From: NACS The Association for Convenience and Fuel Retailing
Cost-benefit analysis viewed as radical by some.
NEW YORK – As U.S. health regulators consider what rules to impose on electronic cigarettes, in their tally of costs and benefits they have placed a value on the lost pleasure consumers may suffer if they used the products less or not at all.
According to a report from Reuters, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says in a little-noticed document released alongside its April proposal for e-cigarette regulation that the projected benefits of the new rules — which also apply to cigars, hookahs and other vapor products — should be cut by 70% to account for the deprivation consumers would suffer.
That means if the agency puts a value of $100,000 on the longer and improved life that might be achieved by deterring someone from smoking, then it would cut that benefit assessment to $30,000 because of the pleasure they lost. The approach is regarded as radical among those who have done cost-benefit studies for regulators.