FDA Can’t Regulate E-Cigarettes
A federal judge has reportedly just ruled that the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] does not have any authority to regulate e-cigarettes; a move which — if it stands up on appeal — will mean that the only protection the public might have lies with the states, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, whose organization petitioned the FDA to regulate e-cigarettes, and whose scheduled appearance on a national TV causes the agency to declare the product “illegal”
More and more governments are cracking down on e-cigarettes, with California and New Jersey the most recent states to weigh in, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who is leading the movement to use legal action against their new products which present many significant potential dangers.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown has just filed a major law suit against various
businesses involved with e-cigarettes. At about the same time, the Governor of New Jersey has signed legislation which bans the use of e-cigarettes in areas where smoking is prohibited, and also bans their sale to children.
California’s law suit follows the model set by Oregon which has prepared three legal actions on behalf of the state. Two were settled, with the defendants agreeing not to sell e-cigarettes in Oregon, and one is still pending. E-cigarette makers are face a civil class action in California, and the Attorney General of Connecticut has vowed to also follow Oregon by bringing his own law suit. Suffolk County, New York, has also banned the use of e-cigarettes.
E-cigarettes have already been banned in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, and Mexico, and restricted in Finland, Malaysia, and Singapore. The Food and Drug Administration [FDA] has determined that e-cigarettes are a “misbrand[ed]” product, an “unapproved new drug” and “are illegal until they are cleared.” The agency has blocked imports of the new product, which emit nicotine (a deadly addictive drug) and propylene glycol (which can cause respiratory problems)
In addition to nicotine and propylene glycol, the FDA has reported that it found in samples of e-cigarettes a variety of “toxic and carcinogenic chemicals”
including diethylene glycol, “an ingredient used in antifreeze, [which] is toxic to humans”; “certain tobacco-specific nitrosamines which are human carcinogens”; and that “tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to humans – anabasine, myosmine, and β-nicotyrine – were detected in a majority of the samples tested.”
PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Professor of Public Interest Law at GWU,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
FELLOW, World Technology Network, and
Executive Director and Chief Counsel
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
America’s First Antismoking Organization
2013 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006, USA
(202) 659-4310 // (703) 527-8418
And e-cigs causing respiratory problems differ from real cigarettes how?
Please….. It;s all about the money tobacco companies lose. Tobacco smoking is the worst discovery of all times.
I finally quit after 20 years of smoking cigarettes thanks to e-cigs, (i wont mention the brand). I have not had a cigarrette in over 2 months.
But I wasn’t a slow smoker. I was smoking 2+ packs per day. And I’ve been known to put down almost 5 packs in a single day, and all I heard was the typical disclaimer… “Well, we tell you it’s bad for you, you have a choice” Yeah, they tell me crack is bad for me too, but they dont push it in every go* d*mn convenience store across the US…
Tobacco companies didnt seem to notice I was slowly running out of breath a little more everyday, nor did the FDA, and now you want to ACT like you give a crap?? Tobacco is more addictive than cocaine.
I bet you anything if cocaine was sold at every store like cigarettes, no one would be able to quit cocaine either.
Now I hit my e-cig a few times a day, im saving money while doing it and I am feeling a little better every day. And I curse the day tobacco companies came into middle school and got me hooked on smoking.
They took my money for over 20 years, which is less than half the amount of time they figure a young kid will smoke before dying of emphysema, or other related diseases..
Tobacco companies should shut down operations now or be made to pay for every smoker’s health problem until they are bankrupt. Tobacco growers can start growing something else.. Corn for ethanol, soy, grapes, lettuce, whatever… And stop killing us NOW!