Thursday, April 28, 2011

E cig Update

In looking at my little blog list here on the desk, I decided to choose the item that I have the least interest in  - so maybe that is the order for the rest of the week - least to most interesting.

When I was working as a tobacco treatment specialist/educator, I followed the news on all things tobacco and nicotine pretty closely.  If you'll recall, I provided an overview of the new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act and the changes that it would impose over the years.

The first tier included a change in the advertisement warning labels on smokeless products, the outlaw of flavored cigarettes (except the most popular flavor), the rise in the excise tax and the removal of the word(s) light or low tar from cigarette packs.  The next tier will include the expanded warning label on the cigarette packs - the warning will be larger (50% of pack) and graphic in nature.

Hm m- it seems I do still have a little passion for the issue. 

 At about the same time that this law was passed, July 2009 I believe it was - kiosks and on line websites were advertising and selling electronic cigarettes which were purported to be "safer" and in some cases, "treatments" for nicotine addiction.

There were two problems with that. One is that you cannot say that something is safe unless you have proven it to be so _ esp tobacco products (since the FDA took over their regulation) AND if you are calling something a "treatment" then you mean it is a medicine and THAT is a whole other bag of regulation.

I wrote about the issue and fell on the side of those that believed the manufacturers were claiming e cigs to be nicotine replacement therapy (medicine), like nicotine patches, without doing the safety and efficacy trials.  The FDA was also of this opinion, but the supreme court sided with the e cigarette makers in saying that it was a tobacco product, not a medicine.  It can still be regulated by the FDA but in the same way as cigarettes and not by the medicine division.  Here is the latest FDA update.

I am disappointed.

No comments: