On Friday, Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law raising the smoking age in the state to 21. New Jersey joins Hawaii and California in setting the legal smoking age at 21.

The New Jersey bill raised the smoking age from 19 to 21. Smoking ages vary, with the set age at 18 in most places throughout the country. But campaigns to raise the minimum age have been successful in some places–while New Jersey now joins Hawaii and California at the state level, some cities and counties have chosen to up the age to 21 as well. Perhaps most notably, New York City passed a law in 2013 that raised the smoking age to 21 within city limits. It was applauded as the first big city or state to raise the smoking age. A bill to do the same for all of New York is making its way through the state legislature currently.

A number of studies point to the fact that if people start smoking later in life, they’re less likely to become addicted and become lifelong smokers. New Jersey State Senator Joseph Vitale, one of the sponsors of the bill, explained:

Data surveys show that if individuals aren’t smokers by 21 years of age, they will most likely not start later in their lives. Making it harder to buy cigarettes by raising the age to legally purchase them in New Jersey will help prevent our youth from becoming lifelong smokers and suffering the long-term effects of the habit.

Supporters of the bill also pointed out that nicotine addiction costs New Jersey a ton of money–an estimated $4 billion in health care costs each year. According to state surveys from this year, almost 40,000 high school students in New Jersey smoke traditional cigarettes. But nicotine usage is even higher when you take into account e-cigarettes, which the new law will also restrict to 21 and up.

Raising the minimum age for smoking seems like it has the potential to become a trend in the United States. Other states are considering similar moves as well. A bill raising the minimum smoking age in Maine passed the state legislature, but it’s unclear whether or not Governor Paul LePage will sign it. It seems likely that other states trying to combat teen nicotine usage will follow suit.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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A study published on Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed two historic lows regarding the behavior of American teens: sexual engagement and cigarette use. On average, teens are having less sex than ever before and smoking fewer conventional cigarettes than their parents’ and grandparents’ generations, though the proliferation of electronic cigarettes has muddled the overall picture of nicotine use.

Among the findings of the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey–which consists of data from 2015, and polled 16,000 students from 125 public and private schools across the country–is that teens are engaging in less sex. Forty-one percent said they have had sex, down from six percent from last decade. Thirty percent said they’d had sex within the previous three months, a three to four percent decline from surveys taken throughout the last decade.

Experts are flummoxed as to why sexual activity has dropped. Some attribute it to increased computer and video game use, others point to sex as being less of a taboo than it has ever been, thus rebellious teenagers are less intrigued by its nefarious allure.

Also in the report: Less than 11 percent of teens said they smoked a cigarette in the last month, the lowest figure since the study began in 1991. Cigarette use among teens hit its peak in 1997 at 36 percent. But with the explosion of vaping–smoking electronic cigarettes–nicotine is still being consumed at high rates: 24 percent said they vaped within the last month.

“The bottom line is that youth should not be using any form of tobacco product, irrespective of whether it’s e-cigarettes, a combustible product like cigarettes, or smokeless tobacco,” said Brian King, CDC’s deputy director for research translation in the Office on Smoking and Health, in a conference call with reporters.

And in perhaps the most disturbing find of the study, 17 percent of students said they had taken prescription drugs–Oxycontin, Vicodin, Adderall, and Ritalin–without a doctor’s consent. That too is a downward trending figure, but experts involved in the study still find it to be alarmingly high.

“It suggests that there’s a norming behavior among kids that it’s okay to take these powerful drugs without somebody prescribing them for you,” said Doctor Stephanie Zaza, director of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health. “That is a pattern that can be held over to adulthood and it can lead to other forms of risky drug taking.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is making a big push to regulate e-cigarettes, cigars, and other non-cigarette smoking devices for the first time. The FDA has been working on these rules for a while, but finalized them on Wednesday. Most of the regulations pertain to smoking via means that aren’t traditional cigarettes, cigarette-related products, or smokeless tobacco–such as hookah, e-cigarettes, and cigars.

