”

Posey said they learn safe use in vape shops.

“In shops, that’s where we learn most of the things,” he said. “Not on the internet. We talk to each other, learn something. There’s never a day when I go into a shop where I don’t learn something new.”

Peterson also spoke about the possible health side effects of vaping.

“These devices produce an aerosol of exhaled nicotine, ultra-fine particles and other toxins, other than a harmless water vapor,” Peterson said. “Vaping is not without health risks, and nicotine, an addictive chemical, has been linked to cardiovascular disease.”

Peterson said that the FDA does not regulate ingredients of vape juices, which don’t require labels, so therefore, “we don’t know what’s in these liquids.”

Cynthia Briggs, a volunteer for the American Heart Association, said the AHA also supports these ordinances.

“The AHA is committed to protecting the health and wellbeing of residents in Kitsap County, and restricting the use of e-cigarettes and other electronic smoking devices is important to the overall health of our residents,” Briggs said. “We really encourage you to look at the health benefits of not smoking anything.”

Bremerton School District Superintendent supports the ordinance’s restriction regarding minors using or buying vape products.

Aaron Leavell, superintendent of the Bremerton School District, spoke at the meeting regarding the popularity of vaping among minors.

Leavell said that the district polled students recently, and a large number of students confessed to using a vaping device within 30 days of the poll (17 percent of eighth graders; 28 percent of sophomores; and 31 percent of seniors).

“In all of these categories, Bremerton kids were using vaping devices more than state averages,” Leavell said.

“I was pleased to see the level of focus and attention in the ordinance prohibiting minors purchasing, possessing or using vapor products,” he said. “In my opinion, as an educator, prevention is the best intervention, particularly when it relates to our young children and our teens.”

Leavell also said there has been a “dramatic increase in reported vaping use among students during the school day.”

One part of the ordinance everyone seemed to agree on, though, was restricting minors from buying or using vapor products.

“I do think we should continue the effort to make sure they do not fall into the hands of children or teens,” Mark Moore said. “However, I do think that in the instance of law-abiding adult citizens, our rights should be held on and preserved.”

Moore said he smoked from age 16 to 23, but has been cigarette free for two years, due to vaping.

Johnson, who kicked her 40-year smoking habit through vaping, said, “Next month I will be smoke free for one year. As much as I agree that vaping is an adult activity, please consider all the good these products have done for those of us who had pretty much given up on ever being tobacco free.”

To view the proposed vaping ordinance, find details for the next listening meeting or submit your comments on the ordinance online, visit kitsappublichealth.org.