A Public Participation Forum for the FDA Center for Tobacco Products and its Federal Advisory Committee (TPSAC)

From: Retail Gazette

Charlie Mitchell

E-cigarette brand Totally Wicked has announced today it is to launch a legal challenge against the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive. Alongside the UK’s MHRA, the Directive has announced its plan to regulate e-cigarettes in the UK as a ‘medicine by function’ from 2016. Electronic cigarettes are currently regulated only by general product safety regulations.

After 100 scientists and experts petitioned the WHO for greater regulation of the industry, a recent report by the Journal of Addiction has argued that regulation would “damaged health on a big scale”, according to the paper’s author Peter Hajek. This news will only fuel the “ferocious” debate taking place over the future of the electronic cigarette market.

From: National Review

By Michael R. Strain

My AEI colleagues Sally Satel and Alan D. Viard have a sobering op-ed discussing the FDA’s proposed regulation of the e-cigarette industry.

On balance, e-cigarettes are so much safer [than traditional cigarettes] that doctors should advise smokers who are unwilling to stop using nicotine to take up “vaping,” as e-cigarette use is called. Smokers who have tried and failed to quite using nicotine gum, patches, medications such as varenicline, or behavioral techniques should also be encouraged to switch to e-cigarettes.

From: chapelboro

By Wilson Borntrager

UNC physicians have published a survey stating that more research must be done about the practice that physicians have taken of recommending electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, as a means of quitting smoking for patients.

The Associate Director for Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program at UNC and leading author on the study, Dr. Leah Ranney, gave a brief summary about the study.

“We did a study of North Carolina providers, and we asked physicians about their attitudes towards e-cigarettes,” she says.

From: Real Clear Science

Posted by Alex B. Berezow 

Some things in life are so indisputably true that it is a surprise that anyone disagrees. The safety and efficacy of vaccines, the benefits of GMOs, and the inability of Nicolas Cage to convincingly perform a single role all would be at the top of Captain Obvious’s list. Now, the list has a new entry: Electronic cigarettes produce far more good than harm.