§ 1010. PURPOSE AND FINDINGS.

The Board of Supervisors hereby finds:

(a) Alkyl nitrite products are held out for retail sale as "room odorizers" or room incenses, but purchasers commonly use them as inhalants to induce certain physical responses.

(b) The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, enforced by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), regulates the manufacture and sale of, inter alia, drugs and devices intended to affect the structure or any function of the human body. The FDA does not regulate room odorizers since they purportedly function as a general air incense and are not intended to affect the structure or any function of the human body. The Sherman Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law of California is based on the federal act and also does not regulate room odorizers containing alkyl nitrites. Therefore, these room odorizers are not currently subject to regulation by federal, state or local drug control agencies.

(c) The manufacturers and distributors are advertising alkyl nitrite products as safe, thus causing users of such products to believe that they can be inhaled without any harmful effects. These representations are contrary to the opinion of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission which has issued regulations requiring that consumer products containing alkyl nitrites be labeled to caution against inhaling, since the substance may be harmful to a person's health, and to statements by the FDA and the Center for Disease Control warning about possible adverse effects from ingesting or inhaling alkyl nitrites.

(d) The proliferation of the display of alkyl nitrite products in retail stores within the City and County of San Francisco, and the distribution of such products without proper warnings, exacerbates problems attending the abuse of alkyl nitrite products within this community.

(e) The problems caused by inhaling alkyl nitrites are as yet not completely understood, but there are indications that they may be carcinogenic and also may impair the immune system. Hence steps must be taken to stop the encouragement of the abuse of alkyl nitrite products as inhalants fostered by their unregulated display and sale.

(f) The Bureau of Communicable Disease Control of the Department of Public Health has prepared a report on the medical aspects of volatile alkyl nitrites and their relationship with AIDS. This report concludes that volatile alkyl nitrites are hazardous substances on toxicologic grounds alone and that there is epidemiologic evidence which associates moderate and heavy alkyl nitrite use with the development of Kaposi's sarcoma which is one of the principal manifestations of AIDS.

(g) This ordinance is necessary in order to discourage the abuse of products containing alkyl nitrites within the City and County of San Francisco.

(Amended by Ord. 200-86, App. 6/6/86)