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Hey there vaping friends! Welcome to another Friday and yet another news roundup. This roundup is actually a smidge smaller than usual. That’s partly due to most stories still being about the CDC youth study (how many times do you want to hear about that?) And I’ve had a few issues with the site that’s been keeping me hopping around here. Enjoy the roundup, hopefully next week will be a better news week.
DOJ Says eCig Ads OK
Just in case you thought the FDA was the only agency paying attention to e-cigarettes, it seems the DOJ has also weighed in. Justice found that e-cigarettes do not fit in the definition of cigarettes as described by the 1965 law outlawing smoking ads. Therefore, at least as far as that agency is concerned, there’s no legal issues with e-cigarette TV and radio spots.
DOJ says e-cigarettes ads can air on radio.
DOJ Consumer Protection Branch director Michael Blume says since they’re unlike traditional cigarettes that consist of a “roll of tobacco,” e-cigarettes don’t fall within the definition of “cigarettes.” As a result, Blume says commercials promoting their use do not violate the 1965 law prohibiting tobacco advertising on radio and television.
Blume made his comments in a two-page letter to the communications law firm Pilsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, where attorney Scott Flick said it may not be smooth sailing for broadcasters for long. “For the moment, it looks like the DOJ has said it’s okay,” Flick said. But he points out it is just one branch of government that’s given the green light. Other regulators may take a different view. “States are leaping into this area — and the Food and Drug Administration are also looking into it,” Flick warned yesterday at the Radio Show.
Of course that leaves the FDA. Chances are pretty good they’ll blaze their own trail here, and they’ve proven in the past they’re not shy about stepping on companies First Amendment Rights. Just ask the Cheerios people.
FDA Starts New Tobacco Research Center, Hands Cash to Prohibitionist
From the “this sounds like it’s going to be a bad time” department comes this next news nugget. The FDA just announced in a joint effort with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) they’re starting up what they’re calling “tobacco centers of regulatory science.” The idea is basically that these agencies are going to throw around about $53M in fiscal year 2013 (which ends October 1st), with another potential of a couple hundred mil over the next five years. The money will go to support research from experts in various fields to back up tobacco regulation with science. Oh, and by the way, one of the recipients is Stanton Glantz.
FDA and NIH create first-of-kind Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science
“For the first time, under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the federal government, through the FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), is able to bring science-based regulation to the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of tobacco products,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “The FDA is committed to a science-based approach that addresses the complex public health issues raised by tobacco product regulation.” The agency is establishing science and research programs designed to increase understanding of the risks associated with tobacco use.
The TCORS program brings together investigators from across the country to aid in the development and evaluation of tobacco product regulations. Each TCORS application identified a targeted research goal. Taken together, the TCORS sites will increase knowledge across the full spectrum of basic and applied research on tobacco and addiction. The program also provides young investigators with training opportunities to ensure the development of the next generation of tobacco regulatory scientists.
Be sure to hit that link for the full press release and list of recipients for this round of funding. Since Professor Glantz has had a thing with e-cigarettes for quite a while, and also goes out of his way to find minor flaws in real e-cigarette science, you’ll have to forgive me if I’m not exactly optimistic about good use coming from my tax dollars on this one.
The Real Problem with Underage e-Cigarette Use
I recently read a post on KevinMD.com that lamented the sort of dual nature of electronic cigarettes. Specifically, the author believes in the potential for e-cigarettes to help smokers. On the other hand, he is troubled by the recent CDC survey results. Ignoring the flaws in that survey for now, the doctor raises a good point. Most states don’t forbid minors from purchasing these smoking alternatives.
E-cigarettes: Good for adults, bad for children?
Don’t misunderstand. I don’t want to ban all e-cigarettes. I have a lot of stories from patients and stories from friends saying how much e-cigarettes have helped them cut back and/or eliminate the use of real cigarettes. The initial data from the Lancet study is hopeful, and reinforces the anecdotal stories that I have from patients and from friends.
My issue is preventing children from access to electronic cigarettes. There is a window of opportunity (legally) for tobacco companies to expose children to the nicotine experience. And, I think that the health community, as well as the general public, have to educate ourselves on this subject, and get our lawmakers to do the right thing.
