A San Francisco city ordinance banning smokeless tobacco in playing fields throughout the city could make the Giants the first Major League Baseball team to ban chew.
City supervisors voted unanimously this week to ban smokeless tobacco and specifically targeted baseball, where chew is popular among players, according to a statement from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which pushed for the law,
Time.com reports.
The ordinance must pass one more vote and, if San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee signs it, the rule will be implemented on Jan. 1 2016 — in time for the MLB baseball season.
Jess Montejano, a legislative aide for the ban’s sponsor, Supervisor Mark Farrell, told Time “it’s a serious health issue” in which “kids are seeing their athletic heroes chewing tobacco on the baseball diamond.”
The MLB has issued a statement saying that supports bans on smokeless tobacco and has been seeking “a ban of its use on-field in discussions with the Major League Baseball Players Association.”
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