Thank you. This is very useful.
Lorillard bought an e-cig company, blue ecigs, for $135 million in 2012. They will have a huge advantage in being able to fund the cost of the massive red tape associated with these regulations. The effect will be to reduce consumer choice and competition.
Despite how the big gubmint loving state run media proclaim this to be stone tablets from heaven, they are not.
These are “proposed” rules. There is a 75 day comment period. Then they won’t go into effect for 2 years.
A lot can change politically in 2 years. And will.
When it comes to information about e-cigs and the nanny state fight against them, Dr. Siegel presents excellent information, and has been doing so for a number of years.
With the possible exception of Lorrilard, the tobacco industry per se has been relatively quiet about e-cigs. The big push (and big K Street money) is coming from the Pharmaceutical industry because e-cigs are cutting into their profits on nicotine gums, patches, lollipops, and other “smoking cessation products. E-cigs are no more a tobacco product than a patch, yet the FDA (with encouragement of Big Pharma) is seeking to regulate them under the Tobacco Act.