New Jersey Senator Calls for FDA to Ban E-Cigarettes

New Jersey Senator Calls for FDA to Ban E-Cigarettes
March 27, 2009

News Summary

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) is calling for a ban on 'e-cigarettes' -- electronic nicotine delivery-devices that resemble normal cigarettes but don't burn tobacco -- until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) certifies that they are safe.

The Hill reported March 23 that the battery-powered cigarettes are growing in popularity; some members of Congress have even been spotted using them on Capitol Hill, where smoking is banned.

"Manufacturers and retailers of these products claim that e-cigarettes are safe, and even that these products can help smokers quit traditional cigarettes," Lautenberg said in a letter to the FDA. "However, there have been no clinical studies to prove these products are effective at helping smokers quit, nor have any studies verified the safety of these products or their long-term health effects."

However, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) who has used e-cigarettes in the House Speaker's Lobby, said the FDA should give the product the benefit of the doubt. "Before the FDA takes any immediate action, it should put forward scientific evidence that these products are harmful or unsafe," he said.

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by John R. Polito on 28 Mar 09 07:16 AM EDT

Wait until the FDA certifies nicotine safe? Is Lautenberg joking? He knows that nicotine is the sine qua non of smoking, that it's a highly addictive super toxin that not only eats brain gray matter, but through angiogenisis contributes to artery hardening and accelerated tumor growth rates. But the bottom line is 400,000 annual smoking related deaths due to the destructive synergy between scores of toxins and carcinogens. Could this have something to do with the Senator protecting Vector's share of the cigarette market, his 3rd leading contributor? What's needed isn't killing of nicotine's cleanest forms of delivery but its dirtiest. What's needed is positive control over how all nicotine is marketed and sold in the U.S., to require its sale inside stores to which you are denied access.

Posted by Bill Godshall on 30 Mar 09 10:51 AM EDT

E-cigarettes are far far less hazardous alternatives to cigarettes, pose no risks to innocent bystanders, and could be the most effective smoking cessation aid yet. Lautenberg's prohibitionist proposal would result in tens of thousands of e-cigarette users switching back to cigarettes, whose manufacturers would be the primary beneficiary of an e-cigarette ban. Drug companies (that sell more expensive nicotine cessation products with a 93% failure rate) also would benefit (by eliminating market competition) from Lautenberg's proposal. Ruyan, inventor and owner of e-cigarette patents, does not make health claims about its products, does not sell its products in indoor malls, and has conducted toxicity tests on its products http://www.healthnz.co.nz/RuyanC...rt30-Oct- 08.pdf It appears that companies making health claims about their e-cigarette products are selling knock-off (counterfeit) products. The FDA can and should hold these companies accountable for complying with FDA law, but other courts will resolve patent litigation.

Posted by Bill Godshall on 30 Mar 09 11:06 AM EDT

The sensible policy solution is for the US Senate to amend the Altria/CTFK/Waxman/Kennedy FDA tobacco legislative deal by defining and categorizing e-cigarettes (and other smokefree nicotine products marketed as alternatives to cigarettes) as tobacco products, and the FDA regulate them similar to other tobacco products (e.g. no marketing or sales to minors, no unsubstantiated health claims, product testing). Rep. Steve Buyer and Sen. Richard Burr have introduced legislation containing that and other sound tobacco harm reduction provisions (e.g. truthfully informing smokers and the public that smokefree tobacco/nicotine products are less hazardous alternatives to cigarettes, allowing new and recently introduced smokefree tobacco products to remain on the market).

Posted by maxwood on 30 Mar 09 08:53 PM EDT

I agree with Godshall 100%. Big Tobackgo should be and probably is scared to death of this technology. Worst of all (for them), someone will, or probably has, figure(d) out how to load cannabinol in the cartridge instead of nicotine-- the ultimate harm reduction and the final solution for hot burning cigarette genocide as we have known it.

Posted by Scott Gilbert on 04 Apr 09 02:49 PM EDT

This man is a Joke! He wants to wait untill the FDA says they are safe. ARE CIGARETTES SAFE??? NO! But I can buy them anywhere, they are legal and they would kill me. Do your testing, but let these be accessible to people who wish to use them. There is no doubt that they are safer than a tobacco cigarette.

Posted by Scott Gilbert on 06 Apr 09 10:34 AM EDT

Please help save our rights. Check this out and sign our petition. Thank you. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keep-life-saving-electronic-cigarettes-ava

Posted by James Benningfield on 09 Apr 09 04:45 AM EDT

Do cigarettes have FDA approval? Please conduct testing for consumer safety, until then allow freedom of choice in the market place for smoking alternatives. Otherwise, consider the slippery slope of banning alchohol due to dose restrictions. You'd think the FDA would be for electronic cigarettes in the market place to lower our medical costs due to lower carcinogen levels in these products as opposed to real cigarettes. We all know what the Surgeon Generals warning is about and are trying to limit our exposure to carcinogens while tapering off.

Posted by Rick Smith on 11 Apr 09 04:35 PM EDT

I wonder how much money this senator has stuck into his pocket? Probably more than most of us care to know. As a user of the e cig, I can only tell of the good it has done for me. I have not used tobacco for 9 months since getting my first e cig. As for the fda, I have no respect or confidence in them either. You see, I was an avid peanut butter cracker eater as well. We all know where that went. I was also a chantix user. Does that ring a bell? Do I think e cigs are safe? I don't know anymore than what I have read. I do know that tobacco is not safe, but can still use it if I wish. Does this make ant sense to anyone? The e cig contains no more than 4 ingredients all deemed safe by the fda. Tobacco contains about 4,000 ingredients, all deemed unsafe by the fda. Which one do you think I should be using? To all the antismoking groups, you folks should be glad that we have a safer alternative. After all, you were the ones who wanted us to be healthy, right?

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