Tobacco control group promoting smoke-free apartments

By Bismarck Tribune
BISMARCK, N.D. _ The North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy is promoting smoke-free apartments.
The center has launched an education campaign encouraging smoke-free housing policies.
“In North Dakota, 24 percent of residents live in apartments and many of these residents continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke,” Executive Director Jeanne Prom said in a statement.
The center cited a 2006 surgeon general’s report that said air-cleaning technologies and ventilating buildings do not eliminate smoke because conventional systems cannot remove all the toxins. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems also can distribute secondhand smoke throughout a building.
Prom said there are high costs to landlords associated with allowing smoking in apartments, like painting and replacing carpeting.
The center cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that estimated the annual cost savings of eliminating smoking in subsidized housing nationwide would be $108 million in annual renovation expenses and $72 million in annual smoking-related fire losses.
For more information go to www.smokefreehousingND.com.
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/tobacco-control-group-promoting-smoke-free-apartments/article_a39a5b62-be9c-11e3-bd9c-0019bb2963f4.html

E-Cigarette Poisoning on the Rise, CDC Says

By Neha Sharma, DO, ABC News
They’re supposedly a safer alternative to conventional cigarettes. But electronic cigarettes may actually pose a serious danger to others in your home — particularly children.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned in report released today that the number of phone calls to U.S. poison control centers related to e-cigarette use has increased from just one call per month on average in 2010 to nearly 200 calls per month in early 2014.
“The rise in the numbers of e-cigs related calls to poison centers leads us to view this as a major public health concern,” said report author Dr. Kevin Chatham-Stephen, a pediatrician and an epidemiologist with the CDC.
He said that though e-cigs comprise less than 2 percent of all tobacco-related sales, they now account for more than 40 percent of poison center calls. More than half of the calls involved children younger than 5 years old.
“This is a very dramatic finding,” Chatham-Stephen said.
According to the report, most of these emergencies are linked to the liquid nicotine within the e-cigs. If the liquid is released from the cylinder that holds it, the result can be acute nicotine toxicity from direct skin or eye exposure, ingestion, or inhalation.
“Cigarettes are the most dangerous consumer product on the planet, and smokers need to treat e-cigs with considerable caution especially since the product is unregulated.” said Dr. Tim MacAfee, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at CDC and contributor to the report.
Those within the e-cigarette industry said concerns are overblown. Jason Healy, the president of e-cigarette manufacturer Blu-cigs, called the findings in the report “a weak argument” against the devices and is evidence of “an ongoing attack on the e-cigs industry by various anti-smoking groups.”
“The product is for adult smokers, and therefore the responsibility for children’s safety falls on the parents, just like bleaches and prescription medications,” Healy said. “The focus should be on parenting and education, and not regulation.”
Healy did say, however, that the findings should prompt the e-cig industry to formulate effective child safety measures.
Still, toxicology experts not involved in the study said the report reveals a concerning threat to kids.
“Nicotine is probably the most toxic plant chemical ever discovered,” said Dr. Richard Clark, medical director for the California Poison Control System and a professor of toxicology. Clark said poison centers like his are seeing a steady increase in calls related to e-cigs. Of particular concern, he said, is that unlike the conventional cigarette, which is usually very bitter, these devices are flavored and thus more attractive to children. The solution is also easily absorbed through the skin if spilled, unlike the contents of regular cigarettes.
Doctor’s Take
Despite decades of admonitions against smoking, an estimated 42 million people in the United States still smoke cigarettes. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for one of every five deaths each year. So for many, the electronic option may hold a certain appeal.
But though e-cigarette use is increasing among U.S. adolescents and adults, its overall impact on public health remains unclear. The dramatic rise in E-cigarette related calls to the country’s poison control centers is alarming. And the fact that the product is not childproof should alert parents to keep the product out of reach and in an enclosed container.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2014/04/03/e-cigarette-poisoning-is-on-the-rise-cdc-says/

Study: Tobacco use declines on prime-time TV dramas

By Saba Hamedy, Los Angeles Times
Prime-time television dramas are less smoke friendly than they were in the 1950s.

According to a study published online in the journal Tobacco Control on Thursday, there has been a dramatic decline in visibility of tobacco products on prime-time U.S. broadcast television.
Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania determined this drop in portrayals of smoking and tobacco use in prime-time dramas mirrored the national decline in consumption.
The study examined 1,838 hours of popular U.S. prime-time dramas — everything from “Gunsmoke” (in the 1950s) to “House M.D.” (in the 2000s) — shown on television over 56 years.
Research suggested that from 1955 to 2010, tobacco use on television declined from a high of 4.96 instances per hour of programming in 1961 to 0.29 instances per hour in 2010.
The research also noted a decline in consumption and suggested that less prime-time smoking may have led to less smoking by the general population.
“TV characters who smoke are likely to trigger the urge to smoke in cigarette users, making it harder for them to quit,” said Patrick E. Jamieson, the study’s lead author, in a release.
“We now have further evidence that screen-based media are an important factor to consider in continued efforts to reduce the burden of smoking related illness in the U.S. and around the world,” said Dan Romer, the study co-author and APPC associate director.
However, the study, the largest ever of tobacco use on television, looked only at broadcast television shows. Cable programs, such as AMC’s “Mad Men” — where characters frequently smoke cigarettes on screen — were not part of the study.
“Despite the decline since 1961, tobacco use on TV remains a cause for concern,” Jamieson said. “The decline in prime-time TV tobacco use is welcome news, but we need to learn more about tobacco portrayal on cable TV, YouTube, and other popular Internet-based sources.”

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-tobacco-use-primetime-tv-dramas-20140403,0,5751556.story#ixzz2yJOrzdCI

Changes to tobacco ordinance passed

The West Fargo Pioneer
The Commission passed the second reading of changes to its tobacco ordinance to include electronic cigarettes at its Monday meeting.
The City’s ordinance now requires a tobacco license for anyone wishing to sell electronic cigarettes along with regular tobacco products and it prohibits the sale of electronic cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18. The City Commission is following precedence set by Fargo and Moorhead, which have passed similar laws.
North Dakota law already prohibits anyone from using electronic cigarettes in public buildings. Anyone smoking regular cigarettes or electronic versions must be at least 20 feet from public entrances.
http://www.westfargopioneer.com/content/changes-tobacco-ordinance-passed

Do e-cigarettes help smokers quit?

By Deborah Kotz  | THE BOSTON GLOBE STAFF

Electronic cigarettes are certainly trendy — look no further than the Vapefest in the nation’s capital last week — but whether inhaling nicotine vapors actually helps smokers quit traditional cigarettes remains a subject of fierce debate.
A new study is bound to add fuel to the fire. Researchers followed nearly 1,000 smokers for a year and found that those who used e-cigarettes were no more likely to quit smoking or reduce their dependence on tobacco cigarettes than those who weren’t using the products at the beginning of the study. About 14 percent of those who didn’t use e-cigarettes quit smoking compared to 10 percent of those used the products.
But the research, published last Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, raises more questions than it answers because only 88 of the 949 smokers in the study reported using e-cigarettes.
That small sample size makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions, admits study leader Dr. Pamela Ling, an associate professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco. “We also looked at a broad population of smokers,” she said, “not just those who were specifically interested in quitting.”
In fact, only 8 percent of e-cigarette users reported that they were trying to quit when they were surveyed, and only 40 percent had any intention of quitting in the next six months.
“This means that we actually know for a fact that the majority of e-cigarette users in this study were not using these products as part of a quit attempt,” Dr. Michael Siegel, a tobacco control researcher at Boston University School of Public Health, wrote in a post on his blog. “Rather, it is a deliberate attempt on the part of the investigators to misuse data.”
Setting those fighting words aside, the study highlights the lack of evidence to determine whether e-cigarettes are a good smoking cessation aid — even though some smokers swear by them for helping them ease off their habit.
Only one clinical trial compared e-cigarettes with nicotine patches to help smokers quit, Ling said, and it found that both were about equally effective — or rather, equally ineffective since neither worked particularly well. Only 5 to 7 percent of the smokers in the study were able to completely stop lighting up regardless of which method they used.
“Although there are no data showing that e-cigarette use helps with cessation, there is potential harm,” wrote Dr. Mitchell Katz, the deputy editor of JAMA Internal Medicine in an editorial that accompanied the new study.
The products — which contain nicotine in liquid form mixed with flavorings, colorings, and various chemicals — remain unregulated, though the US Food and Drug Administration might move this year to put them under the same rules as other tobacco products. Even more concerning are recent modifications that have turned once disposable e-cigarettes into larger, reusable gadgets that users fill with highly potent liquid nicotine. Such handling can be very hazardous since liquid nicotine can be toxic if applied to the skin or ingested, according to an article in The New York Times.
Last year, the American Association of Poison Control Centers received 1,414 calls regarding accidental exposures and poisoning linked to liquid nicotine or e-cigarette devices — a 300 percent increase from 2012. Poison control centers have already received 651 calls through March 24 of this year and urged parents last week to keep the devices and liquid nicotine away from children. Whether vaping poses health risks remains unknown, though that hasn’t stopped e-cigarette makers from proclaiming that the product provides the “freedom to have a cigarette without the guilt,” as actress Jenny McCarthy states on the blu eCigs website.
In a study published earlier this month, Ling and her colleagues reviewed 59 websites selling e-cigarette products and found that 95 percent of them made health-related claims: more than half claimed the product helped with smoking cessation, and three-quarters claimed the product does not produce secondhand smoke. (It does, though, produce vapor that others can inhale and which may pose health risks to bystanders.)
Some manufacturers claimed on websites that their products were toxin free and didn’t contain the kinds of cancer-causing chemicals found in tar-ridden cigarettes. That’s something that requires more study to determine.
“Right now, we have an unusual situation with a product allowed on the market that’s making health and smoking cessation claims,” Ling said, “and manufacturers shouldn’t be allowed to make those claims without the science to support them.”
http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2014/03/30/cigarettes-help-smokers-quit/yzMFrfhjw3ZqKbjHP2vMTL/story.html

