Commentary from Smokingeverywhereecig.com onFDA to Ban Electronic Cigarettes 5-15-2009Bill Godshall of Smokefree Pennsylvania reports in a mass email message that theFood and Drug Administration plans to proceed with a ban on electronic cigarettes,devices that deliver nicotine vapor without tobacco or combustion products.Godshall reproduces the following message from Heather Zawalick of the FDA'sOffice of Legislation, which says the agency will announce enforcement actionsagainst the three largest e-cigarette distributors on Tuesday:Subject/Headline: FDA Takes Enforcement Action on Electronic Smoking ProductsPlanned Release Date: May 5Driving Event: Compliance actionRollout Plan: Extensive rollout planned including press conference at HHS, pressrelease, fact sheet, video for upload to YouTube, podcast, consumer article,consumer Q &A, key message points, internal media Q & A, Op-Ed, photos of productsfor posting on Internet.Other background, hidden factors: Action involves three largest distributors. Oneof the distributors has just sued FDA seeking a restraining order to prevent usfrom holding their product at the border.There is keen interest in this subject. E-cigarette kiosks are all over town,including Montgomery Mall. They're being advertised as a safer alternative tocigarettes. Our concern is that this might introduce nonusers to nicotine use.This is a drug delivery device. The content of the products have not been analyzedby FDA. To be sold, they would have to be approved by the agency.Our concern is that this might introduce nonusers to nicotine use. And what if itdid? Separated from the dangers of smoking, nicotine use is not a big healthconcern. The FDA itself has approved various nicotine replacement products (gum,patches, even an inhaler), some of them for over-the-counter sale, even thoughthey theoretically might "introduce nonusers to nicotine use." That possibility isan incredibly lame justification for preventing smokers from switching to aproduct that eliminates virtually all the risks associated with standardcigarettes.In an open letter to Zawalick, Joel Nitzkin of the American Association of PublicHealth Physicians says the pending FDA ban seems to be "based entirely on theundocumented assumption that electronic cigarettes may have the potential toattract additional teenagers to nicotine use and addiction." That concern seems tobe fanciful: Godshall says "there is no evidence that e-cigarette products havebeen marketed to youth, nor is there evidence of youth use of e-cigarette products(most of which cost more than $100)." In any case, Nitzkin notes, the governmentcan impose age restrictions without stopping "current adult smokers who areunwilling or unable to quit" from enjoying "the health benefits this product canoffer." By Nitzkin's reckoning, based on the available research, smokelessnicotine products "promise a risk of illness and death well under 1% of the riskposed by cigarettes."In his own letter to Zawalick, Godshall argues that "denying 45 million cigarettesmokers access to exponentially less hazardous smokefree nicotine alternativeswould result in millions of preventable deaths among smokers, millions ofnonsmokers continuing to be exposed to tobacco smoke pollution, and tens ofthousands of e-cigarettes users reverting back to smoking cigarettes." He addsthat "it is absurd for the FDA to even contemplate protecting the deadliestnicotine products (cigarettes) from market competition by the least hazardousnicotine products."I decided to become a Owner of a Electric Cigarette Website and Business because Iknow that it will help people that are Smoking Cigarettes and want to quit. Aftercountless years of being taxed by the State they live in and the FederalGovernment for Smoking Cigarettes raising the prices per pack to astronomicallevels. One has to wonder what the motive of a Federal Agency that is supposed tolook out for your health and well being is stopping such a healthy and proven
Leave a Comment