One of the most noteworthy new policies is that the FDA will ban the sale of e-cigarettes to individuals under the age of 18. Additionally, the way that e-cigarette manufacturers are allowed to market the e-cigarettes already on sale will require federal permission. The other regulations that will be placed on e-cigarettes include:

A prohibition on distribution of free samples; a ban on selling e-cigarettes in vending machines unless they are in secure places that never admit young people; and a requirement that e-cigarettes carry warnings that they contain nicotine, which is addictive.

Additionally, the regulations will ban the sale of cigars, pipe tobacco, and hookah tobacco to minors under 18.

The FDA put out a statement about its new regulations, stating:

This action is a milestone in consumer protection — going forward, the FDA will be able to review new tobacco products not yet on the market, help prevent misleading claims by tobacco product manufacturers, evaluate the ingredients of tobacco products and how they are made, and communicate the potential risks of tobacco products.

The FDA has been attempting to regulate e-cigarettes for some time. In 2009, the FDA tried to regulate e-cigarettes as drug-delivery products, but a court ruling struck those provisions down in 2010. The newly announced regulations have been two years in the making, as the FDA has sought to deal with the new influx of e-cigarettes on the market and in popular culture.

The federal government isn’t the only one cracking down on e-cigarettes (or vaping–the act of using e-cigarettes or other electronic smoking devices). California’s governor Jerry Brown just signed a law that, in addition to changing the legal smoking age to 21, will restrict the use of e-cigarettes in some public places. According to the Los Angeles Times:

Electronic cigarettes are considered to be tobacco products and cannot be used in restaurants, theaters, bars and other places where smoking has long been banned. They also cannot be marketed to minors.

E-cigarettes are certainly more popular than ever, but as various federal and state regulations crack down, that popularity may not be permanent.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Last week was all about the State of the Union and the massive Powerball jackpot. ICYMI, check out Law Street’s top stories of the week.

1. CDC: E-Cigarette Companies Targeting Teens Through Advertising

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just conducted the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey and discovered that e-cigarettes are being heavily marketed to American teens. The study, which was released Tuesday, concluded that seven out of 10 middle and high school students are being reached by e-cigarette companies through advertising. The concepts and themes being used by the companies mirror those used in cigarette advertising in the past. Check out the full story here.

2 Anti-Gay Clerk Kim Davis to Attend President Obama’s Final SOTU

Do you guys remember Kim Davis? You know, the t-shirt layering Kentucky clerk who kicked off the Supreme Court’s landmark marriage equality ruling by illegally denying gay couples marriage licenses under “God’s authority?” Well if you thought her 15 minutes of fame were up, you’re wrong. Davis has reportedly been invited by a secret lawmaking admirer to attend President Obama’s final State of the Union tonight–and people are not happy about it. Read the full story here.

3. A Billion Dollar Powerball? It Depends On Your State

The Powerball lottery has worked the country’s ‘temporarily embarrassed millionaires‘ into a frenzy with an unprecedented jackpot that estimates put at around $1.5 billion. The next closest jackpot, from a Mega Millions lottery in 2013, lags behind at a measly$590 million. See the full story here.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just conducted the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey and discovered that e-cigarettes are being heavily marketed to American teens.

The study, which was released Tuesday, concluded that seven out of 10 middle and high school students are being reached by e-cigarette companies through advertising. The concepts and themes being used by the companies mirror those used in cigarette advertising in the past. The CDC report stated:

E-cigarette ads use many of the same themes — independence, rebellion, and sex — used to sell cigarettes and other conventional tobacco products.

Right now, there aren’t a lot of regulations dictating how e-cigarettes can or can’t be marketed. For example, e-cigarette producers can advertise on TV, which traditional cigarette manufacturers haven’t been able to do since laws were passed to prevent exactly those practices four decades ago. According to CDC Director Tom Frieden,

The e-cigarette advertising we’re seeing is like the old-time Wild West…No rules, no regulations and heavy spending advertising the products.

