Pubdate: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 Source: Boston Herald (MA) Copyright: 2013 The Boston Herald, Inc Contact: http://news.bostonherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53 Note: Prints only very short LTEs. SMOKING OUT TRUE MOTIVE The cigarette police used to cloak their campaign to ban smoking in the concern for innocent victims of secondhand smoke. But with the decision by the city of Boston to ban all smoking in public parks - including ecigarettes, which pose no threat to non-smoking bystanders - - that facade has really fallen away. "There is no known safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, and secondhand smoke exposure in certain outdoor areas has been found to pose a significant health risk," the ordinance approved by the Boston City Council reads. But with the ban on the use of electronic cigarettes in public parks the council has moved to ban use of a product that produces no secondhand smoke. And there is no reliable scientific data to suggest that ecigarettes pose a serious threat to the health of those who use them - never mind threaten those who happen to be playing on the jungle gym 100 feet away. We are skeptical that an outdoor smoking ban in city parks will improve public health dramatically (or at all) but it may well meet the approval of city residents. Given the freedom with which people feel free to smoke pot on Boston Common and the likelihood that access to "medical" marijuana will only make that problem worse, the inclusion of marijuana in the ordinance is fine by us. And cigarette butts littering the parks is really just gross. But the inclusion of e-cigarettes in the park smoking ban is telling - - a measure of just how empowered this city's leaders feel to overreach. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom