A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Food and Drug Administration to stop blocking the importation of electronic cigarettes from China and indicated that the devices should be regulated as tobacco products rather than drug or medical devices.

via F.D.A. Ordered to Stop Blocking Imports of E-Cigarettes – NYTimes.com.

Dr. Matthew Mintz is board certified in internal medicine. Mintz recently appeared on a CBS morning show to warn about the unknown effects.

True, there definitely hasn’t be enough testing. But whenever someone says “…but you don’t know what’s in that thing…”  I say, as opposed to that cigarette you’re smoking? You know exactly what’s in that, and it’s not great.

via E-Cigarettes may not be the answer to Quitting Smoking | MyWayBusiness.com Business News.

At Aurelio’s Pizza in Mokena, New Lenox and Frankfort, owner Joe Pascale allows customers to light up and puff away – provided they’re using electronic cigarettes. For a time, Pascale was selling the devices, which contain nicotine and resemble a real cigarette but expel only water vapor.

Although those patrons are few, he says, it’s an alternative to please smokers, including those on his busy staff as well as non-smokers.

“We’ve had people get (mad), and we say, ‘That’s an electronic cigarette,’ and they say, ‘OK,’” Pascale said.

via Fewer huff & puff over state smoke ban :: The Courier News :: Business.

In late March, at the Blue Martini Lounge on Glades Road in Boca Raton, Gladstone encountered a big-talking, cocktail-swilling business man, sporting a Star of David tattoo on his neck and taking drags off an electronic cigarette.
Gladstone had known Howard Needle before — socially, not in the business world, and he knew nothing of Needle’s criminal past. It so happened that Gladstone had a friend, Jaet, who had also switched to electronic cigarettes, which satisfied the craving without nearly the health effects. Gladstone had some money to invest. A mutual friend vouched for Needle’s sales skills and Jaet could be a marketer.

Apparently he also ran a scam on the owner of Crown7 cigarettes, who talked to the paper in a followup piece.

Got Needle. Need Haystack.

The problem I have with this story is that they gave an electronic cigarette for a women to use to quit smoking, which is a claim manufacturers can’t make. And the woman reasoned that she might as well have a real cigarette in her hand if she’s going to be puffing away at something. Erm, that’s like saying you might as well have antifreeze if you’re holding a cup in your hand. Some people like and want the sensation of smoking, without the tar or carcinogens. THAT is what is the electronic cigarette is for. And you can use zero nicotine liquid if you just want flavor.

I thought this was especially hilarious:

The e-cigarette is banned in Canada, but here in the United States, there aren’t any restrictions on selling it or even using it. WENY-TV News set up a hidden camera at Holmes Plate in Corning to find out if that’s really the case. Paula started smoking on the e-cigarette just minutes after we sat down in the restaurant. The bartender never asked Paula to put it out.

I bet the TV crew was seriously disappointed when no one said anything to ol’ Paula about her e-cigarette. Hidden cameras are local TV news channels’ bread and butter.

link: WENY-TV News – Local News

Full text of Dunworth’s letter below:

LONDON, ENGLAND — (OfficialWire) — 05/22/09 —

Dear President Obama

A distinguished and respected American Professor of Medicine, Brad Rodu, recently wrote to us, stating:

“The American legislative process is closed to all but a few powerful interests, who will soon be gloating over their “success” in passing FDA regulation of tobacco.”

We are hoping that the American people, with your help, will prove them wrong.

The Tobacco Bill (S.982)

The Legislation the Professer was referring to was the Kennedy Tobacco Bill, a bill which is likely to lead to a defacto ban on electronic cigarettes and other safe alternatives to smoking.

The electronic cigarette is a device which allows consumers to inhale nicotine without the carcinogens and tar contained in normal cigarettes. Besides nicotine, the main ingredient in the electronic cigarette is propylene glycol, a compound which Dr Murray Lauderson, one of the few to have carried out research into the product, says has an excellent safety profile.

This device, according to the eminent professors, doctors and researchers we have spoken to, has the potential to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of American smokers every year.

Dr Joel Nitzkin, for example, predicts that if every smoker in America switched to the electronic cigarette, the worst case scenario would eventually see the death toll falling from 400,000 a year to 4,000 deaths a year.

The best case scenario would see less than 400 deaths a year.

