San Francisco one step closer to banning e-cigarette sales

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco is one step closer to banning the sale of electronic cigarettes.

On Friday, a committee approved restricting them, and now the proposal will go before the full board.

San Francisco has argued that e-cigarettes should not be on shelves until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reviewed the threat they pose to public health.

Health and Human Services tells ABC7 while tobacco use by adolescents substantially declined in the last 40 years, from 2011 to 2016, the percentage of 12th graders who had used e-cigarettes increased from 4.7 to 13 percent, spiking at 16 percent in 2015.