The FDA Steps In

The Food and Drug Administration has put a lot of pressure on the electronic cigarette market within the last few years. The FDA has called for widespread testing and it seemed liked they were set on proving electronic cigarettes were just as bad - if not worse – than real cigarettes.

This was until the director for the FDA’s Center for Tobacco came out and said, “If we could get all of those people [who smoke] to completely switch all of their cigarettes to noncombustible cigarettes, it would be good for public health.” – Mitch Zeller.

Although preliminary testing has shown positive results for the vaping community, the FDA is not backing down on seeking hard regulations. They still have concerns that have not been addressed, but they fail to see the whole picture.

FDA Concerns 

• Children 

One of the main concerns the FDA has about e-cigarettes is that children have been able to get their hands on them. This has long been addressed and was halted almost as soon as it started. E-cigarettes are a nicotine product and most e-cigarettes have labels warning against use by children and pregnant women.

• Not enough testing 

There has not been extensive testing on e-cigarettes, but as a relatively new product it is to be expected. The FDA regulations and testing would drown out smaller, start up e-cigarette companies, leaving only room for big tobacco companies to flood the market. The testing that has been both independently done and done by the FDA has shown e-cigarettes to be a safer alternative to smoking. Water vapor is much safer for your lungs than tar filled smoke.

• Health Risks 

The long term health risks of e-cigarettes are still up in the air because – quite frankly – e-cigarettes haven’t been around long enough. Things like this take time and this doesn’t mean the FDA can crush a whole market with strict regulations or even banning them entirely. The preliminary testing has been positive. E-cigarettes are not designed to be for non-smokers. They are an alternative for preexisting smokers to avoid the tar and carcinogens found in traditional cigarettes.

How They Miss the Mark 

The biggest concern for e-cigarette manufactures is the money all of the regulations will cost. Having private tests done, or even FDA testing is extremely expensive. The FDA and larger corporations will snuff out small e-cigarette businesses. This is also bad because there seems to be more pride in a small business and those e-cigarette businesses would provide a safe, alternative to cigarettes that uses already FDA approves ingredients. The e-cigarettes that have been independently tested by the manufacturers to show transparency in their products have come back with positive results. Not all manufactures have the funding for these types of testing, but they follow suit to what the rest of the market is doing.

All in all, regulation is not always a bad thing. Keeping children away from the addictive properties of nicotine and warning pregnant women against its use is absolutely a good idea. It is not okay to use FDA sanctions to crush the market and suffocate those businesses trying to sell a quality product and make ends meet. E-cigarettes still have a long way to come, but there has been plenty of push back against the FDA and big tobacco companies. Doctors, government officials, vaping advocates, and business owners are all taking a stand to prove e-cigarettes are a safe tobacco free product and should not be put under the same pressures as deadly tobacco products. We should want smokers to have a healthy alternative and not have to breathe in carcinogens anymore. E-cigarettes provide that option for those who have already become addicted to nicotine, but no longer want to smoke. It can be extremely tough to cut back smoking, but because of e-cigarettes smokers have that option. The FDA shouldn’t be able to take that away from people who already understand the risks of smoking and want a better alternative.

E-Cigarette Juice: Disbanding the Myths

E-cigarettes are in hot debate and they are coming under more scrutiny everyday. This is not necessarily a bad thing because they are relatively new products, which – until recently – did not have a lot of testing. Lately, e-cigs have gone under the microscope and have been tested and quite a few of the main myths have been disbanded. This comes with a grain of salt of course. Trusted e-cigarettes should always be bought from trusted brands – just like any other product. Trusted e-cigarette brands are in the business of STAYING in business. They don’t want their products to be taken off the shelf because they aren’t safe. The three myths below have been in hot debate and now there are some cold hard facts to shed some light on the situation.

• MYTH 1: E-cigarettes Aren’t Safe 

This is not true. In the past, people didn’t have the facts to whether they were harmful or not because no tests were done. Certain companies have had different tests done on their products that revealed the ingredients and the amount of harm they can do. The Ruyan e-cigarette – one of the first e-cigs on the market – went through extensive research to determine what was actually in their products. The research found that the Ruyan e-cigarette,

“Is very safe relative to cigarettes, and also safe in absolute terms on all measurements we have applied. Using microelectronics it vaporizes, separately for each puff, very small quantities of nicotine dissolved in propylene glycol, two small well-known molecules with excellent safety profiles, – into a fine aerosol. Each puff contains one third to one half the nicotine in a tobacco cigarette’s puff. The cartridge liquid is tobacco-free and no combustion occurs.” 

