The Ames City Council voted to direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance to ban the use of electronic cigarette, or e-cigs, in all public places at its meeting Tuesday night. Members voted 5-1 to adopt the ban that will mirror Iowa’s Smokefree Air Act, already in place for other forms of tobacco consumption in the state.

The City Council vote came just one month after Iowa State’s Professional and Scientific Council voted to support the inclusion of e-cigs in the Smoke-Free Campus policy. One of the council members cited health concerns as the reason for her support of the inclusion of e-cigs in the policy.

The e-cig ban is an important conversation to have because, according to the Centers for Disease Control, this year is the first time e-cig use has surpassed the use of all other tobacco products and consumption methods, including traditional cigarettes. With more people using this method overall, it is wise to finally have this discussion.

Both the City Council and the Professional and Scientific Council made the right decision in voting to ban these e-cigs from our campus. While some suggest this form of tobacco use is safer than others, an educational environment should be safe for all students to learn in without the distraction or worries of negative health effects of e-cigs.

Many e-cig supports believe that all the device gives off is water vapor but inhaling the secondhand emissions can be dangerous. According to the American Lung Association website, not much is known about the effects of the vapor. However, two primary studies have shown chemicals, all carcinogens, are given off by the vapor.

Additionally, e-cigs are not regulated at all by the Food and Drug Administration, according to the American Lung Association. This means that there is no federal oversight on the safety or contents of this tobacco consumption method.

Lastly, the decision was the right one because it is what community members seem to want. Two members of the ISU Health Promotion Club presented a survey at the City Council meeting that showed Ames residents were mostly against the use of e-cigs in public places.

While we do not know totally what kind of effects these e-cigs have, it is smart to include them in smoke-free policies and laws. The typical “better safe than sorry” applies in this case. If the city and university can keep the community away from potentially harmful e-cigs and its secondhand effects — at least until we better understand it — it is the best course of action.