The Data Quality Act and e-Cigarettes

May 29

Editor’s Note:  The French government study, “Rapport et avis d’experts sur l’e-cigarette,” discussed in the article below is attached here.  The initial step in evaluating the report would be to determine if it complies with the Data Quality Act and implementing guidance.  As HHS has already recognized, international studies are required to meet the same quality standards as all data considered by agencies.

From: Bloomberg

By Albertina Torsoli

Use of electronic cigarettes in public spaces such as restaurants should be forbidden, French researchers wrote in a government-commissioned report.

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How Does CTP Address Less Risky Tobacco Prodcuts?

May 27
CrossroadsToday.com
 
FDA tobacco chief speaks at industry meeting
 
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — The head of the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco control efforts says changes in the marketplace have forced the public health community to grapple with the idea that some products are less harmful than others.  Mitch Zeller spoke Thursday at the Tobacco Merchants Association meeting in Williamsburg. He became director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products in March.

Zeller said the agency is aware that certain products could reduce individual health risks. But he said the 2009 law giving the agency authority to regulate the industry requires that it measure health effects at a population level.

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States and E-Cigarette Legislation

May 23

From: CSPnet

By Thomas A. Briant

With the continued growth of the e-cigarette category in terms of the number of e-cigarette manufacturers, the number of brands on the market, and the increasing consumer demand for electronic cigarettes, state lawmakers have also begun to consider bills to tax e-cigarettes and prevent the sale of the products to underage youth. All of this state legislation is being considered within a potential federal regulatory framework to regulate electronic cigarettes that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should announce in the near future.

E-Cigarette Tax Bills

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E-cigarettes: No tobacco? Sure. Safe alternative? Nobody knows, but market growing

May 19
 
Editor’s Note: The author makes several premature statements regarding the adverse effects of e-cigarettes.  The issues are being examined by a number of  agencies and it best we await the results of these studies as well as those being performed outside the federal government.
 

COLUMBIA – Ron Sena of Charleston saw his first electronic cigarette while on a cruise with his wife.

A smoker for 40 years, Sena was aware of the regulations surrounding smoking in restaurants, so he was surprised when a man pulled out what looked to be a cigarette in the dining room.

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FDA to “to assert regulatory authority over e-cigarettes in the near future”

May 16

From: Associated Press

FDA tobacco chief says health community grappling with idea that some products are less risky

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Changes in the marketplace have forced the public health community to wrestle with the idea that some tobacco products may pose less of a health risk than others, the new head of the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco control efforts told an industry group on Thursday.

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FDA details barriers for submitting SE, MRTP and New Tobacco Product applications, falsely claims agency’s goal is to reduce morbidity and mortality

May 14

Bill Godshall

e cigarette Forum

Title of article by FDA’s former CTFP director Lawrence Deyton and DHHS’ Corinne Husten falsely claims FDA‘s goal is to reduce tobacco morbidity and mortality, but then delineates many unwarranted and expensive barriers (i.e. SE, MRTP and New Product guidances) the agency has issued that effectively ban new smokeless tobacco products, and prevent smokers from being truthfully informed that smokefree alternatives are far less hazardous than cigarettes.

Understanding the Tobacco Control Act: efforts by the US Food and Drug Administration to make tobacco-related morbidity and mortality part of the USA’s past, not its future
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/la…735-7/fulltext

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The new EU directive: quit smoking or die

May 09

From: Spiked

New rules from Brussels effectively banning low-risk alternatives to cigarettes, like e-cigs, will cost lives.

Rob Lyons

In December 2012, the EU’s executive, the European Commission, announced its proposals to revise the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), originally passed in 2001, to take account of ‘significant scientific, market and international developments’ that have taken place since. But far from improving Europeans’ health, the proposals as they stand could well lead to many thousands, perhaps millions, of unnecessary early deaths.

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E-cigarettes’ dangers uncertain

May 08

From: San Francisco Chronicle

Kathryn Roethel

There are a lot of public health questions surrounding the use of e-cigarettes, but one thing is not in question – they are becoming a popular alternative to tobacco cigarettes. One in 5 smokers in the United States had tried e-cigarettes in 2011 – up from 1 in 10 in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

E-cigarettes, battery-powered devices that vaporize liquid nicotine so people can inhale it, began appearing in U.S. stores in 2007. They contain fewer hazardous chemicals than tobacco cigarettes but are so new that no long-term studies have been done to determine the health effects both for smokers and those who breathe in the vapors secondhand.

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Major employers add e-cigarettes to no-tobacco policies

May 01

From: WECT Channel 6

EW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) – Electronic cigarettes are gaining popularity among smokers, but not all employers are on board with the idea.

More and more companies are creating policies for using the smoking alternative at work.

E-cigarettes are not allowed anywhere at New Hanover Regional Medical Center – and that goes for employees too. A spokesperson for the hospital said administrators recently notified staff about this change.

Health warnings from the FDA prompted the change, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Employees with New Hanover County government are under the same restrictions. E-cigarettes are lumped in with the county’s larger tobacco policy.

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