The last part of the quote above is especially telling. As a tobacco-free product, there is no actual combustion occurring. Water vapor is emitted and not tar filled smoke. The lack of combustion and tar makes the e-cig automatically safer than a conventional cigarette.

• MYTH 2: We Don’t Know What Is In E-cigarettes 

This is also not entirely true. Although there have not been tests on every single brand, the tests that have been done do show what is in certain brands of e-cigarettes. Another study was conducted on the NJOY brand of e-cigarettes. The study broke down the detectable traces of all ingredients. The test results found that,

 “A total of 22 organic chemicals were found at detectable levels in the aerosol. The major constituents were found to be propylene glycol, glycerol, water and nicotine. Minor constituents were primarily FDA-approved flavoring agents, and two nicotine derivatives.” 

Most e-cigarette companies are following suit to Ruyan and NJOY, but they do not have enough funding to have research done to prove otherwise. •

MYTH 3: E-cigarettes Haven’t Been Tested 

As previously stated, most companies are following the same personal guidelines and providing a safer alternative to smoking, but – as startup companies – they are putting everything into producing quality, affordable products. If they had the funding to do it they would. As a new product, it will take time to get proper research done to verify what these companies are already telling you. The fact that e-cigarettes produce water vapor as a non-tobacco product makes them already safer than conventional cigarettes. Tar as a result of cigarette smoking is a huge concern and e-cigarettes have already done away with that.

The Truth Is Out 

E-cigarettes get a bad rap because they are the new kid on the block and threaten the big tobacco companies. This leads to added pressure for research. Bigger companies with more funding have no problem having research done on their products, but where does this leave the small businesses jumping on this expanding market? This pressure for research and lack of funding in some companies is what creates these rumors in the first place. It will take some time for all the research to be out, but it will be clear that electronic cigarettes are the safer, cheaper alternative.

 

E-Cigs Banned in Chicago and L.A., Despite All Logic

Even as cigarettes continue to ravage Americans’ health, two more major cities have joined New York City in their ban on e-cigarettes in public places. Specifically, both Chicago and L.A., arguably the two other major metropolises of the United States, have enacted public e-cig bans similar to New York’s that are intended to “save” bystanders from the supposedly harmful effects of second-hand e-cig vapor, much as public smoking was banned to protect bystanders from the scientifically-proven-to-be-unhealthy effects of second-hand smoke.

Chicago

          

In January, the Chicago City Council voted 45-5 in favor of regulating e-cigs similar to how tobacco cigarettes are restricted in Chicago: anywhere within 15 feet of a building entrance, along with indoor public spaces including restaurants and bars, is off-limits as far as smoking is concerned. The primary argument, of course, wasn’t really based in science; there is no proven negative health impact from e-cig vapor, so bystanders have nothing to fear. Instead, the reason for the ban was to dissuade others from picking up smoking in the first place – the notorious “that looks cool so I’ll do it too!” reason.

Of course, this amounts to a massive infringement on the rights of e-cig users for no reason other than the desire to prevent others from picking up a poor habit that is not, itself, the use of e-cigs! It simply makes no sense, but then, city councils aren’t obligated to make sense. Sadly, the banning of e-cigs from public places can only have the effect of dissuading current tobacco smokers from changing over to e-cigs, thereby preserving their health and lowering the cost of medical care for the city.

After all, one of the primary benefits of switching to e-cigs had, previously, been that you could use them just about anywhere. You didn’t have to stand out in the rain, wind, and snow (all of which are plentiful in Chicago!) shivering away while getting your fix. You could vape anywhere, anytime, and it didn’t bother anyone; in fact, the smell of the vapor is often quite pleasant and refreshing! Of course, now, that reason is gone in Chicago, which is unfortunate. Fewer people will be switching to vaping, which means fewer people will be able to save their own lives and improve the quality of those lives.

Los Angeles 

In March, the L.A. City council followed suit, voting to include e-cigarettes as one and the same as tobacco cigarettes. What this translates to in L.A. law is that e-cigarettes are banned in clubs, bars, on beaches, in parks, in most office buildings, in markets, in restaurants, and in outdoor dining areas in the city. Yet again, this ban on e-cigs makes it harder for current smokers to justify switching to e-cigs, which means that they are less likely to quit smoking; they will continue to suffer the same ill health effects as other smokers. It is truly tragic.