However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working on finalizing rules to govern sales to minors–it first proposed them in April of 2014, but they haven’t gone into place yet.

At the same time that more American teens and pre-teens are seeing e-cigarette ads, their use of e-cigarettes is also steadily climbing. More U.S. teenagers are using e-cigarettes than traditional cigarettes–13.4 percent reported e-cigarette use in 2014, but only 9.2 percent reported using traditional cigarettes. While e-cigarettes are believed to be less dangerous than traditional cigarettes, there’s a pretty serious concern that they could become a gateway to traditional cigarette use for young people. A study that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in August 2015 concluded that freshmen in high school who used e-cigarettes were 2.5 times more likely to try traditional cigarettes down the road.

This news from the CDC comes at a time when many parts of the United States are trying even harder to keep young people away from cigarettes. For example, the state of Hawaii just made history by becoming the first state to raise the legal smoking age to 21. Yet some serious work needs to be done if e-cigarettes are also going to be kept from teenagers.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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When it comes to smoking cigarettes, public support for the known cancer-causers has consistently dwindled in recent decades thanks mainly to national “quit smoking” campaigns. In an attempt to help further curtail tobacco consumption, one state is poised to take further action by changing its minimum legal smoking age.

Last Friday, the Hawaii legislature passed a bill, that if signed into law by Governor David Ige, will make it the first state in the nation to raise its minimum legal smoking age from 18 to 21. The bill would ban individuals under the age of 21 from buying tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.

Some communities, counties, and cities, including New York City, have already approved initiatives to raise the smoking age. But if this bill is signed into law, it will make Hawaii the first state to entirely do so.

However, when it comes to enforcing the new legal smoking age, the punishment for underage violators is almost laughable. According to the Associated Press, first-time offenders will be fined a measly $10, which is roughly 50 cents more than the cost of a pack of cigarettes in the state. Any later violations would lead to a $50 fine or mandatory community service.

In a statement from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids commending the bill’s passage, the nonprofit asserts that currently more than 10 percent of Hawaii’s high school students smoke, and tobacco use overall in the state claims 1,400 lives and costs $526 million in health care bills each year. Therefore supporters of the measure say that raising the legal smoking age will help reduce smoking among young people who will probably use tobacco products as adults.

Democratic state Senator Rosalyn Baker who introduced the bill told the AP:

Today we have the opportunity to change the paradigm…

While the industry is not allowed to directly market to children, it is still developing packaging and advertising products in ways that appeal to children,

Some of the advertising she’s referring to are candy flavored e-cigarettes that are increasingly gaining popularity with youths. According to Baker, the favorite flavors among teens who use electronic cigarettes are sweet tart and “unicorn puke”, which has been described by some as a combination of every flavor of Skittle in one.

Interestingly enough, the AP also reports that projections for raising the minimum smoking age to 21, from a report conducted by the Institute of Medicine, predict smoking prevalence would fall an estimated 12 percent.

If signed into law, the new minimum age probably won’t be welcomed by all. Critics may use the old argument that “if you’re old enough to enlist you should be old enough to smoke.” But given that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in America, laws like this may become more common.

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E-cigarettes are one of America’s latest trends. Since entering the United States over the last ten years, they have taken the smoking community by storm. To many of us however, they are still somewhat of a mystery. Generally, we have a sense that they are less harmful than cigarettes, but how much less harmful exactly? With any new product, it is hard to foresee long-term health effects. But what do we know so far? Should e-cigarettes and their advertisements be regulated similarly to conventional cigarettes? Read on for a breakdown on what e-cigarettes are, the debates over them, and what regulation is being discussed.

What are electronic cigarettes?

E-cigarettes, also known as e-cigs and vaporizer cigarettes, are used as an alternate method to smoking tobacco via cigarettes, pipes, or cigars. They are battery operated and don’t involve smoke inhalation. The idea is that they bypass tobacco smoke, which can include more than 7,000 different harmful chemicals, many of which are known to cause cancer, heart disease, and lung disease. Some of the more well-known poisonous chemicals are cyanide, methanol, and ammonia. In addition, tobacco smoke includes tar, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide.

