The move includes proposals by the EU Tobacco Products Directive for health warnings to cover 75 percent of cigarette packets and bans on flavoured (including menthol) and “slim” cigarettes, as well as the proposal to re-classify electronic cigarettes.A group of top French medical professionals on Sunday signed a letter voicing their support for electronic cigarettes, while warning the European parliament against re-classifying the smoking substitute as a medical product.
They
say that e-cigarettes – a growing industry in France where there are an
estimated 1.5 million “vapers” (people who use the devices) – are far
less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, even if the long-term health
effects have yet to be fully established.They argue that a possible move
by the EU Parliament to re-classify them as medical products (making
the liquids used in e-cigarettes only available in pharmacies) would
raise prices, hamstring the industry and keep smokers from making the
switch away from tobacco.“Some jurisdictions, including some Illinois colleges, are putting local ordinances in place to address the use of e-cigarettes, and some colleges have adopted ‘tobacco-free campuses’ that include a prohibition of e-cigarettes,” Scott says.Scott also sees them as a new gateway for children to traditional tobacco cigarettes.bf2DSs2d
“The percentage of U.S. middle and high school students who use electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, more than doubled from 2011 to 2012,” she said. “Altogether, in 2012 more than 1.78 million middle and high school students nationwide had tried e-cigarettes.”She goes on to say 76.3 percent of said students smoked conventional cigarettes within 30 days of using their electronic counterpart.
Illinois has only one rule in the books about e-cigarettes: Beginning Jan. 1, retailers will not be allowed to sell them to minors. Illinois Senate Bill 1756 bans anyone younger than 18 from buying electronic cigarettes and other alternative products.After the FDA formally declares that e-cigarettes fall under its regulatory umbrella — a decision that, before the government shutdown, had been expected this month — the agency eventually could make an array of other moves. E-cigarettes could in time face restrictions on how they are marketed, where they are sold and who can buy them.
Lorillard Tobacco — best known for its Newport cigarettes — entered the e-cigarette market in 2012 with its purchase of blu eCigs and has started to lend some of its lobbying might to the cause.Lorillard officials say they try to educate members of Congress, their staffs and other policymakers about the product. “We always have an e-cigarette on hand so they can see it,” said Michael Shannon, vice president of external affairs at Lorillard.
While Lorillard, NJOY and other e-cigarette makers say they welcome FDA regulation, Shannon said, “We just want to make sure that regulation is appropriate and recognizes the differences between e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes.”In the traditional cigarette business, new products must be approved by federal officials, television ads aren’t permitted and packages must carry warning labels about the health risks of tobacco.E-cigarettes have only become widely available in recent years, but their rapid growth contrasts sharply with the steadily declining sales of traditional cigarettes.
The question of how to regulate e-cigarettes has lingered for years. In 2010, a federal judgesided with manufacturers who had challenged the FDA’s authority to regulate e-cigarettes as a drug delivery device, which could have meant a strict set of regulations.
Ray Story, the e-cigarette company owner who prompted the lawsuit, now heads the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association. He is trying to convince regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to adopt a uniform set of what he calls “common-sense regulations,” such as safe manufacturing standards, tight restrictions on sales to minors and limits on marketing, steps that many industry executives also say they support.
Conley’s group makes weekly “calls to action” to its thousands of members. A potential ego batteries usage ban in Duluth, Minn., the possibility of a prohibition on e-cigarette stores in Seal Beach, Calif., an ordinance in New York that could outlaw flavored e-cigarettes — each has been met with an e-mail blast asking members to contact local officials or show up en masse at public meetings.
Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s tobacco center, has expressed concern about young people smoking e-cigarettes but left open the possibility that the devices could help existing smokers wean themselves off conventional cigarettes.“There is promise with e-cigarettes. But to date, the evidence is anecdotal,” he said this summer on “The Diane Rehm Show” on NPR. “Right now, we have far more questions than answers.”
