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Orange County Health Officials Punt on E-cigarette Decision MAY 3, 2016 by EDITOR in FEATURED, PUBLIC HEALTH, STATE HEALTH POLICY, SUBSTANCE USE with 0 COMMENTS By Rose Hoban Usually, just a handful of people show up to meetings of the Orange County Board of Health, if they show up at all. But last week’s open meeting in Hillsborough on whether or not to include electronic cigarettes in the county’s ban on tobacco in restaurants, bars and public buildings drew several dozen people and provided emotional testimony both for and against the proposal. The board heard, at times, emotional testimony from more than a dozen Orange County residents, along with a presentation on an online survey and a review of the science around e-cigarettes. Some e-liquids from Liberty Flights and a 510N e-cigarette device. Many e-liquids are still mixed by local distributors and have remained regulated. Photo by wstryder, flickr creative commons In the end, county Health Director Colleen Bridger chose to hold off on a decision, citing the incomplete science on e-cigarettes, until the U.S. Surgeon General publishes a long-awaited report sometime later this year. “I’d really like our government to come out and say something before putting my board out on a limb,” Bridger said. Bridger also cited her concern that in the wake of the General Assembly’s controversial decision to preempt a Charlotte city ordinance on the use of bathrooms by transgender people, lawmakers in Raleigh might also move to preempt her board if they moved to put e-cigarettes under the county’s bar and restaurant tobacco ban. “I don’t think we do anything without worrying about the legislature coming in and preempting us,” she said. It’s happened before