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.

Photo

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

Local Students Celebrate "Kick Butts" Day

KX News, Bismarck
Click here to watch video of this story.

It’s national “Kick Butts” day… A day to encourage people to snuff tobacco out of their lives.
It’s not promoted by officials, but rather by students.
Courtney Plante shows you how Students Against Destructive Decisions are doing their part to warn their peers.
Today’s announcements at St. Mary’s are a bit different than usual.
Members of SADD, or Students Against Destructive Decisions are quizzing students about things like e-cigarettes.
Andrew Stromme wants his friends to realize the dangers of tobacco use.
“I do have some people I know that do smoke, and they’re trying to quit. They really start to realize how big of a problem it is, and how hard it is to let go,” said Andrew Stromme, St. Mary’s SADD member.
Across town, things are a little more in your face.
SADD members at Century hand out suckers and have students smell candies that are similar to flavors of e-cigarettes.
 “They are advertising to kids and people my age. So we got colorful wrappers that look like candy,” said Hannah Rexine, SADD member.
Their goal — prevent friends from using tobacco.
Or help them quit once they’ve started.
“A lot of people at my old middle school did smoke and it’s hard seeing people make those decisions so young and it can effect your future so greatly,” said Hannah Rexine, SADD member.
9th grade math teacher Marcy Feickert says there are quite a few students that use e-cigarettes.
She says educational messages like this show students how advertisements are targeting people their age.
“The kids jaws literally dropped looking at all the packaging and how attractive the packaging is now for e-cigarettes,” said Marcy Feickert.
At both schools the lesson for students is clear…
Don’t start smoking…
“I don’t want to start it because I know it’s addictive. It’s a good thing to stay away from”
“I think it’s a waste of money…all tobacco is”
Don’t fall for ads…
“E-cigarettes are the new fad right now, I mean people are trying them just because they look cool,” said Courtney Seilerm, SADD Advisor.
“You see it in the commercial, all of the colorful packaging, that appeals to younger children,” said Andrew Stromme, SADD member.
Do kick butts.
Reporting in Bismarck for KX News, I’m Courtney Plante.
At the end of the day students at St. Mary’s get cookies for correct trivia answers.

19th Annual Kick Butts Day used to promote a tobacco-free lifestyle

By Sun Staff , Jamestown Sun
The 19th annual Kick Butts Day, a national day when youths are encouraged to stand up and speak out against tobacco companies, is Wednesday.
Central Valley Health District and the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy are using this occasion to educate youth about the dangers of tobacco.
Research shows that 600 North Dakota youths under the age of 18 become new daily smokers every year, and 14,000 youths will die prematurely from smoking. In addition, 1.9 million packs of cigarettes are bought or smoked each year by youth younger than 18.
Tobacco companies are spending millions in North Dakota each year to get the youth smoking rates up, according to Jeanne Prom, executive director for the Center. Prom said that some of the tactics tobacco companies use to attract youth are candy- and fruit-flavored tobacco products, providing discounts and sales that make their products affordable and paying retailers to prominently display tobacco products in high-traffic areas.
Julie Hoeckle with Central Valley Health District said that Kick Butts Day is a great way to educate youths in the community on the importance of remaining tobacco-free and to inform everyone about the harmful marketing schemes tobacco companies are using to trap youths into using tobacco.
“It’s essential that we continue to educate our youth about tobacco marketing practices so they can identify those tactics and avoid being lured into tobacco use,” Hoeckle said. “Education is key in tobacco prevention.”
Another effective way to reduce youth smoking rates is to increase the cost of tobacco, Hoeckle said. Research supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Lung Association shows that increasing North Dakota’s tobacco tax from 44 cents to $2 would reduce youth smoking rates by 25 percent.
“By making tobacco less affordable, kids are less likely to try using tobacco,” Prom said. “North Dakota projections show us that a $2 cigarette tax has the potential to prevent nearly 8,000 kids from ever starting to use tobacco and can save millions of dollars in health care costs.”
To learn about tobacco prevention, contact Hoeckle or Nancy Neary at 252-8130 or visit www.breathend.com.
http://www.jamestownsun.com/content/19th-annual-kick-butts-day-used-promote-tobacco-free-lifestyle