However, the electronic cigarette is likely to be banned because the Kennedy Tobacco Bill will require research into the electronic cigarette which experts say is physically impossible to carry out.

Big Money

There are many set to gain financially from the demise of the e-cigarette.

These include:

* the huge pharmecutical corporations (Big Pharm) who sell the nicotine replacement aids recently proved to be so ineffective (1.6% when measured at 12 months abstinence)
* the public health groups who have received tens of millions of dollars in funding from those same pharmecutical groups
* America’s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris, which will see the safe alternatives to its lethal products removed from the market

Perhaps this is also why millions of dollars have been spent lobbying for the Tobacco Bill by Philip Morris – which has spent more money lobbying this year than all the other tobacco companies in the US put together.

In contrast, those who support the e-cigarette – researchers, smokers and the very new Electronic Cigarette Association – have little money. The campaign against the electronic cigarette has been forced to take place on forums and on blog posts, on You Tube and on Twitter – the very places which provided the upswell of support which gave you your historic victory.

What the Experts Say

While those who support the e-cigarette have few funds, they have many respected voices in the medical and tobacco harm reduction community to support their cause:

Professor Brad Rodu, a Professor of Medicine and Holder of an Endowed Chair in Tobacco Harm Reduction Research at the University of Louisville, who wrote: “I am convinced that these anti-tobacco extremists [Tobacco Free Kids] will eventually be held partially responsible for the deaths of millions of uninformed smokers.”

Professor Michael Siegel, a tireless campaigner for Tobacco Harm Reduction and Professor in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, Boston University School of Public Health, who wrote: “It is clear that the real purpose and effect of the FDA tobacco legislation is to protect the conventional cigarette market from competition. And … that competition – in the absence of FDA legislation – would come from truly reduced risk products, such as e-cigarettes.”

Dr Joel Nitzkin, Chair of the Tobacco Control Task Force for the American Association of Public Health Physicians, who said: “We have every reason to believe that the hazard posed by e-cigarettes would be much lower than one percent, probably lower than one tenth of one percent of the hazard posed by regular cigarettes.”

David Sweanor, who has worked with numerous companies and organisations, including the International Union Against Cancer, the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the Pan American Health Organization, on the issue of tobacco control, and who told us: “If there is anyone who believes cigarettes are no more hazardous than e-cigarettes I’d recommend a remedial course in basic sciences.”

Dr Adrian Payne, Managing Executive of Tobacco Harm Reduction Agency Tobacco Horizons and with thirty years of post-doctoral experience in the field of tobacco and nicotine,who said: “It really would be a cruel irony if smokers who had switched to E-cigarettes were … forced to revert to smoking regular cigarettes.”

Smokers Need Your Help

We are not asking for the blind acceptance of the electronic cigarette. This product needs ongoing assessment, improved regulation and in-depth research. However, on behalf of the four hundred thousand Americans who die every year from smoking, we do ask for the time and support necessary to carry out feasible research into this product.

President Obama, since you have taken over the reins of government in America, a new hope and optimism has spread throughout the world. People and nations who had lost faith in America as one of the first truly free and democratic nations in the world have begun to regain it. And ordinary people have begun to believe your promise that now is the time for change.

We believe that that you will maintain that hope of fairness and optimism. With your help it will be the small people, the researchers and the smokers who will bring about the changes they need and deserve, and not the large organisations who have only their own interests and profits at heart.

Thank you for your consideration, and please feel free to contact me at any time.

Yours sincerely
James Dunworth
Director
E Cigarette Direct

“I believe everyone has a choice in this nation,” said Beth Dore, Duso’s new owner. “Being a nonsmoker, I didn’t feel I had a choice to go into a bar without smoke. Now there is a choice.”

Here’s a refreshing article on the electronic cigarette. It’s refreshing because it begins with a a real-world solution to a small business owner’s problem. Duso’s Bar of Bay City is helping its smoking customer base by selling electronic cigarettes.

I remember the first time I visited Chicago from New York–I was so surprised to see that smoking was still legal inside bars. Literally EVERYONE was smoking inside the bars, especially the ones around Wrigley Field. They passed the smoking ban soon after. Great to see a small business finding a way to please both its smoking and non-smoking customers.

link: Midland Street bar offers electronic cigarette for smoke-free environment – Bay City News – The Latest News, Blogs, Photos & Videos – MLive.com