Many e-cigs are designed to look like cigarettes and create a similar experience for those who are smoking them. A Chinese pharmacist perfected them in 2003-2004 and they were quickly brought to the international market in 2005-2006. In the current, automatic versions, a user sucks on an end piece to activate a sensor that allows a heating element to vaporize a liquid solution held in the mouthpiece.

Components

E-cigarettes are generally reusable and come in three parts: the Mouthpiece, the Atomizer, and the Battery.

• Mouthpiece (Cartridge): The mouthpiece holds the liquid solution, also known as e-liquid and e-juice. This solution can contain different grades of nicotine and come in a variety of flavors. Some are meant to imitate established cigarette brands, while others are more exotic. The nicotine is most often dissolved in propylene glycol, a food additive. The FDA has labeled propylene glycol as a “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) substance.
• Atomizer: This is the heating element that allows for vaporization. It requires replacement every three to six months.
• Battery: The battery is the largest piece of the e-cigarette. It is usually lithium-ion and rechargeable. It catalyzes the heating element and often contains an LED light to showcase activation.

Nicotine 

This product eliminates the inhalation of tobacco smoke, however it is important to note that nicotine itself isn’t very healthy. Although it is not the element of cigarettes that causes cancer, the U.S. Surgeon General has linked nicotine to negative impacts on fetal and adolescent brain development, premature birth, and low birth weight. In rare cases, nicotine can even cause abnormal heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation. It is also known to cause mouth irritation, mouth and throat pain, high blood pressure, and canker sores.

In 2014, a study found that “e-cigarettes with a higher voltage level have higher amounts of formaldehyde, a carcinogen.” This is under debate however due to the methods and nature of the study.

How are conventional cigarettes regulated?

We already know that smoking tobacco is awful for your health. It is to blame for 30 percent of all cancer deaths in the U.S., and accounts for 87 percent of lung cancer deaths in men and 70 percent in women. As a result of these health concerns, cigarettes and their advertisements are heavily controlled. To ascertain whether e-cigarettes should be similarly regulated, we need to understand established cigarette regulations. Here are some recent highlights.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, passed in 2009, authorized the FDC to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products. It requires prominent warning graphic labels for cigarettes and larger text warnings on smokeless tobacco products. It regulates describing tobacco products as “light, low, or mild.” Tobacco companies must yield research on health, toxicological, behavioral, or physiologic effects of tobacco use. The FDA can conduct compliance check inspections of any establishment selling tobacco products and fine any establishments not adhering to set regulations. It also requires tobacco manufactures to receive an order or exemption from the FDA before it can introduce new tobacco products.

Other parts of the law are focused on preventing advertisements aimed at America’s youth. Cigarettes cannot be flavored. The packaging design and color must be muted. It prohibits tobacco brands from sponsoring “sporting, entertainment, or other cultural events.” It prohibits free samples of cigarettes. And lastly, it prohibits tobacco branding on non-tobacco products.

E-Cigarette Regulation

Currently, there aren’t any regulations concerning the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of e-cigarettes. The only type of e-cigarettes subject to regulation are those designed for therapeutic purposes, as the FDA has authority to oversee those.

Only three states in the U.S. ban e-cigarettes in designated 100 percent smoke-free venues: Utah, New Jersey, and North Dakota. Only 15 states restrict the use of e-cigarettes in other venues. There are 162 local laws that restrict e-cigarettes in various venues, but those appear to be few and far between.

Are e-cigarettes dangerous?

The question remains: should we be worried about e-cigarettes? That’s a debate that’s happening across the country. They do eliminate deadly smoke inhalation, the most detrimental part of smoking cigarettes. However, there are still concerning aspects of e-cigarettes that need to be taken into account.