An exemption exists for vapor lounges and e-cigarette stores, but this move largely pushes e-cigarettes out of the public eye – an arena in which they were becoming increasingly more apparent and therefore popular, with more and more people switching to e-cigs. After all, if you were addicted to cigarettes and you knew all the ways you could save money and save your life with e-cigs, you would want to switch too. Some people, sadly, don’t know about everything e-cigs have to offer – and now, they never will, as they may never discover they exist, though they might have if they had simply seen someone using them one day.

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Truly, it is appalling how some cities are banning e-cigarettes based on hysteria, hearsay, and completely unscientific reasoning. Fear without any kind of logical reasoning behind it amounts to poor policy on the part of government, and that is certainly what we can see here with these most recent bans on e-cigs. Fortunately, considering the many benefits e-cigs bring to the population, from health to affordability, the march of the e-cig will move ever forward, with more and more people adopting them as a way to quit smoking or, at the very least, reduce dependence on nicotine and the poor health that accompanies regular tobacco use. At least there’s that!

The Big Apple’s Big Ban

For one of his last acts as mayor of New York City, the most incredible and possibly important city in the world, Michael Bloomberg took a parting shot at electronic cigarettes, banning e-cigs everywhere that smoking was already banned, including e-cigarettes in the Smoke Free Air Act. For vapers living in the Big Apple, this is, of course, a disaster.

After all, there are a variety of reasons to take up vaping, including your health and the money you can save from no longer buying pack after pack of cigarettes (not to mention savings on medical bills!), but another great reason to vape is that you can do it absolutely anywhere. In restaurants, in your apartment, it doesn’t matter – or at least, it didn’t, not in New York City. Now, with vaping banned in every major public area, this reason for vaping no longer exists, driving vapers trying to improve their lives through e-cigarettes back out into the cold and rain and designated smoking areas with those poor, poor tobacco smokers.

Why A Ban? 

The battle over the ban has been hard fought. Certainly there were business interests at stake; vape distributors and retailers in New York City see a huge financial cost to this ban, while civil libertarians are concerned that government is overreaching into an area of living that they have no right to be involved in, as there is no scientific evidence that vaping harms users, and therefore no reason for the government to be involved unless proved otherwise.

Supporters of the ban generally point out that while there is no evidence that vaping harms the health of bystanders as per second-hand smoke, there is also no evidence that it doesn’t, but vaping ought not to be considered guilty before proven innocent. In fact, e-cigarettes continue to be tested and examined for any ill health effects, and no cause for concern has yet arisen. Indeed, while there are now many concrete studies on the positive impact of e-cigs, there is more than a little anecdotal evidence that doing so can help users quit smoking, which provides massive health benefits to the person quitting smoking as well as potential bystanders, along with the city that is saving on medical costs.

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It is disturbing how swiftly and without solid reasoning the New York ban on e-cigs has come to pass, especially when e-cigs present such a huge opportunity for the improvement of New Yorkers’ health and quality of life. It would seem that some individuals feel that quitting smoking via patches, gum, or completely abstaining from nicotine, is the preferable way to quit, but as anyone who has attempted those routes can tell you, that is all incredibly difficult. Only vaping offers the social and physical elements of smoking while still providing decreasing amounts of nicotine over time. You aren’t just addicted to smoking, after all; you’re addicted to the act of smoking, and vaping helps to mitigate that.

Aftermath 

Of course, the ban on e-cigarettes has had something of a perverse effect on vaping culture in the city as well, as often happens when government regulates things it ill(barely) understands. Rather than discouraging vapers from stopping their vaping – after all, to switch to smoking wouldn’t make it easier to smoke, it would simply mean many more negative health effects – the ban has driven vapers together to venues where they can safely vape and enjoy each others’ company undisturbed.

It is unfortunate that a burgeoning industry and way to finally start making serious progress on ending smoking has been curtailed by the scientifically unfounded fears of a few, but new changes in how the world works have always led some to feel afraid. In the end, this isn’t that different.




Vaping is the future for smoking: it is more affordable, less offensive (even pleasant!) to bystanders, and ultimately, offers little if any negative health impacts to users and bystanders. This is the direction smoking has to go if we’re to wean ourselves off the habit of smoking and improve the overall health of our population. It is unfortunate that New York City, that struggles with its population’s health to the point that large soda is banned, would take action against a great step in the right direction for New Yorkers’ health!