That’s a great notion, but at least part of the health community lobbied against restricting access for minors. In principle, I agree with this article. The problem is the regulations likely will go well beyond a logical and much-needed age limit and focus on making e-cigarettes unappealing and unavailable to not only minors but the very adults e-cigarettes are currently helping.
Doctors Should Keep Pushing Patches
A Mayo Clinic physician said in an article in Clinical Psychiatry News that clinicians should avoid considering e-cigarettes for their patients. The argument was based on the idea that statistically, e-cigarettes have no better quit rate than the patch, the lack of long-term safety data and the potential for e-cigarettes to cause throat irritation. The article also noted that e-cigarettes had a much better success at getting people to cut down than the patch. However, at least according to this professional, that is simply irrelevant.
What should physicians say about electronic cigarettes?
So, back to the second point. E-cigarettes are clearly not superior to nicotine patches, but this study may have been underpowered because absolute abstinence rates were low.
Currently, e-cigarette manufacturers are spending resources manufacturing and marketing rather than assisting in the creation of reliable scientific data or the creation of an international research agenda on these products.
One day, an e-cigarette device may be part of a clinical treatment program for tobacco dependence. But until that day, clinicians need to be justifiably circumspect in recommending e-cigarettes for use among cigarette smokers.
That first line is interesting. Perhaps something was wrong with the study because the patch quit rates were low. But then again, many e-cigarette advocates suggest the e-cigarette numbers are low because the study used crappy products. Of course e-cigarette technology has improved since the study launched, but last I checked there’s no patch 2.0. Also, e-cigarette manufacturers are spending money on manufacturing and marketing instead of research? Really?
eCig Company Sees Onshoring as Savior of Small Companies
The bricks & mortar world of e-cigarettes is cutthroat with Big Tobacco in the market. While Mistic doesn’t exactly count as a small player in the overall sense of the industry, they’re certainly much smaller than the biggest retail brands. The CEO of the company is eyeing moving its production of actual e-cigarette products to the US to give them a competitive advantage in the rapidly changing ecig industry.
Mistic CEO Discusses U.S. Production, Online Sales, Battling blu
Although he admitted it will take significant capital to move from China to a U.S. facility, with Altria, Reynolds and Lorillard now firmly in the e-cig business, the move might be the best way for non-Big-Tobacco manufacturers to compete in the space.
“We believe that the three big tobacco companies already have plans to bring the production here to the U.S,” said Wiesehan. “We do want to compete directly. We think we are the biggest non-tobacco company with these types of plans and think this separates us from the rest.”
That certainly is an interesting gambit. Part of me thinks that it may be more practical to onshore production if the worst case scenario happens and Big Tobacco along with the FDA is successful in ruining the small businesses that have been vital to our current vibrant industry. Once there is massive market consolidation, the survivors will likely be able to raise prices, making more room for increased production costs.
Oregon Debates eCig Taxes, Big Tobacco Steps Up
An Oregon lawmaker is trying to float the idea to tax e-cigarettes saying it protects the kids from illegal drugs and, oh yeah, make money. Despite the politician’s clearly noble motivations, other lawmakers pointed out that the tax could end up keeping people smoking regular cigarettes. The state’s tax body points out that nobody’s thought about how one would tax e-cigarettes. And unlike regulations that would destroy the small businesses that made the e-cigarette industry great, Big Tobacco came out against this idea right away.
Oregon lawmakers debate e-cigarette taxes
Nu Mark LLC, which is developing e-cigarettes for Altria Group Inc., the parent company of Philip Morris, urged caution.
“Nu Mark believes that governments should refrain at this point from taxing new nicotine-containing products altogether until there is a better understanding of where the consumers ultimately land with this emerging category, and to allow regulators to assess the appropriate scope of regulations for these products,” said spokesman David Sutton.
The enemy of my enemy is my… friend? I guess?
When Senators and Big Tobacco Agree, Nothing Good Can Result
The same opportunistic group of senators who decided to scream about protecting the children are turning up the heat on e-cigarette (and other tobacco product) flavoring. I can’t say I’m exactly surprised, what politician doesn’t love something that can make them look good that also benefits corporate benefactors? You see, it’s not just the prohibitionists that want to cripple the e-cigarette industry. Big tobacco is all for this move too.
House Dems call for cigar, e-cigarette regulations over ‘kid-friendly’ products
Bringing the tobacco products under the agency’s jurisdiction could subject them to new fees and restrictions, which some tobacco companies have worried could unfairly single them out with overly restrictive rules.
