Tobacco.org

Eye on Boise: E-cigarette bill opponent saw smoke, mirrors 

A St. Maries legislator raised fears about a “nanny state” when the Idaho House considered legislation this week to ban the sale of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes to children, but the measure ended up passing unanimously.

State Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, cast the only “no” vote on HB 405, but then, at the last minute, changed his vote to “yes.”

Harwood told the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, that he suspected the statistics Nonini cited in his opening debate for the bill were slanted and came from groups that really don’t want anyone to smoke. “I can’t speak for the New England Journal of Medicine,” Nonini responded, “but yes, they would encourage nobody to smoke cigarettes. … Panhandle Health, yes, I think they would support no smoking at all.” Nonini himself is a smoker. . . .

State Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, told the House, “Most of you know in this body that I am a statistic. … I had the opportunity to quit smoking this last year, and I started smoking in my mid-20s. It’s not the kind of thing I like to stand up and announce to the whole world, but that’s what I did. … The statistics are, and it has been proven … that minors that start smoking, they have a lot more difficult time quitting than I did. And trust me, it’s not an easy addiction to overcome, and I probably will struggle with it for a long, long time.”

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CN Creative Raises Series A Funding to Develop First Medically Approved Electronic Inhaler Nicotine Replacement Therapy for Smoking Cessation 

CN Creative, Ltd. (CNC), a healthcare company providing innovative and sustainable solutions to reduce smoking and smoking-related illnesses, today announced it has raised a Series A financing round led by Advent Life Sciences. The financing raised 2 million pounds, equivalent to approximately US $3.1 million. CNC intends to use the investment to continue and finalise development of its Nicadex™ electronic inhaler nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) product for use as part of medically supervised smoking cessation programmes. . . .

Nicadex is a hand-held device that delivers purified nicotine to the user through the vaporisation of a pharmaceutical-grade solution of nicotine. A rechargeable lithium battery powers the vaporiser that instantly turns the nicotine solution into a vapour that is inhaled by the user. Many users report that the sensation of using the Nicadex device is similar to smoking, but the vapour contains no smoke and none of the carbon monoxide, tar or thousands of toxic impurities that make smoking tobacco products so damaging to health. In addition, since there is no smoke, there are no smoke by-products that can cause "second-hand" harm to others.

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VIDEO: E-cigarettes—quitter's best friend or new health hazard? 

Electronic cigarettes can't legally be marketed as a tool to quit smoking--and no studies have been conducted to prove their effectiveness against nicotine addiction--but that's why 95% of e-cigarette users smoke them. The ones sold in Switzerland are nicotine-free, so what do they contain? ABE, the Consumer Show clears the air:

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• House backs ban on e-cigs for minors, despite charges of 'nanny state'  

The House has voted unanimously, 68-0, in favor of HB 405, to ban the sale of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes to minors, but only after much debate and strong opposition from Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries. Harwood cast the only “no” vote, but then, at the last minute, changed his vote to “yes.”

Harwood told the bill's sponsor, Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, that he suspected the statistics Nonini cited in his opening debate for the bill were slanted, and came from groups that really don't want anyone to smoke. “I can't speak for the New England Journal of Medicine,” Nonini responded, “but yes, they would encourage nobody to smoke cigarettes. … Panhandle Health, yes, I think they would support no smoking at all.” Nonini himself is a smoker.

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Smokers find ‘vaping’ electronic cigarettes beats tobacco version  

FROSTBURG -- Kirk Valentine was smoking about two packs of cigarettes a day and wishing he could quit when he first learned about "vaping," the term for using an electronic cigarette.

Now he's a "vaper" instead of a smoker -- a big improvement, Valentine and other e-cigarette advocates believe.

"It's more pure. You're not getting all that chemical," said Sue Dicken, who with Valentine purchased supplies last week at The Vapor Room, a new e-cigarette store in Frostburg.

"The smell is gone," Valentine said.

"You don't feel so bad," Dicken said.

"It's cheaper," said Valentine, 42, of McCoole.

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Coeur D'Alene Rep. Worries About E-Cigarette Sales to Minors  

Coeur d'Alene Republican Rep. Bob Nonini says he wants to do something about unethical retailers who market electronic cigarettes to Idaho minors. He's upset enough to introduce legislation to ban sales of e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18--a component currently missing in Food and Drug Administration guidelines.

"They come in all sorts of different sizes and shapes," said Lora Whalen, director of the Panhandle Health District as she passed out pink and purple e-cigarettes to the committee. "They can fit into all manner of pockets or in a child's locker."

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Idaho bill would ban e-cigarettes for kids  

Current Idaho law bans tobacco products from being sold to children, but doesn't cover a new product called “e-cigarettes,” electronic cigarettes that contain no tobacco, but instead allow users to inhale a nicotine-infused mist without creating smoke.

Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, is sponsoring legislation to change that, and his bill was endorsed unanimously on Monday by the Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee, which sent it to the full House with a recommendation that it pass.

Health districts around the state, including the Panhandle Health District in North Idaho, support the move and asked Nonini and co-sponsor Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d'Alene, to pitch the legislation. The cities of Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Hayden already ban e-cigarette sales to minors, as do Spokane County and the cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley.

Nonini said the products contain “large amounts or what could be considered deadly amounts of nicotine.”

