Beverly Hills bans tobacco sales

Beverly Hills, the California city known as the home of some of Hollywood's biggest stars, will become the first US city to ban the sale of tobacco products in stores starting in 2021.

The Beverly Hills City Council unanimously voted 5-0 on Tuesday to prohibit the sale of most tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, electronic cigarettes, chewing tobacco and water pipers. The ordinance will officially go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021.

"We are a city that has taken the lead on restricting smoking and promoting public health. Somebody's got to be the first, so let it be us," Mayor John Mirisch said in a statement.

The restriction will affect any business in the city of about 34,000 people that sells tobacco, including convenience stores, pharmacies and gas stations. Cigar lounges will be exempt from the ban and local hotels can sell tobacco products to guests.

Council member said that the loss of any sales to local businesses is less important than the positive impact the tobacco restriction will have on public health.

Thomas Briant, executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, said the ban unfairly targets local gas stations and stores.

His organization warns that local tobacco sellers in Beverly Hills could see monthly income fall 25 percent to 45 percent due to the ban, as tobacco products make up more than one-third of convenience stores' in-store sales.

Briant told CBS News: "We believe this will cause convenience stores in Beverly Hills to lay-off employees and likely close their doors."

Cigarette smoking rates in the US have hit record lows, dropping by 67 percent since 1965, the year the government first began keeping records on smoking trends.

Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 14 percent of US adults (34 million) aged 18 and above were smokers in 2017, a drop from 15.5 percent in 2016. The report did not consider e-cigarette smokers.

A spokesman for The American Lung Association told China Daily in a statement: "While we applaud the City of Beverly Hills for pushing forward once again, to earn our full-throated support these measures must not include significant loopholes. The Lung Association supports proven effective tobacco control measures to address tobacco use — the nation's leading cause of preventable death and disease."

Beverly Hills' move appears to be the latest push toward a smoke-free society nationwide. At least 26 states have taken other steps like bans on smoking in enclosed places such as restaurants and bars.

Beverly Hills already bans nicotine and tobacco use in apartment buildings, on sidewalks and in city parks. Sales of flavored tobacco products are also outlawed.

Laurent Huber, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, a public health charity in Washington dedicated to zero deaths from smoking, told China Daily: "We think [Beverly Hills' decision] is progress moving in the right direction. Tobacco products are the only products that kill when used as intended. So, it makes sense that jurisdictions that care about health take the initiative and start phasing out some of those products."

The neighboring California city of Manhattan Beach, 18 miles from Beverly Hills, is also considering its own restrictions on sales of tobacco.