Health organizations and some tobacco giants have backed the FDA’s efforts, arguing that new regulations would protect the public health and level the playing field for tobacco companies.
I know associating something with the misdeeds of Big Tobacco is one of the prohibitionists’ favorite tricks. But in this case, this actually is Big Tobacco that’s up to no good. There’s a long history of doing whatever it takes to gain a market advantage here. And unlike the e-cigarette companies misidentified as tobacco companies in the first paragraph, the ones supporting the restrictions really are the tobacco companies.
The Award for Most Terrible Local News eCig Story Goes to...
Local news outlets love them some e-cigarette stories. Let’s face it, they’re low hanging fruit. There’s controversy, scary sounding reports from all over the place and a growing industry. The stories are so popular among local news outlets, I’ve pretty much given up on covering them for fear of doing nothing all day but quoting questionable local news stories. But, I ran across one so bizarrely terrible that I just had to share. WDTV out of West Virginia ran a story claiming e-cigarettes were “Extremely” dangerous followed with a story that, in addition to providing nothing whatsoever to back up the headline, jumped from point to point at a seemingly random and frantic pace.
Health Alert: Electronic Cigarettes Could Be Extremely Hazardous to Your Health
Officials estimate 1 in 10 high school students have tried an “E-Cig.” While that doesn’t sound like that many, it’s actually double from what it was in 2011. On the other side, a study by the CDC found 90% of smokers who started using them said they have helped them put down cigarette habit altogether.
“As an adult, you have to understand the risks that come along with using an e-cigarette, just like with a regular cigarette,” said Christopher Rassmussen, Morgantown resident.
While the effects of the “E-Cig” remain unknown, one benefit is the smell. Since an e-cig gives off water vapor instead of a mixture of tobacco and other chemicals, it doesn’t leave smell behind on you, your clothes, or anyone else around you.
In conclusion, it seems that this story lacks coherency and. SQUIRREL!
WHO Urges eCig Guidelines Telling People to Keep Smoking
As world governments struggle with adopting regulations for e-cigarettes (and getting it unbelievably wrong), the WHO has a suggestion. Tell people they should just keep smoking. A World Health Organization spokesperson told an Indian newspaper that because there’s no long-term information about e-cigarettes, its better to just pretend they don’t exist. Therefore, governments should just let people keep on smoking.
Need guidelines on e-cigarette: WHO
E-cigarette is an electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) meant to simulate and substitute tobacco smoking.
‘The tobacco industry is projecting it as a ‘safe’ and ‘healthy’ substitute for cigarettes, but there is no research evidence on the health impact of their long term usage,’ she said.
‘Tobacco companies are targeting youth and women by adding the notion of glamour, luxury and freedom to the e-cigarette. Countries must frame regulatory guidelines to advise consumers not to use it,’ she said.
Even if that were responsible advice, I think it’s been proven government-funded efforts to tell people to stop doing something aren’t exactly successful.
CDC Claims Stories Most Effective Quit Method Ever
The CDC seems to be on a roll with questionable study results lately. On the heels of its headline making teen study, the agency released an announcement on its marketing campaign funded by Obamacare funds. The announcement claims that because if it’s ads a bunch of people quit, and somehow, as if through magic, they expect a 50% permanent quit rate.
Study: National Anti-Smoking Ad Campaign Led 200,000 to Quit
As a result of the organization’s ”Tips From Former Smokers” effort, more than 200,000 Americans quit smoking immediately following the three-month advertising campaign, of which researchers estimate that more than 100,000 will likely quit smoking permanently, a CDC study found. These results exceed the campaign’s original goal of 500,000 quit attempts and 50,000 successful quits.
The CDC study surveyed thousands of adult smokers and nonsmokers before and after the advertisements began. The Tips campaign, which aired from March 19 to June 10, 2012, marked the first time a federal agency developed and placed paid ads for a national tobacco education campaign, according to a CDC release.
That’s sure impressive. The made-up results are 10 times as effective as the CDC’s goal. Time to stop giving money to all those anti-smoking outfits, it looks like government-funded commercials with anecdotes from people who suffered from smoking-related illnesses is all it takes. Apparently people didn’t realize smoking can harm you.
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Originally posted: e-Cigarette News Roundup For 9/20 – What’s this button do?
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