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New Mexico Bill Would More than Double Tobacco Products Taxes, and Perhaps Tax E-Cigarettes 

A bill has been introduced in the New Mexico legislature that would more than double the tax rate on OTP -- tobacco products other than cigarettes, such as smokeless and cigars -- from 25% of the product's value to 57% of the product's value.

Perhaps more significant is the bill's expanded definition of "tobacco products," which would be redefined to include "any product containing tobacco that is intended or expected to be consumed without being combusted, unless it has been approved by the United States food and drug administration as a tobacco use cessation product and is being marketed and sold for that approved purpose." This could arguably cover electronic cigarettes

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Mother shocked at electric cigarette ban 

A WOMAN said her birthday night out was spoilt after she was asked to leave a York bar for using an electronic cigarette.

Cherry Knott, 59, of Kingsway West in Acomb, York, was celebrating her birthday with her daughter, son and his partner in Yates’s in Lower Ousegate, when they were approached by a member of staff who asked them to stop using the e-cigarettes or to leave the venue.

The mock cigarettes emit an odourless water vapour and simulate smoking by producing a mist which is inhaled.

The group, who say they have used the cigarettes indoors in other venues in York without any issue, questioned the member of staff before deciding to leave.

Mrs Knott said they had been in the bar for a while and had even discussed the cigarettes with a barman, before being asked to leave by a member of staff who said they might encourage people to light up genuine cigarettes.

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• Trade in e-cigarettes booming despite health concerns 

Berlin - Concern is rising over the use of electronic cigarettes - or e-cigarettes - that produce an aerosol mist for inhaling rather than tobacco smoke and are used by many smokers to help kick the habit. . . .

'Consumers should be able to rely on a product that is safe from a health viewpoint and that is by no means certain in the case of the e-cigarette,' Martina Poetschke-Langer of the DKFZ German cancer research centre says. She cautions that lessons should be drawn from the mistakes of the past when promoting a new product. . . .

Poetschke-Langer says the e-cigarette is likely to be just as addictive as the ordinary kind and notes that there is no good evidence that they assist in stopping smoking.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found carcinogenic substances like nitrosamines in the liquid, and there is little clarity on whether there might be effects on 'passive smokers' in the immediate environment of the e-smoker.

The product is banned in Norway, Turkey, Switzerland and even in China, where it was invented some 10 years ago. There are strict controls in Denmark, Canada and Austria, and the European Commission is probing the health effects.

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E-CIGARETTE BAN: Opponents of e-cigarette ban say they're being unfairly targeted  

The Utah Vapors Association says e-cigarettes don't have any of the harmful effects caused by second-hand smoke produced by regular cigarettes, but House Bill 245 would place them in the same category as cigarettes.

"The vapor that comes from an electronic cigarette is just that; it's water vapor. It's no different from vapor that comes from a humidifier in a department store on display," said Aaron Frazier with the Utah Vapors Association.

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Cheney considering e-cigarette ordinance 

A new ordinance limiting the sale of electronic cigarettes was presented to the Cheney City Council during another brief meeting Jan. 24.

The ordinance, if approved, would prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes and related supplies to people under 18 years old within the city. It came after the Spokane Regional Health District approached the council in December about the products’ availability to minors in the region; health district representatives said their underage volunteers were able to buy e-cigarettes in one Cheney retailer, and stressed the products are not monitored for the types of chemicals they contain, saying they could be dangerous for kids.

The ordinance would require businesses to post signs telling minors they would be penalized for buying e-cigarettes. Violation by a minor would be a class 3 civil infraction, while violation by anyone other than a minor—someone who was caught selling the products to minors—would receive a class 1 civil infraction.

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• E-cigarette charger sparks safety concern  

A vapour-based cigarette used by people who want the feel of smoking without the nicotine, requires a power charger that doesn't conform to government safety standards, according to the province's chief electrical inspector.

It requires eight hours of charging to get it started, then two hours to keep it going.

Jake LeBlanc, New Brunswick's chief electrical inspector, says the voltage listed is a huge problem.

“It says 220 volts, which these are made to go in your wall which are 120, so right away that this would be a tip off that there was something wrong,” he told CBC News.

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E-Cigarette controversy lights up in Wichita  

"They really ruined my concert," says Angela Prock.

Prock was using her E-cigarette at Intrust Arena recently at a concert when security asked her to stop using it.

"Smoking ban they said," explains Prock. "They told me to put it out, but it's not a cigarette."

Or is it?

Intrust Arena says it is banning the E-cigarette along with so-called "real" cigarettes that contain tobacco.

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• Utah children are experimenting with e-cigarettes 

The local organization of parents and teachers on Tuesday put electronic cigarettes at the top of its list, along with alcohol, drugs and other tobacco products, hoping to get state leaders to take notice of increasing trends among children and teens.

Nearly 8 percent of Utah's twelfth-graders reported they had experimented with e-cigarettes and 3 percent had used them in the past 30 days, according to a 2011 Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health survey of more than 55,000 Utah school children, conducted by the Utah Department of Health. For the first time, the agency this year paid to add questions concerning e-cigarettes, however, the data remains unpublished at this time. . . .

Among 19- to 24-year-olds, 25 percent reported having tried e-cigarettes and 9 percent continued to use them, according to the health department.

"There's a lot of danger associated with these cigarettes," Utah PTA President Gainell Rogers said. "It is a safety issue for our children as well as a health issue."

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