Some fear California's tax on e-cigarettes may deter smokers

In search of funds, a growing number of states are taxing electronic cigarettes — a trend that is sparking a fierce public health debate over whether it will deter smokers from switching to a safer alternative.

The taxation of e-cigarettes has split the public health community between those who support e-cigarettes being treated the same as tobacco and those who see them as an important tool in the fight against smoking, the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States.

E-cigarettes heat a nicotine liquid into a vapor, delivering the chemical that smokers crave without the harmful tar generated from burning tobacco.

E-cigarettes emit chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other harm, and there is concern over the long-term impact that nicotine has on adolescent brain development, according to California's Public Health Department.

Representatives from around 180 countries participating in the World Health Organization's global tobacco control treaty negotiations, including the United States, adopted a declaration earlier this month in which they vowed to prohibit or regulate the sale of e-cigarettes.

Public health experts, like Warner, favor a staggered system that applies a heavy tax on tobacco cigarettes, a lighter tax on e-cigarettes and keeping no tax on nicotine replacement therapies that have been determined to be relatively risk-free.