The Board of Health is looking to make the town's smoking regulations more restrictive.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Board of Health is aiming to have more restrictive smoking and tobacco regulations in place in town by the first of next year.

 

The board met earlier this month to discuss draft regulations that address the growing popularity of flavored tobacco products and other "starter" products.

 

Under the proposed regulation, sale of flavored tobacco products would be prohibited in Williamstown except in "smoking bars or retail tobacco stores." The town currently has no businesses that meet those definitions.

 

Other changes under consideration include a ban on smoking anywhere food is being served — inside or out — and a ban on tobacco sales at "health care institutions," including pharmacies and drugstores.

 

The board discussed holding a final internal review of the draft regulations at its August meeting and scheduling a public hearing for the fall with an eye toward making the new rules effective on Jan. 1, 2015.

 

The board at its July 7 meeting took input from a representative of the Berkshire Area Health Education Center, a partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

 

"I appreciate that you're looking at flavoring," said Joan G. Rubel, the director of public health initiatives for Berkshire AHEC.

 

"That makes tobacco palatable and is a draw in itself. There's a reason we don't sell flavored cigarettes anymore. [Flavoring] is the hook."

 

The federal Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 banned cigarettes with "characterizing flavors" except for menthol.

 

But nicotine solutions, which are delivered via devices like electronic cigarettes, are available in flavors like "cotton candy" and "bubble gum."

 

Rubel told the the Williamstown board that the language on flavored tobacco products in its proposed regulations mirrors language in a Providence, R.I., regulation that was upheld last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

 

On Rubel's advice, the board decided to draft rules that prohibit smoking anywhere food is being served in town. Originally, the draft regulation would have allowed smoking in an "unenclosed outdoor eating area or unenclosed outdoor bar," provided the proprietor post proper signage.

 

"You're allowing people to smoke at outdoor tables at restaurants, but the waitstaff that comes up to the tables are exposed [to secondhand smoke]," Rubel said of the rules as drafted. "A lot of towns are banning smoking at outdoor tables, too ... partly to protect the waitstaff."

 

"I want to be as strict as we can," board member Dr. Erwin Stuebner said. "I think Joan's point is a good one."

 

The proposed code cites mounting evidence of problems related to secondhand smoke or "environmental tobacco smoke."

 

"[ETS] may cause discomfort, respiratory disorders (especially in children if continually exposed in their homes) and, on occasion, lung cancer and other ailments in non-smokers," the regulations' proposed preamble reads.

 

The draft regulations under consideration by the board include a number of expanded and or new definitions of what's regulated by the town and even the title of the code itself. Chapter 158 of the town's by-laws currently is titled "Smoking" but would change to "Smoking and Tobacco Products" if the new regulations are approved.

 

One product that won't be for sale in Williamstown if the regulations are approved as written: blunt wraps. The hollow tubes designed to be filled with "loose tobacco or other fillers" by the user would be banned.

 

Another change under consideration is a prohibition on "single unit sales." No one would be allowed to sell a single package of fewer than two cigars, and that package would have to be priced at $7.50 or more, a price point that could be adjusted in the future by the Board of Health. Like the prohibition on flavored products, the ban on "single dose" tobacco products is aimed at making them less attractive to youngsters.