. >> supervisor walton: ted guggenheim, nahara, frank ayala, nakiim shareef, tanner wakefield. >> good afternoon, supervisor mandelman, supervisor walton, supervisor stefani. i'm here to represent the c.d.c., the chinese democratic club. we're one of the oldest clubs in the country and one of the oldest democratic clubs in the city. we've been advocating for the rights of chinese americans for over six decades, and i speak to you today as a smoker, as well. our club is here to speak on the prohibition of e-cigarettes in the city. the issue should be about protecting our young people and not about completing a ban on e-cigarettes. and let me tell you why my organization is speaking out today. we oppose the ban as it is because it is -- unequally affects minorities in san francisco and denies adults who wish to switch away from traditional cigarettes. e-cigarettes are an alternative, and some people claim it helps them reduce smoking, so why is the government trying to ban this? studies have shown that asian american groups are more likely to initiate smoking, so we believe that e-cigare

my name is tanner wakefield? the tobacco -- generally -- jool has had the opportunity to submit for f.d.a. approval for three years, but it didn't, so why should public health be punished for its negligence? these aren't a harm reduction product. far more youth are being addicted to nicotine than switching from cigarettes. kids have initiated e-cigarette use in droves because it appears safer, and it appears with less risk. as a result, more people are putting themselves at risk with nicotine addiction. my grandpa, when he used cigarettes at 14, he continues to use nicotine at 89. should we abandon kids to a lifelong addiction at the hands of predatory companies? so i urge you to ban this. thank you. >> my name is tony. i just wanted to say i grew up at a time when we didn't have access to things like vaporizers to nicotine. i lost people to cigarettes because they didn't have the ability to things like that. nicotine helped us wipe out the plague when we didn't have antibiotics in the 16th century. it was a brut