July 5th, 2013
From: Sacramento Bee
By Jack Newsham
With names such as Vapor City and BJz Vape Shop, new businesses popping up around Sacramento make clear they’re not selling old-fashioned smokes.
These vendors hawk electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, whose sales have skyrocketed in the past few years. E-cigarette enthusiasts call themselves vapers, and many view “vaping” as a benign alternative to actual smoking – albeit one that still delivers a nicotine kick.
Legislators and health advocates aren’t convinced.
June 25th, 2013
Editor’s Note: The study discused below is attached here.
From: Wall Street Journal
By MIKE ESTERL
Nearly 1 in 10 people quits smoking after trying electronic cigarettes, suggesting a potential alternative to government-approved tobacco-cessation tools such as nicotine patches and lozenges, according to a new study.
The research published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One could heighten debate over how to regulate a small but fast-growing rival to traditional cigarettes.
Regular cigarettes are widely viewed as more harmful than e-cigarettes because they release toxins through combustion. By contrast, e-cigarettes rely on battery power to heat nicotine-laced liquid and convert it into vapor. But the science remains incomplete.
June 19th, 2013
From: The Wall Street Journal
By Gabriele Steinhauser
BRUSSELS—The growing popularity of electronic cigarettes has divided regulators and antismoking activists just as Europe gets ready to tighten its tobacco laws.
European Union health ministers, meeting Friday, are expected to wave through proposals that would classify most e-cigarettes—battery-powered devices that turn nicotine-laced liquids into vapor—as medicinal products.
That would subject the popular alternatives to regular cigarettes to extensive health testing and, in some countries, require that they be sold only in pharmacies.
But the European Parliament, which has equal say on the new rules, is leaning toward much looser regulation following months of aggressive lobbying by e-cigarette producers, vendors and users.
June 12th, 2013
From: Reuters
Britain is to regulate electronic cigarettes as non-prescription medicines from 2016 in an attempt to improve quality, though the country’s drugs watchdog said they would still be sold in convenience stores.
Healthcare authorities around the world are grappling with how to deal with the battery-driven devices, which allow users to inhale nicotine-laced vapor and are increasingly popular as an apparently less harmful alternative to smoking.
A few countries have banned them outright – such as Brazil, Norway and Singapore – while others are opting for varying degrees of regulation, in some cases including limits on advertising and curbs on their use in public places.
June 5th, 2013
From: Calgary Herald
By Helen Branswell
TORONTO – The turning point for David Hammond came about six months ago, when he was standing in a checkout line at his local grocery store in Waterloo, Ont.
Hammond, a tobacco control researcher, glanced at the products strategically displayed for last-minute impulse buys. He was startled to see among them a brand of electronic cigarettes called Vapur.
While e-cigarettes, as they are generally known, have existed for about a decade, Hammond still thought of them as novelty products, rarely seen in Canada.