Study Looking To See If E-Cigs Curb Smoking Habits

WCCO, CBS Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A new study is looking into whether or not electronic cigarettes are an effective way to stop, or cut back on smoking as many smokers turn to them as an alternative.
E-cigarettes turn a liquid solution into a vapor, and some contain nicotine.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco followed nearly 1,000 smokers for a year. During which time they found no link between e-cigarettes and quitting, or cutting down on smoking.
“There was no association between having tried an e-cigarette and using an e-cigarette and quitting smoking at one year follow up,” Dr. Rachel Grana of the UCSF said.
The study also found that women are more likely to use e-cigarettes than men.
The Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association is criticizing the study for its limited data.
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/03/24/study-looking-to-see-if-e-cigs-curb-smoking-habits/

Navy mulls banning tobacco sales on all bases, ships

By Karen Jowers , Staff writer / AIR FORCE TIMES
The Navy is on the verge of eliminating tobacco sales on all its bases and ships, according to sources inside and outside the Defense Department.
Officials are reportedly considering removing tobacco from all sales venues, to include any exchange-operated retail outlets, as well as MWR-operated retail outlets where cigarettes may be sold. Commissaries on Navy bases currently do not sell tobacco products.
The decision would be made at the service’s highest levels. Navy officials have been gathering information on the impacts of such a decision, one source said, to include the inevitable drop in profits for the Navy Exchange Service Command — which would reduce the flow of dividends that help fund morale, welfare and recreation programs on installations.
Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Sarah Flaherty confirmed Monday that there have been discussions about tobacco sales, but said that no decision has been made.
Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman for Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, said in a written statement that “maximizing the readiness” of sailors and Marines has been a priority for Mabus since he took office.
Mabus “has implemented a number of initiatives to improve the culture of fitness in the Navy and Marine Corps, and curbing tobacco use is part of that improvement,” Lawrence said.
A source familiar with the military resale industry said that if the Navy pushes ahead on banning tobacco sales on its ships and bases, the idea likely would spread to the other services.
Tobacco products are legal, although by law they cannot be sold to minors. But smoking is a leading cause of premature death and disease in the U.S.; according to the American Cancer Society, more than 43 million people in America still smoke and tobacco will cause an estimated 480,000 deaths in 2014.
“We know that policies that restrict access to tobacco products, reduce exposure to tobacco advertising, and limit places that people smoke have a direct effect on reduced smoking rates, especially among youth,” wrote John R. Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society, in a statement issued in February after CVS Caremark announced that its nationwide chain of more than 7,800 pharmacies would stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products by Oct. 1.
CVS officials said their decision to stop selling tobacco products was consistent with the positions of the American Medical Association, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and American Pharmacists Association, all of whom have opposed tobacco sales in retail outlets in pharmacies.
The Navy has taken other steps to promote smoking cessation and discourage tobacco sales, starting with eliminating sales in its commissaries, then eliminating discounts on tobacco prices in Navy and Marine Corps exchanges in 2012.
“Tobacco use is the most avoidable public health hazard in the Navy and Marine Corps,” Mabus wrote in a March, 2, 2012, memo announcing that tobacco products offered in Navy and Marine Corps exchanges would no longer be sold at a discount. At that time, about one-third of sailors and Marines personnel used some form of tobacco, Mabus said.
In the same memo, he said that nicotine replacement therapy products approved by the Food and Drug Administration would be supplied for free to service members aboard all ships, base clinics and pharmacies and battalion aid stations.
In her statement Monday, Lawrence said Mabus “has asked his staff to look at additional ways to improve the health and readiness of our force. We are in the early stages of that process.”
Although her statement made reference to Marines and the Marine Corps, which is part of the Department of the Navy, Military Times could not immediately confirm Monday evening whether the Navy’s discussions about a possible total tobacco ban also would affect Marine Corps bases.

