E-cigarettes: No tobacco? Sure. Safe alternative? Nobody knows, but market growing

19 May
 
Editor’s Note: The author makes several premature statements regarding the adverse effects of e-cigarettes.  The issues are being examined by a number of  agencies and it best we await the results of these studies as well as those being performed outside the federal government.
 

COLUMBIA – Ron Sena of Charleston saw his first electronic cigarette while on a cruise with his wife.

A smoker for 40 years, Sena was aware of the regulations surrounding smoking in restaurants, so he was surprised when a man pulled out what looked to be a cigarette in the dining room.

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FDA to “to assert regulatory authority over e-cigarettes in the near future”

16 May

From: Associated Press

FDA tobacco chief says health community grappling with idea that some products are less risky

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Changes in the marketplace have forced the public health community to wrestle with the idea that some tobacco products may pose less of a health risk than others, the new head of the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco control efforts told an industry group on Thursday.

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FDA details barriers for submitting SE, MRTP and New Tobacco Product applications, falsely claims agency’s goal is to reduce morbidity and mortality

14 May

Bill Godshall

e cigarette Forum

Title of article by FDA’s former CTFP director Lawrence Deyton and DHHS’ Corinne Husten falsely claims FDA‘s goal is to reduce tobacco morbidity and mortality, but then delineates many unwarranted and expensive barriers (i.e. SE, MRTP and New Product guidances) the agency has issued that effectively ban new smokeless tobacco products, and prevent smokers from being truthfully informed that smokefree alternatives are far less hazardous than cigarettes.

Understanding the Tobacco Control Act: efforts by the US Food and Drug Administration to make tobacco-related morbidity and mortality part of the USA’s past, not its future
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/la…735-7/fulltext

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The new EU directive: quit smoking or die

09 May

From: Spiked

New rules from Brussels effectively banning low-risk alternatives to cigarettes, like e-cigs, will cost lives.

Rob Lyons

In December 2012, the EU’s executive, the European Commission, announced its proposals to revise the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), originally passed in 2001, to take account of ‘significant scientific, market and international developments’ that have taken place since. But far from improving Europeans’ health, the proposals as they stand could well lead to many thousands, perhaps millions, of unnecessary early deaths.

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E-cigarettes’ dangers uncertain

08 May

From: San Francisco Chronicle

Kathryn Roethel

There are a lot of public health questions surrounding the use of e-cigarettes, but one thing is not in question – they are becoming a popular alternative to tobacco cigarettes. One in 5 smokers in the United States had tried e-cigarettes in 2011 – up from 1 in 10 in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

E-cigarettes, battery-powered devices that vaporize liquid nicotine so people can inhale it, began appearing in U.S. stores in 2007. They contain fewer hazardous chemicals than tobacco cigarettes but are so new that no long-term studies have been done to determine the health effects both for smokers and those who breathe in the vapors secondhand.

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Major employers add e-cigarettes to no-tobacco policies

01 May

From: WECT Channel 6

EW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) – Electronic cigarettes are gaining popularity among smokers, but not all employers are on board with the idea.

More and more companies are creating policies for using the smoking alternative at work.

E-cigarettes are not allowed anywhere at New Hanover Regional Medical Center – and that goes for employees too. A spokesperson for the hospital said administrators recently notified staff about this change.

Health warnings from the FDA prompted the change, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Employees with New Hanover County government are under the same restrictions. E-cigarettes are lumped in with the county’s larger tobacco policy.

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Supreme Court Rejects Tobacco Warnings Challenge

24 Apr
 by RTT Staff Writer

A suit brought by tobacco companies challenging new regulations which require them to display large, graphic warnings on cigarette packages will not be heard by the Supreme Court, reports The Hill.

The companies dispute the legality of a 2009 tobacco law, demanding that half of every pack of cigarettes is covered with an image and government-approved text warning of the deleterious health effects of tobacco use.

Don’t expect to see the new labels just yet. An appeals court previously blocked the labeling effort and that decision still stands, according to the U.S. News and World Report. According to the ruling, the FDA must prove that such a labeling effort will correlate with reduced smoking rates

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FDA warns public against e-cigarettes

14 Apr

 By

 

MANILA, Philippines—It would seem that electronic cigarettes, which is being promoted as a healthier substitute for tobacco, may just be as harmful as the real thing.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday warned the public against e-cigarettes, saying they cannot be considered legitimate therapy for smokers to quit and that they could turn children into smokers.

E-cigarettes have been gaining favor among Filipinos as higher tobacco taxes make smoking more expensive.

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E-cigarettes primarily used to quit tobacco, study finds

06 Apr

Fox  News 

Although the long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes are unknown, a new survey finds people who use the devices think of them as a safer alternative to tobacco and a means to break the smoking habit.

Researchers from the UK surveyed about 1,400 e-cigarette users on the Internet, 76 percent of whom said they started using their devices to replace cigarettes entirely. A much smaller percentage said their goal was to quit smoking or to improve their health.

One researcher who has studied e-cigarette users said the findings allay fears that people are using the devices to get more nicotine on top of what’s already in tobacco cigarettes, instead of for smoking cessation.

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FDA considers an independent body to monitor tobacco research

31 Mar

Thomson Reuters

By Jacob Hale Russell

(Reuters) – The Federal Drug Administration is considering a recommendation that an independent body should monitor some research put to the agency by tobacco companies, underscoring the growing concern about conflicts of interest in scientific research.

The recommendation was submitted by the Institute of Medicine, a scientific research organization that’s part of the National Academy of Sciences, and is based on its 2011 report. It suggests that any research provided to the FDA by manufacturers of so-called modified-risk tobacco products, which companies want to market as “less” risky, should be overseen by an independent body.

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