E-Cigs as a Gateway to Smoking for Young Adults

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a 2014 study entitled, “Electronic Cigarettes and Conventional Cigarette Use Among US Adolescents.” The study was conducted out of a concern over the increasing use of unregulated e-cigarettes by today’s youth. The results came from a sample of U.S. middle and high school students who participated in the 2011 and 212 National Youth Tobacco Survey. It found:

Use of e-cigarettes was associated with higher odds of ever or current cigarette smoking, higher odds of established smoking, higher odds of planning to quit smoking among current smokers, and, among experimenters, lower odds of abstinence from conventional cigarettes. Use of e-cigarettes does not discourage, and may encourage, conventional cigarette use among US adolescents.

In accordance, a 2013 study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that:

Youth who had never smoked conventional cigarettes but who used e-cigarettes were almost twice as likely to have intentions to smoke conventional cigarettes as those who had never used e-cigarettes.  Among non-smoking youth who had ever used e-cigarettes, 43.9 percent said they have intentions* to smoke conventional cigarettes within the next year, compared with 21.5 percent of those who had never used e-cigarettes.

Additionally, the CDC found that more than 250,000 young adults who have never smoked a cigarette have tried an e-cigarette. That is a triple increase from 2011.

Targeting youth?

If these studies are indicative of reality, then it’s scary to think of how e-cigarette companies are targeting the youth demographic. According to a study published in Pediatrics, “electronic cigarette advertisements increased by 256 percent from 2011 to 2013 and young adult exposure to e-cigarette ads jumped 321 percent in the same time period.“ It found that 75 percent of youth exposure to e-cigarette ads happened through the medium of cable networks like AMC, Comedy Central, and VH1. E-cigarette ads appear on programs like “The Bachelor,” “Big Brother,” and “Survivor,” which were rated amid the 100 highest-rated youth programs in 2012-13.

Other tactics accused of being aimed at young adults include free giveaway samples at music and sporting events, candy flavors, and the glamorization of packaging. All of these actions have been banned for traditional cigarettes companies because of their appeal to the youth.

 Do e-cigs help people quit smoking?

It’s difficult to determine. Studies indicate that they don’t necessarily help stop smoking.

JAMA Study Findings

As previously discussed, the 2014 study published by JAMA found that e-cigarettes do not help smokers quit. Specifically with regard to quitting smoking, 88 (out of 949) smokers claimed to start using e-cigarettes at the beginning of the study. In the next year, 13.5 percent of those 88 quit smoking traditional cigarettes. Almost equal percentages of e-cigarette users and solely traditional smokers quit smoking traditional cigarettes within the year. The difference was so slight, it fell within the study’s margin of error.

There are also testimonials, easily found online, that share success stories of smokers that quit with the help of e-cigarettes. These findings and interviews are not to say that it never happens, but it does not seem to be the norm.

Discussions for Future Regulation

The FDA has the authority to regulate cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco. The FDA proposed the “deeming rule” on April 24, 2014 to extend tobacco products to include e-cigarettes. If approved, e-cigarettes would be regulated in the same manner as traditional cigarettes. This includes federal prohibition on free sampling, federal warning label requirements, and age verification requirements for retailers. It is still uncertain when and to what extent the FDA will be empowered to regulate e-cigarettes.

Conclusion

Studies looking into e-cigarette health concerns and their position as a gateway product for America’s youth are still new. The product only reached the U.S. in the last ten years and nothing is 100 percent conclusive. On one hand, smoking an e-cigarette is less harmful to your health than smoking a traditional cigarette. If a traditional smoker quits cigarettes and manages to only smoke e-cigarettes for the rest of his or her lifetime, that is a good thing. In the same respect, if a young adult who would have developed a smoking habit only ever uses e-cigarettes because of their availability, that is also a good thing. On the other hand, e-cigarettes aren’t necessarily safe for your health just because they are safer than cigarettes. And we could eventually find that they definitively promote cigarette smoking. The government and FDA can revisit the subject when there is more conclusive information available.

