Posted on 08/22/2015 8:18:33 AM PDT by VitacoreVision
Despite evidence that electronic cigarettes are both safer for users than tobacco and also help smokers kick the habit, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has launched a campaign against them. According to FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Ostroff, the FDA is looking to enact a “deeming rule” that would expand the agency’s regulation of tobacco to include e-cigarettes, which do not use tobacco. Critics contend that such an illogical decision underscores that the FDA is at the behest of lobbyists that benefit financially from tobacco and nicotine addiction.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued its proposal earlier this year for new rules on e-cigarettes, including reviewing new e-cig products before they are sold and outlawing sales of the e-cig devices to minors, as well as requiring health warning labels on the products. The public comment period for the proposed rulemaking ends on August 31.
The FDA has defended its proposal by asserting that e-cigarettes have not been properly studied, leaving consumers unaware of potential health effects related to their usage. (If only the government were so concerned about the lack of long-term studies on the genetically modified organisms it has approved for American consumption.)
The FDA’s stance on e-cigarettes got a boost of support from the Centers for Disease Control, which resorted to outright lies about e-cigarettes to convince users that they are no better than actual cigarettes. In May the CDC issued a statement, which read, “If you only cut down the number of cigarettes you smoke by adding another tobacco product, like e-cigarettes, you still face serious health risks. Smokers must quit smoking completely to fully protect their health — even a few cigarettes a day are dangerous.” (Emphasis added.) As previously mentioned, e-cigarettes are non-tobacco products.
Contrary to assertions by the CDC and the FDA, however, California Polytechnic State University professor of economics Michael Marlow asserts that e-cigarettes should be left alone, as they are valuable tools in helping smokers quit smoking. “If e-cigarettes help smokers reduce consumption of more harmful tobacco or maybe even allow them to quit cigarettes, even if e-cigarettes themselves are somewhat harmful, it still would be an overall reduction of harm,” Marlow states.
In fact, evidence shows that e-cigarettes have been the most successful tool to help smokers quit smoking. “E-cigarettes have become the greatest source of ‘creative destruction’ that we’ve seen against the tobacco industry,” Marlow claims, which may be the motivation behind the decision to regulate them. “Unfortunately, maybe it’s also a source of creative destruction for those who make a living out of tobacco control,” Marlow observed.
According to the Tobacco Control Journal, the nicotine replacement therapies that have been approved by the FDA, such as nicotine gum, have no better success rates than quitting cold turkey.
Some view the FDA’s proposed regulations against e-cigarettes as an attempt to keep competitive products off the market, as the pharmaceutical companies behind those nicotine replacement therapies benefit from smokers’ inability to quit.
Dr. Gilbert Ross, medical and executive director of the American Council on Science and Health, opines, “Some of the group’s advocating for this anti-science, anti-public health charade … are influenced by undisclosed but generous financial support from the pharmaceutical industry, which is devoted to keeping effective competition to its poorly performing nicotine replacement therapy patches, gums, and drugs off the market.”
The New York Times has reported that GlaxoSmithKline, which sells Nicorette gum, and Johnson & Johnson, which manufactures nicotine patches, have helped lead a “strong opposition” against e-cigarettes. What’s more, the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products, which headed the regulation of e-cigarettes, is led by former lobbyist Mitch Zeller, whose consulting clients included GlaxoSmithKline.
The Washington Examiner writes on the power of pharmaceutical lobbying in Washington:
No industry spends more on lobbying in the U.S. than the drug industry, and drugmakers' agendas are often bigger government. Without the efforts of the drug lobby, for instance, Obamacare probably would have died in the summer of 2009. President George W. Bush’s single biggest expansion of government was creating the Medicare prescription drug benefit — at the behest of the drugmakers.
“The alarmist concerns raised by the drug companies are understandable,” Dr. Ross told the Washington Examiner, “because they’re rent seeking [a term that refers to seeking profit through public policy].”
And while the drug companies profit off the sale of their ineffective smoking remedies, is it too cynical to note that the federal government makes a substantial amount of money off smokers’ inability to quit?
In 2008, the New York Times reported that the federal government collected nearly $7 billion annually in cigarette excise taxes. In 2010, the number was as high as $15.5 billion, wrote the Daily Caller.
The NY Times article went on to explain how else the federal government profits from cigarette smoking:
But taxes are not the only government revenue from cigarettes. Settlements in the late 1990s to end state lawsuits against tobacco companies mean that the cigarette industry is paying states nearly $250 billion over 25 years. Under the agreement, those payments to states will continue flowing even beyond 25 years as long as the tobacco industry is healthy. But the payments would phase out as cigarette company profits decline and would ultimately disappear if people stop smoking.
So the government has become a financial stakeholder in smoking, some would argue, even as public health officials warn people about its deadly consequences. Smoking declines as cigarette taxes increase, but a core group of smokers hang on to the habit.
Stephanie Saul, who wrote the Times article, was compelled to ask, “Would politicians shut down an industry that supplies so much money?”
In other words, who else stands to lose from the impact that e-cigarettes can have on the tobacco industry?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, health officials are touting the benefits of e-cigarettes. This week, Public Health England has announced that vaping is safer than smoking and could lead to the destruction of the traditional cigarette.