ERIC JOHNSON: E-cigs’ risks are real while benefits are scant

By Eric Johnson, Op-Ed, Grand Forks Herald
GRAND FORKS — According to the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Surgeon General, tobacco kills about 480,000 persons every year in the United States.
In 1964, about 41 percent of adults were cigarette smokers. Today, that rate is down to a little more than 18 percent. Significant strides have been made over the past five decades to reduce smoking and the tremendous health and financial burden it puts on our society.
In North Dakota alone, tobacco use still contributes to about $250 million in health care expenditures.
Encouraging people to quit tobacco remains a high priority with regard to the health of Americans, yet only two states in the nation — Alaska and North Dakota — fund anti-tobacco programs at levels recommended by the CDC.
In North Dakota, our efforts continue to be supported by the public. Public sentiment, expressed at the ballot box and in polling, shows that reducing tobacco use remains a high priority for North Dakotans. In 2008, voters approved Measure 3 to support funding of anti-tobacco programs; and in 2012, the statewide smoke-free law — passed as a ballot measure — got 67 percent of the vote, winning support from a majority of voters in every legislative district.
Some 89 percent of North Dakotans polled in 2013 think the funds designated for tobacco control should stay there.
What works to help people quit tobacco? The U.S. Preventive Task Force and the Surgeon General endorse medications that have proven effectiveness with a known, Food and Drug Administration-approved, safety and side-effect profile.
These include nicotine replacement products such as gum, patches or lozenges, as well as prescription medications such as Chantix (Varenicline) or Wellbutrin (Buproprion).
Proven counseling programs, such as NDQuits (available free to all North Dakotans who use tobacco), also are very effective, particularly when combined with an FDA-approved medication.
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are increasingly popular products that fall into the unproven category. First invented in the 1960s, their popularity has continued to increase as large tobacco companies buy small “mom-and-pop” manufacturers. With more than 250 brands on the market, (“Blu,” “NJOY” and “Vuse” popular in America), e-cigs are battery-powered (some disposable, some rechargeable) with a vaporizer and mouthpiece attached.
When used, commonly referred to as “vaping,” the vaporizer boils the liquid inside, which most frequently contains three major ingredients — humectants (propylene glycol/glycerin, used in fog and smoke machines and antifreeze), nicotine (at varying levels) and flavoring (fruit flavors, bubble gum, cotton candy, bacon and coffee, to name a few).
Unlike other medications that are used to promote quitting tobacco, e-cigs are largely unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration; and to date, we have no real data to show that they are effective as a cessation product nor any data to show that they are safe.
Furthermore, some of these manufacturers have been cited for contaminants in their products, including nickel, arsenic and chromium.
Without FDA oversight, these products aren’t taxed, they can be sold to anyone of any age, and there are no restrictions on advertising, which is why we see and hear ads on TV, in magazines and on the radio.
Though the industry denies it, it’s apparent that these products are being marketed to children (unless we’re supposed to believe that “Hello Kitty” e-cigs are popular among adult users).
E-cig manufacturers, rather than relying on science, really are trying to “normalize” smoking again for the next generation. The recent national Youth Tobacco Survey showed a spike in use of e-cigs by youth, doubling to more than 10 percent in just one year.
In addition, many who use e-cigs become dual users, continuing to use other tobacco products at the same time.
Last but not least, the industry is playing on the desperate idea that anything else would be better than smoking traditional cigarettes. If that’s true, ask yourself why these same companies are so resistant to producing the data to back up their claims.
It’s disappointing that e-cigs have been marketed for more than 35 years and have yet to collect or publish any significant data to show they are safe for users or that they actually help people quit.
Considering these products increasingly are manufactured and marketed by Big Tobacco, I’m not anticipating we’ll see such data any time soon.
The FDA has made it very clear that e-cigs cannot be marketed as smoking cessation products as a result.
As a health care provider, I would love a good, new and novel option to help people quit smoking. Like other conditions I treat as a physician, I want to provide the best possible treatment for my patients, and that means practicing strategies and using medications that have scientific proof that they work and have an established safety profile.
To date, when it comes to quitting tobacco, that answer is not found in electronic cigarettes.
Dr. Johnson is a family physician at Altru Health System in Grand Forks.
http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/eric-johnson-e-cigs-risks-are-real-while-benefits-are-scant