Resources

Primary

JAMA Pediatrics: Electronic Cigarette and Conventional Cigarette Use Among U.S. Adolescents

FDA: Deeming Tobacco Products to Be Subject to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

FDA: E-Cigarettes

Additional

BeTobaccoFree.gov: Law/Policies

American Cancer Society: Tobacco-Related Cancers Fact Sheet

American Lung Association: General Smoking Facts

American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation: U.S. State and Local Laws Regulating Use of Electronic Cigarettes

E-Cigarette Research: The Deception of Measuring Formaldehyde in E-Cigarette Aerosol

American Lung Association: Statement on E-Cigarettes

Medical News Today: What Are E-cigarettes?

RTI International: E-Cigarette TV Ads Targeting Youth Increased 256 Percent in Past Two Years

Science News: E-Cigarettes Don’t Help Smokers Quit

Jessica McLaughlin

Jessica McLaughlin is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in English Literature and Spanish. She works in the publishing industry and recently moved back to the DC area after living in NYC. Contact Jessica at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Three years ago, the Food and Drug Administration said it would regulate e-cigarettes.

Although it took longer than expected, the FDA kept its promise.

While certain states and cities across the country have already taken steps to ban the increasingly popular battery-powered devices, the FDA proposed restrictions for the first time Thursday.

Similar to the way it currently regulates traditional cigarettes, the FDA is planning to take the following steps against their electronic counterparts:

• Banning the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.
• Prohibiting the distribution of free samples.
• Banning the sale of e-cigarettes in vending machines – unless the vending machines are located in places where young people aren’t admitted.
• Requiring e-cigarettes to include warning labels, making it clear they contain the addictive chemical nicotine.
• Requiring e-cigarette companies to publicly disclose their products’ ingredients.

Additionally, the proposal would require FDA approval before any new e-cigarettes can be sold. Current products would have to “provide a justification for remaining on the market.”

Despite the urging of many tobacco critics, the FDA’s regulations fall short of broader restrictions. No action will be taken regarding online sale of e-cigarettes, TV advertisements, and the use of various flavorings and sweeteners – all deemed by critics as a way of attracting young smokers.

Pegged as a safer alternative to traditional smoking, e-cigarettes are marketed as a way to not only draw people away from traditional cigarettes but also as a means of helping smokers kick the habit completely.

While it’s generally accepted that e-cigarettes are safer than traditional cigarettes, many point to the lack of substantial research into possible health risks as a serious concern.

“Right now, for something like e-cigarettes, there are far more questions than answers,” Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, told NPR.

One of the most pressing questions is how safe are electronic cigarettes really? One FDA study found that e-cigarettes “potentially release carcinogens and toxic chemicals.” Further research is needed to confirm the FDA’s findings, but supporters of e-cigarettes point to the fact that electronic cigarettes, unlike traditional cigarettes, do not emit tar, carbon monoxide, or hydrogen cyanide.

Still, the main concern is that the e-cigarette industry has been rapidly evolving without any form of regulation. According to Zeller, the goal of the proposed restrictions is to “create a framework.” “We’re calling this the first step,” he said and continued that “for the first time, there will be a science-based, independent regulatory agency playing a vital gate-keeping function.”

As Zeller puts it, the proposal puts the FDA in “a position to ensure that the products are as safe as they could possibly be.”

Safety, as it turns out, is one area where the FDA and e-cigarette industry have found common ground.

“We are extremely relieved that all e-cigarette companies will be regulated, and forced to achieve and maintain the same high standards that Vapor Corp., and several of our responsible competitors, have been imposing on ourselves for years,” said Jeffrey Holman, president and director of Vapor Corp, in an interview with NPR.

Other players in the industry patted the FDA on the back as well, commending the agency for committing to a science-based regulatory process.

