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UNITED STATES TODAY & # 39; HUI

The air in Beverly Hills, California, could be a little clearer by 2021, thanks to a new law banning the sale of tobacco products in the city.

Officials in the suburbs of Los Angeles, known for their prestige, celebrity and excessive wealth, believe they believe their ban is a first in the country.

"Someone must be first, so let's be it," said Mayor John Mirisch.

City Council unanimously approved Tuesday night an order banning the sale of various nicotine-laden products, including cigarettes, chewing tobacco and electronic cigarettes.

The ordinance, which will come into effect on January 1, 2021, will apply to gas stations, convenience stores, pharmacies and grocery stores.

Beverly Hills has become one of the first cities to ban tobacco sales, including cigarettes. The ban begins in 2021. It's a stock photo of cigarettes on a store shelf. (Photo: Mario Tama / Getty Images)

The move consists of Beverly Hills & # 39; An already strict regulation of the use of tobacco and nicotine, which includes the ban on smoking in apartment complexes, on public sidewalks and in urban parks, among other areas. The sale of flavored tobacco products is already banned by the city.

Mirisch said he hoped that by removing tobacco products, including popular electronic cigarettes, store shelves, the city could prevent children from developing a nicotine addiction.

"Children will not want to start and (smoking) will not be considered cool or anything other than harmful and bad," Mirisch said.

According to Ruth Malone, a professor at the University of California San Francisco and editor of Tobacco Control, a smokers' newspaper, California has one of the lowest smoking rates in the country, just behind Utah. tobacco control policy.

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"This is not the first time communities are trying to do it," Malone said. "When you understand the story of the cigarette as a consumer product, which is the most deadly product ever made, it makes sense that someone ends up saying:" Wait a minute, it's too dangerous to be sold on every street corner. "

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The new law will include some exceptions. For example, since Beverly Hills hosts many international visitors, hotel concierges can still sell cigarettes to registered customers. An exemption will also be granted to the city's three existing cigar lounges.

City Councilor Lili Bosse said the move was not meant to tell people they could not smoke, only that the city would no longer allow smoking.

"The right of people to smoke is obviously a sacred thing," she said. "What we are saying is that we will not participate in the sale, they will not buy it in our city."

She added that the ban was consistent with Beverly Hills' goal of physical, mental and emotional health. The ban on smoking includes the offer to participate in an event Free smoking cessation program for the inhabitants of the city and offered through the intermediary of a large hospital.

"Whoever wants to quit, we will pay," she said.

The American Lung Association praised the city's decision, but said in a statement that these measures "should not have significant deficiencies".

"The Lung Association supports the adoption of effective and proven tobacco control measures to combat tobacco use – the leading cause of death and preventable disease in the country," and we look forward to seeing the data on tobacco use resulting from this one-of-a-kind measure, "said the president, the association said.

Malone hopes that the order will encourage other cities to do the same and encourage tobacco companies to completely eliminate cigarettes.

"People used tobacco in the 1800s," said Malone. "But they are not dead in the numbers we see now, before the invention of the machine-rolled cigarette and the really aggressive marketing that followed."

"So, you know, a tobacco historian and the tobacco industry has referred to the last century as the" century of cigarette smoking, "she said. "And I think people are starting to say," Wait a minute, we do not need another century of cigarettes here, just to protect the tobacco companies. "

Contributor: Chris Woodyard, USA Today

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