Feds Expected To Announce Final E-Cigarette Rule, Could Nearly Ban Them | USA Today
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says the rule announced Thursday falls short in protecting children because it doesn’t restrict the use of sweet e-cigarette flavors such as gummy bear and cotton candy even though the FDA’s own data shows flavors play a big role in youth use.
Industry experts say treating e-cigarettes, which don’t contain tobacco, the same as cigarettes could lead to such onerous and costly approval that all but the largest tobacco companies would be forced out of the market — and possibly those companies too. Zeller says he expects consolidation in the number and type of products and vape shops.
The Tobacco Control Act requires the FDA to use science to weigh the potential benefits of e-cigarettes against any potential health risk, for both the individual users and the whole population, which Stier says would be all but impossible.
That could force e-cigarette smokers back to regular cigarettes, he says.
E-cigarettes help people trying to quit smoking, says Patricia Kovacevic, general counsel and chief compliance officer at e-cigarette manufacturer Nicopure. She and other e-cigarette advocates cited a Royal College of Physicians’ report last week that showed e-cigarettes’ benefits.
From: Feds Expected To Announce Final E-Cigarette Rule, Could Nearly Ban Them | USA Today
Good, I’m tired of having to smell the e-cig vapor at my local places because the users think it’s okay to do it inside a restaurant or wherever else they want since these aren’t regular cigsReport
These regulations are unrelated to smoking or vaping in restaurants, which are the province of state and local government.Report
@will-truman that’s true as far as it goes but local and state governments look to the federal government and often the same crusading organizations. Even when federal policy isn’t explicitly coercive to lower levels of government there are numerous ways in which it pushes policy. Tobacco has been deemed not only unhealthy but evil. I’d hate to see the same thing happen to a less unhealthy alternative especially one that so many people use to quit or lessen their tobacco use.Report
It surprises me to hear you say that notme. Especially as a (very thin) justification for federal regulation.Report
@notme Isn’t that the responsibility of the property owner and not the government? It appears you’re down for big government when it reflects your desires.Report
There is so much wrong with this I don’t know where to begin. Maybe one day our government and our apparently endless supply of puritanical activist organizations will start to understand concepts like harm reduction and diminishing returns. And maybe I’m a Chinese jet pilot.Report
But the EPA is trying to save the children. Why can’t your accept that and get with the program?Report
It’s the FDA, whose foundational mandate was to regulate so as to contain impurities and poisons in the interstate trade in food and pharmaceuticals. You figure they might be out of things to do?Report
Yes I meant FDA.Report
Won’t SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!!!!!Report
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids,
Imagine that was your job. What sort of person wants to put out press releases on this subject for a living?Report
I’ll tell you:
Folks on a crusade. Or general “do gooders” who want to “improve us”.Report
Babies might choke to death if they ate a steak.
I don’t know why they sell those things at the grocery store.Report
Appalling, what an utter waste of administrative energy.Report
Will, I remember you expressing your fears that this would happen, and here we are. One of the stats NPR cited (can’t remember if it was from their reporters or an interviewee) was that even tho tobacco use has gone down since the introduction of e-cigs, e-cig use has grown by three times over the last few years! Imagine that!
InMD had it right in his comment above. This gummental decision is mindboggingly stupid.Report
And yet, liberals and conservatives want to meddle in the personal affairs of each and every one of us. So the question is not this issue and why the others?Report
It would be unfortunate if e-cigarettes, something which we have very little evidence for or against, were to be more heavily regulated than actual cigarettes, something which are unequivocally the worst possible health decision anyone could make for themselves and those around them.Report