“What they did today was very encouraging. […] We’ve already done many things to prepare ourselves and act responsibly,” Miguel Martin, president of the e-cigarette company Logic Technology Development, told The Washington Post. He went further to say that “at least speaking for my company, this will not be the tobacco wars of the 80s and 90s.”

Despite a largely positive reception, there are those – on both sides of this issue – who are not happy with the FDA’s new proposal.

“This is worse than I expected,” said American Vaping Association board member Greg Conley in an interview with the Post. Conley said he agreed with the age restrictions but had hoped existing products would be grandfathered in. Instead, existing e-cigarette companies will have to file applications for their products to remain on the market. “A lot of these companies, they are supporting several employees, investing any profits back into their business. They can’t afford this, and it’s going to lead to a whole lot of consolidation and increased prices for consumers,” he said.

Some public health advocates, while accepting of the proposed regulations, are upset the FDA was not more aggressive when e-cigarettes first hit the shelves.

Matthew Myer, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says the FDA’s action is long overdue. “It is inexcusable that it has taken the FDA and the administration so long to act,” Myers told NPR, and “this delay has had serious health consequences as these unregulated tobacco products have been marketed using tactics and sweet flavors that appeal to kids.”

As far as immediate change goes, don’t expect anything too soon. Before the new regulations can be made official, there will be a 75 day period where the public will be able to comment on the FDA’s proposal. Once the restrictions are finalized, e-cigarette companies will be required to comply with the age and ID restrictions almost immediately. Although their products will be able to stay on the shelves, companies will have to submit applications for approval of their products within two years.

[NPR] [The Washington Post] [USA Today]

—

Matt DiCenso

Featured image courtesy of [Michael Dorausch via Flickr]

Matt DiCenso

Matt DiCenso is a graduate of The George Washington University. Contact Matt at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Colleges all over the country are banning smoking on campus. Many students feel as though such measures are a challenge to their rights, while others are strongly campaigning for the smoking bans. As schools continue to deliberate on whether they will follow the national trend, they must answer another difficult question: should electronic smoking devices be included? E-Cigarettes are becoming more popular, especially with youths, and is now a 1.5 billion dollar industry based on 2013 estimates.

Some universities have already taken a proactive stance on this issue. The University of Illionis and Ohio State University, in addition to many others, plan to ban e-cigarettes along with the smoking of all tobacco products. Is it possible that such action against e-cigarettes is just a knee-jerk reaction to a misunderstood piece of technology? It seems that a brief investigation into the potential dangers of e-cigarettes and tobacco will help shape our ethical intuition on whether they should be included in the bans.

Most people align electronic smoking devices with traditional tobacco products because intuitively it makes sense to lump them all together. Thus, a ban on smoking tobacco ‘should’ entail a ban on using electronic smoking devices. I think it is fair to say that this ‘lumping together’ may be a hasty action. There are noticeable differences between such products, and further research will only continue to confirm this. Those who want to ban smoking tobacco from college campuses have a justification for wishing to do so. The question is, do e-cigarettes meet the justifications that support banning smoking of tobacco? If they do, then maybe it is intelligible to lump them together with tobacco products. If not, then maybe it is an unfair move to prohibit such devices on campuses.

What is the justification for sweeping bans against tobacco smoking?

The most powerful argument for ‘legislation’ that supports the banning of smoking would be the harmful effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS). There have been many studies such as the 1997 Californian Environmental Protection Agency that report on the health effects of exposure to ETS. They “concluded that chronic, cumulative exposure—such as experienced by those living for years with smokers or who work in indoor environments where smoking is permitted—can increase the probability of dying from lung cancer by 20 percent, from heart disease by 30 percent, and can exacerbate asthma in children by 60 to 100 percent.” However, these documented health concerns, and many others, arise from exposure to second hand smoke while indoors. We find that the risks involved with second-hand smoke and the threat of ETS changes quite significantly when smoking occurs outside. This has to do with the fact that smoke can dissipate at a much greater rate because “unlike indoor tobacco smoke, which can persist for hours, researchers found that outdoor smoke disappears rapidly,” says Neil Klepeis, assistant professor (consulting) of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford.