The Guardian reports, “The health body concluded that, on ‘the best estimate so far’, e-cigarettes are about 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes and could one day be dispensed as a licensed medicine in an alternative to anti-smoking products such as patches.”
A 111-page expert independent evidence review found "no evidence so far that e-cigarettes are acting as a route into smoking for children or non-smokers," a finding that directly contradicts a study by the University of California that found that adolescents who used the devices were more likely to smoke cigarettes.
"My reading of the evidence is that smokers who switch to vaping remove almost all the risks smoking poses to their health," said Professor Peter Hajek of Queen Mary University, who co-authored the report with Professor Ann McNeill of King's College London.
Maybe the FDA has not yet gotten the memo.
E-cigarettes do not necessarily use tobacco.
Nicotine is also extracted from potato and tomato leaves.
Remembering the old adage “Follow the money.”
As always....it all about POWER and its use.
and of course we’ll have reams of GOP standing up and saying “WOAH!- where is your evidence? Where is your research? You have none? Then you have absolutely NO reason to ban eciggs! You do NOT have the authority to ban or regulate something simply because you have a bias against it- Show us the evidence FIRST- then we’ll discuss whether you can regulate it or not!”
Crickets
E cigs emit a bit of water vapor which dissipates in one or two seconds. Other people are “safe” from e-cigs.
This is all about something that looks like a cig and people hold it in their hand. Oh, my God, he/she is holding something that looks like a cigarette - BAN IT.
I can't find an ecig that the battery lasts very long. I'm using Eversmoke now and have tried several other brands. Due to the batteries not lasting long and the cartridges running out quickly, which together consumes more money that regular cigs, I'm thinking of going to regular ultra light cigarettes when I'm outside.
If any of you use a better e cig (long lasting battery and long lasting cartridges), let me know. I've tried brands “blu” and “V2” and “MarkTen” and this one, “Eversmoke”. All of them say a cartridge is equal to one pack of cigarettes and that is a lie. Not one lasts that long.
The E-cig people are peeing in the Corn Flakes of three very powerful groups - Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, and Big Goverment. I am surprised they haven’t been adversely regulated more than they are.
Just get a good one and charge it oner night. I tried everything to quit. Ecigs saved my life.
I don't get it.
ALL regulations that have the effect of LAW
should be passed and approved in CONGRESS
you know..... the “we the people’S” representatives...
LIKE THE CONSTITUTION INTENDED
E-Cigarettes are supplanting the real tobacco smokes tax base???, besides whomping upon the tobacco lobbies profits.
You need to get a good set up. Those you buy at the gas station are junk. Head to a vape store.. A good one that sells decent equipment and liquids and has good, knowledgeable employees who will spend how ever long it takes to explain everything and give you recommendations.
I walked into one with no intention of quitting smoking when I woke up that day. All the people in there were so helpful and optimistic! They spent almost 2 hours with me. I got my vape set up and have never smoked another cigarette since April 1, 2014 after having smoked a pack and 1/2 for 45 years!
Move on from the crappy disposable e-cigs and get 2 reliable rechargeable vape set ups. While one is recharging, you can use the other. You will be SO happy! You can do it!
I bought an e-cig 2&1/2 years ago and haven’t had a cigarette since. Smoked for 40 years. Cut my costs by more than 80%.
Read up on different batteries and atomizers, and shop online for savings. The cheap batteries don’t last. I use an itazte mvp made by innokin. Works great and can even charge your phone if needed.
Madvapes & Mtbakervapors are sites I use.
Go to a cape store, buy a box mod, an atomizer from Kanger or Aspire, then sample the juices til you find one you like.
Each atty coil can last a week or two and a 30 mil bottle of juice can last dam* near a month depending on your vaping habits
I’ve been happy with smoketip.com but it’s the only one I’ve used.
I’m not sure what you meant by battery life, whether it’s discharging or dying, so as to no longer be able to hold a charge. The smoketip battery charge lasts about 2 hours of me basically “chainsmoking”. Since the starter kit comes with 2 batteries, I have 1 charging at all times, using the USB port on my laptop. The full charge time takes about 30 minutes.
I agree that the cartridges aren’t as long lasting as the claims made, but I’m spending about 1/3 what it cost me for cigarettes.
The smoketip starter kit is less than $60, refill cartridges come in many flavors and are relatively inexpensive. A “10 pack” refill costs $160.00 and with every one, you get another starter kit. I now have more batteries and chargers than I’ll ever need.
I quit cigarettes cold turkey after smoking for about 46 years and never stopped missing it. I did that for about a year before I tried the ecigs. Since then, I have never wanted another cigarette. “Vaping” completely replaced smoking for me and there’s no way I’d ever go back to cigs.
I never wanted to be one of “those people”, but only after I quit smoking and my sense of smell returned did I realize how foul cigarette smoke is. It doesn’t matter how clean you or your clothes are, if you smoke and you’re around people who don’t, you stink. Health issues aside, had I realized before how bad cigarette smoking makes you smell, I would never have done it.
I use one these kits. They come with a USB charger and two tanks and two batteries: you charge one and use the other and then swap them out.
Buying e-juice separately and filling the tank is much, much cheaper than regular cigarettes.
I just quit smoking using one of these kits after smoking 40 years.
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