October 10th, 2013
From: MedPage Today
By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Electronic cigarettes won’t be tightly regulated as medical devices in Europe, lawmakers there decided.
Officials had proposed restricting direct sales to consumers, classifying the devices alongside nicotine patches and other smoking cessation products that require a prescription.
The European Parliament struck down that proposal, though, voting Tuesday to regulate them much as they do conventional cigarettes, with only the usual marketing, packaging, and 18-and-older age restrictions.
While the lawmakers also voted to tighten restrictions on smoking tobacco packaging and menthol flavoring, e-cigarettes were considered the main question.
October 4th, 2013
From: Forbes
Daniel Fisher
Lorillard LO -0.11%’s announcement it will pay as much as $100 million for a top British e-cigarette manufacturer demonstrates the rapid evolution of what started out as a niche business. On top of Lorillard’s $135 million purchase of blu eCigs in April 2012 and the entrance of high-profile entrepreneurs like Sean Parker and Peter Theil – they invested $15 million into NJOY earlier this year – Lorillard’s investment signals the e-cig business has arrived.
October 3rd, 2013
From: Los Angeles Times/Editorial
It’s not yet certain whether ‘vaping’ is dangerous. But policymakers are deciding now whether to regulate e-cigarettes.
By The Times editorial board
Americans are becoming more familiar with e-cigarettes, which are beginning to appear in restaurants, bars and coffeehouses where regular cigarettes have long been banned. An e-cigarette is, in effect, a battery-operated nicotine delivery system that works by heating a mixture of water, nicotine and other chemicals. The user inhales and exhales the resulting vapor rather than smoke.
September 24th, 2013
From: Associated Press
A letter to the FDA raises concerns about the marketing of e-cigarettes to children.
BOSTON — Forty attorneys general sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday urging the agency to meet its own deadline and regulate electronic cigarettes in the same way it regulates tobacco products.
The letter, co-sponsored by Massachusetts Attorney Martha Coakley and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, says e-cigarettes are being marketed to children through cartoon-like advertising characters and by offering fruit and candy flavors, much like cigarettes were once marketed to hook new smokers.