In fact, research published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene documented the presence of ETS on college campuses in the outdoors. They found that exposure to ETS is highly relative to the proximity of the smoker. Once you are more than six feet away from the source of the ETS, the risks greatly diminish to the point where no threat is present. In a six week experiment by researchers at the University of Georgia, “students spent periods of six hours at a time seated in outdoor areas—including a bar, restaurant, and open area on the school’s campus—where smoking was permitted.” Interestingly, they found that, students sitting in an open-air part of campus experienced negligible levels of tobacco exposure.

Does this mean anybody should be able to smoke anywhere outside? Probably not. Researchers have discovered that when you are in close proximity to a smoker outdoors, you are exposed to high concentrations of toxic ETS. However, there seems to be good evidence to support the safety of designated smoking areas. The data indicates that there is no risk of exposure to the negative effects correlated with ETS when one is a safe distance away (usually more than six feet). It appears that the justification for campus wide bans on traditional tobacco products may stand on shaky ground and is ethically questionable.

What does this mean for electronic smoking devices?

It is clear that banning devices such as e-cigarettes is simply a convenience policy and one that lacks substantial justification. This is for two reasons. First, e-cigarettes do not release nearly the same amount of toxins into the air associated with tobacco products. I will say that there is still more research that needs to be done on e-cigarettes, and that my claim could be proven false with more research. However, preliminary studies have shown these devices to be much less dangerous than tobacco. In a recent study published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, change in air quality was measured as people and machines generated vapor in an enclosed space. (Vapor is produced from e-cigarettes, as opposed to smoke.) There were two important discoveries from the study. The first is the significantly smaller levels of nicotine in the air. Reuters reports,

the researchers measured nicotine levels of 2.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air in the first study. Nicotine levels from e-cigarettes in the second study were slightly higher at about 3.3 micrograms per cubic meter. But tobacco cigarette smoking resulted in nicotine levels ten times higher at almost 32 micrograms per cubic meter. 

Compared to tobacco, electronic smoking devices release twelve times less nicotine into the air. It is also important to note that nicotine is not as dangerous as some may believe. Maciej Goniewicz, a cancer researcher in the Department of Health Behavior at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, says “the exposure to nicotine is lower when compared to exposure from tobacco smoke. And we also know that nicotine is relatively safer when compared to other dangerous toxicants in tobacco smoke.”

Another important finding from the study was that the presence of toxins was also significantly less. The researchers found that “E-cigarettes also produced some particulate matter, but regular cigarettes produced about seven times more. E-cigarettes didn’t change the amount of carbon monoxide or other gases in the air.” The distinction between the level toxins and nicotine released into the air from electronic cigarettes and tobacco should give cause for universities to cease from lumping them together. There really is a difference.

Second, banning e-cigarettes lacks substantial justification is that all of the stated harms associated with e-cigarettes have been discovered from studies conducted indoors, in enclosed spaces. There has yet to be any research into the effects of e-cigarettes on air quality when it occurs outside. However, I think we can make some assumptions what the research will yield, based on the findings from traditional tobacco smoke. We see a significant drop in the threat of ETS when smoking occurs outside. It seems plausible to conclude that e-cigarettes, when smoked in the outdoors, will not present a serious threat to others around them. We also know that indoors, electronic smoking devices produce much smaller amounts of nicotine and particulate matter. At the very least, designated smoking areas seems to be more than enough precaution. Universities should halt their hasty, and unsubstantiated, movements to rid these devices from campus. They need to justify their case for such actions, as it appears to be ethically and scientifically questionable.

 [NY Daily News] [Tobacco Control] [Stanford] [Time] [BusinessWeek] [The Lantern]

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Bo Donoghue

Featured image courtesy of [Lindsay Fox via Flickr]

Bo Donoghue

Bo Donoghue is a student at The George Washington University. Contact Bo at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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