Selling a Poison by the Barrel: Liquid Nicotine for E-Cigarettes

By , New York Times

A dangerous new form of a powerful stimulant is hitting markets nationwide, for sale by the vial, the gallon and even the barrel.

The drug is nicotine, in its potent, liquid form — extracted from tobacco and tinctured with a cocktail of flavorings, colorings and assorted chemicals to feed the fast-growing electronic cigarette industry.

These “e-liquids,” the key ingredients in e-cigarettes, are powerful neurotoxins. Tiny amounts, whether ingested or absorbed through the skin, can cause vomiting and seizures and even be lethal. A teaspoon of even highly diluted e-liquid can kill a small child.

But, like e-cigarettes, e-liquids are not regulated by federal authorities. They are mixed on factory floors and in the back rooms of shops, and sold legally in stores and online in small bottles that are kept casually around the house for regular refilling of e-cigarettes.

Evidence of the potential dangers is already emerging. Toxicologists warn that e-liquids pose a significant risk to public health, particularly to children, who may be drawn to their bright colors and fragrant flavorings like cherry, chocolate and bubble gum.

Photo

The liquid stimulant used in e-cigarettes, when ingested or absorbed through the skin, can cause vomiting, seizures or death. CreditFrank Franklin II/Associated Press

“It’s not a matter of if a child will be seriously poisoned or killed,” said Lee Cantrell, director of the San Diego division of the California Poison Control System and a professor of pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco. “It’s a matter of when.”

Reports of accidental poisonings, notably among children, are soaring. Since 2011, there appears to have been one death in the United States, a suicide by an adult who injected nicotine. But less serious cases have led to a surge in calls to poison control centers. Nationwide, the number of cases linked to e-liquids jumped to 1,351 in 2013, a 300 percent increase from 2012, and the number is on pace to double this year, according to information from the National Poison Data System. Of the cases in 2013, 365 were referred to hospitals, triple the previous year’s number.

Examples come from across the country. Last month, a 2-year-old girl in Oklahoma City drank a small bottle of a parent’s nicotine liquid, started vomiting and was rushed to an emergency room.

That case and age group is considered typical. Of the 74 e-cigarette and nicotine poisoning cases called into Minnesota poison control in 2013, 29 involved children age 2 and under. In Oklahoma, all but two of the 25 cases in the first two months of this year involved children age 4 and under.

In terms of the immediate poison risk, e-liquids are far more dangerous than tobacco, because the liquid is absorbed more quickly, even in diluted concentrations.

“This is one of the most potent naturally occurring toxins we have,” Mr. Cantrell said of nicotine. But e-liquids are now available almost everywhere. “It is sold all over the place. It is ubiquitous in society.”

The surge in poisonings reflects not only the growth of e-cigarettes but also a shift in technology. Initially, many e-cigarettes were disposable devices that looked like conventional cigarettes. Increasingly, however, they are larger, reusable gadgets that can be refilled with liquid, generally a combination of nicotine, flavorings and solvents. In Kentucky, where about 40 percent of cases involved adults, one woman was admitted to the hospital with cardiac problems after her e-cigarette broke in her bed, spilling the e-liquid, which was then absorbed through her skin.

The problems with adults, like those with children, owe to carelessness and lack of understanding of the risks. In the cases of exposure in children, “a lot of parents didn’t realize it was toxic until the kid started vomiting,” said Ashley Webb, director of the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center at Kosair Children’s Hospital.

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Nicotine solutions at Volt Vapes in Boise, Idaho. The “e-liquid” comes in colors and flavors that experts say may entice children. CreditKatherine Jones/The Idaho Statesman, via Associated Press

The increased use of liquid nicotine has, in effect, created a new kind of recreational drug category, and a controversial one. For advocates of e-cigarettes, liquid nicotine represents the fuel of a technology that might prompt people to quit smoking, and there is anecdotal evidence that is happening. But there are no long-term studies about whether e-cigarettes will be better than nicotine gum or patches at helping people quit. Nor are there studies about the long-term effects of inhaling vaporized nicotine.

 Unlike nicotine gums and patches, e-cigarettes and their ingredients are not regulated. The Food and Drug Administration has said it plans to regulate e-cigarettes but has not disclosed how it will approach the issue. Many e-cigarette companies hope there will be limited regulation.

“It’s the wild, wild west right now,” said Chip Paul, chief executive officer of Palm Beach Vapors, a company based in Tulsa, Okla., that operates 13 e-cigarette franchises nationwide and plans to open 50 more this year. “Everybody fears F.D.A. regulation, but honestly, we kind of welcome some kind of rules and regulations around this liquid.”

Mr. Paul estimated that this year in the United States there will be sales of one million to two million liters of liquid used to refill e-cigarettes, and it is widely available on the Internet. Liquid Nicotine Wholesalers, based in Peoria, Ariz., charges $110 for a liter with 10 percent nicotine concentration. The company says on its website that it also offers a 55 gallon size. Vaporworld.biz sells a gallon at 10 percent concentrations for $195.

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The website of Liquid Nicotine Wholesalers. The Food and Drug Administration has yet to impose rules on e-liquids’ sale.

Mr. Paul said he was worried that some manufacturers outside the United States — China is a major center of e-cigarette production — were not always delivering the concentrations and purity of nicotine they promise. Some retailers, Mr. Paul said, “are selling liquid and they don’t have a clue what is in it.”

 Cynthia Cabrera, executive director of Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association, said she would also favor regulations, including those that would include childproof bottles and warning labels, and also manufacturing standards. But she said many companies already were doing that voluntarily, and that parents also needed to take some responsibility.

“You wouldn’t leave a bottle of Ajax out,” she said. Advocates of e-cigarettes sometimes draw comparisons between nicotine and caffeine, characterizing both as recreational stimulants that carry few risks. But that argument is not established by science, and many health advocates take issue with the comparison.

“There’s no risk to a barista no matter how much caffeine they spill on themselves,” said Dr. Neal L. Benowitz, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who specializes in nicotine research. “Nicotine is different.”

Without proper precautions, like wearing gloves while mixing e-liquids, these products “represents a serious workplace hazard,” he said.

The nicotine levels in e-liquids varies. Most range between 1.8 percent and 2.4 percent, concentrations that can cause sickness, but rarely death, in children. But higher concentrations, like 10 percent or even 7.2 percent, are widely available on the Internet. A lethal dose at such levels would take “less than a tablespoon,” according to Dr. Cantrell, from the poison control system in California. “Not just a kid. One tablespoon could kill an adult,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/business/selling-a-poison-by-the-barrel-liquid-nicotine-for-e-cigarettes.html?_r=0

Smokeless tobacco: Strike out a harmful habit

(AP) Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero smiled with a mouthful of smokeless tobacco during spring training last month.
Boston Globe Editorial
As long as smokeless tobacco remains ingrained in baseball culture, there’s always the likelihood that much younger players will mimic their heroes from the diamond — and pick up a habit that increases the risk of cancer. The Globe recently reported that of the 58 Red Sox players who were invited to spring training, 21 of them, including stars David Ortiz, Jonny Gomes, Clay Buchholz, and Mike Napoli, acknowledged using either chewing tobacco or snuff. These were hardly ringing endorsements: Ortiz, who said he uses a pinch of tobacco as a stimulant when he hits, also notes that he doesn’t use it in the offseason. Gomes said, “Once I stop playing, I’ll never do it again. I know it’s a bad idea.” Manager John Farrell said, “It’s a nasty habit, but it’s one of those traditions in baseball.”
While Major League Baseball has taken some steps to limit the visibility of tobacco in the sport — for instance, by prohibiting tobacco tins in uniform pockets — players opposed an effort in 2011 to ban it altogether. Unfortunately, only an outright ban will dislodge the idea that tobacco, in some intangible way, is an acceptable part of the sport. The league and the players’ association should embrace such a policy, not only for the health of today’s athletes but also to model cancer prevention to their youthful fans.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2014/03/22/baseball-should-finally-strike-out-smokeless-tobacco/rePA1m0B9JXMJ6siZSDMcI/story.html