Youth poisonings by e-cigarette juice increase tenfold in Minnesota

By: John Lundy, Forum News Service, INFORUM
DULUTH – The tenfold increase in Minnesota youngsters poisoned by e-cigarette juice last year is alarming, a local anti-smoking advocate said.
“It’s a startling increase and something we should be very concerned about,” said Pat McKone, Duluth-based director of tobacco control programs and policy for the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest.
But it needs to be viewed in context, said Duluth e-cigarette proprietor Daniel Albrecht, citing a much greater number of poisonings from other products.
The Minnesota Department of Health reported Tuesday that 50 teens and children were victims of poisonings related to e-cigs in 2013, compared with five the year before. More than half of those poisoned were younger than 3, and nine of the 50 were teenagers. Another 24 adults were poisoned, a news release said.
The data came from the Minnesota Poison Control System.
More than 200 Minnesota retailers sell the product, which is an electronic device that vaporizes water to supply liquids. The liquids used in e-cigarettes often include flavors such as cotton candy, bubble gum and grape. They may or may not contain nicotine.
Most e-cigarette shops opened in the past year, including two in Duluth.
Albrecht owns one of those, E-cig Empire, with his brother Mike. Most of the e-juice sold is with child-resistant caps, Albrecht said, and what he calls the vaping community is pushing for all of it to be child-safe.
“Everyone in the vaping community is all for keeping it out of the hands of children and minors,” Albrecht said. “And we’re all for that sort of legislation.”
But other products take a greater toll, Albrecht said. Close to 3,200 calls were made to Minnesota Poison Control related to personal-care products last year, he said, and almost 2,400 calls were made regarding household products.
But Albrecht said he opposes eliminating any flavors and argued that those flavors aren’t offered to appeal to children.
“As adults, we all have a right to choose,” he said. “We all had to put up with smoking the traditional analog cigarettes and they all tasted nasty and smelled gross, and now we have an alternative that we could have flavoring in it.”
Minnesota legislators are considering regulating e-cigarettes. Duluth, Cloquet and Hermantown are among Minnesota cities that already have adopted regulatory actions.
Four states — New Jersey, Utah, Arkansas and North Dakota — have passed legislation banning the use of e-cigarettes in public places.
McKone said the latest report goes hand in hand with a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report last year that e-cigarette use had doubled among teenagers from 2011 to 2012.
None of last year’s poisonings resulted in hospitalizations or serious illness, state Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger said.
But McKone said the fact that symptoms were alarming enough to cause calls to the Poison Control System speaks for itself.
“I hope we don’t have to have a fatality to say it wasn’t so bad,” McKone said. “I think as a parent myself any time I would be in a position to be calling Poison Control and concerned about my child having ingested something and having symptoms — that’s more than enough cause for us to be concerned.”
But responsible parenting can prevent those problems, Albrecht said.
“I think parents of children need to be much more responsible and keep things out of reach,” he said.
Symptoms of nicotine poisoning may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures and/or difficulty breathing, the Health Department news release said. A fatal dose of nicotine for an adult is between 50 and 60 milligrams. E-juice containers may include between 18 and 24 milligrams.

Don Davis contributed to this report.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/429747/

States push to regulate, tax booming e-cigarette industry

By , Fox News
WASHINGTON –  While waiting for the debate on electronic cigarettes to heat up on Capitol Hill, several state and local governments are pressing ahead with their own agendas for taxing and regulating the popular battery-powered smoking alternatives.
Right now, there is no uniform national approach to regulating the vapor-based e-cigarettes. They are mostly free from federal rules and typically are subject only to state sales taxes.
But lawmakers in more than two dozen cash-strapped states are racing to regulate them as a new source of revenue. For some, this means tacking on an excise tax — which is a fee on a specific product, and often dubbed a “sin tax” when applied to socially shunned products like cigarettes.
Minnesota has led the charge and is currently the only state that’s got a specific tax policy for e-cigarettes on the books. The 2012 decision subjects vapor inhalers to a 95 percent tax that is stapled to the wholesale cost of the product.
According to the Minnesota Department of Revenue, e-cigarettes are considered tobacco products and are subject to the state’s tobacco tax. Distributors there are required to pay the tobacco tax or risk losing their license. Retailers must purchase e-cigarettes from distributors licensed by the state and are expected to “collect and remit sales tax on e-cigarette sales.”
In total, Minnesota estimates it will bring in $1.16 billion from all of its tobacco taxes in fiscal year 2014-2015.
Other states are taking notice.
In his 2015 budget proposal last month, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pitched a plan to hike taxes on electronic cigarettes to match the rate of regular cigarettes — about $2.70 per pack.
Supporters say increasing taxes will keep them out of the hands of children and teens.
But critics argue treating traditional cigarettes the same as e-cigs will hurt small businesses and strip smokers of the incentive to quit.
“Small businesses like convenience stores and especially brick and mortar vape shops will be hardest hit by this $35 million tax increase,” Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist wrote in a March 11-dated letter sent to the New Jersey Legislature and shared with FoxNews.com.
Norquist also warns that raising taxes on consumers will “significantly decrease in-state sales, resulting in increased cross-border tax leakage.”
In recent years, as much as 40 percent of all cigarettes smoked in New Jersey were smuggled into the state illegally, resulting in a loss of more than $500 million in uncollected tax revenue each year, he says.
“By making New Jersey uncompetitive in e-cigarette pricing, the state would encourage smuggling, which will cost New Jersey small businesses tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue,” he said.
But to some, like New Jersey Democratic Assemblyman Dan Benson, taxing e-cigarettes is not only a fiscal responsibility but also sends an important message to would-be smokers.
“If e-cigarettes are taxed less than regular cigarettes, we’re sending a message out there that they’re somehow safer, and I think the jury is out on that,” he recently told a New Jersey radio station.
Meanwhile, a similar proposal in Washington state recently died in the Legislature. That plan would have redefined “vapor products” – the kind used in e-cigarettes – as “tobacco substitutes” and “tobacco products.” By changing their classification to a tobacco product, lawmakers were initially hoping to slap a 95 percent tax on them, projected to generate an additional $40 million for the state.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vapor from e-cigarettes has “far fewer of the toxins found in smoke compared to traditional cigarettes.”
However, the Atlanta-based agency says it’s too soon to say how much of a health benefit the alternative to traditional cigarettes offers. Both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes contain nicotine.
Tim McAfee, CDC’s director of Smoking and Health, says while it’s reasonably certain that if someone who smokes a pack a day switched completely to e-cigarettes it could represent a health benefit, there are still many “caveats and buts” around that.
Many argue that the reason state and local leaders are pushing so hard to tax e-cigarettes is because they’ve become addicted to the massive amounts of money brought in through the Master Settlement Agreement – a 25-year settlement that forces the nation’s top tobacco companies to pay out billions of dollars in profit to help pay for smoking-related health care costs in some states.
The 1998 settlement, for example, makes Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest cigarette maker, pay $3.5 billion annually. The second-largest tobacco company, Reynolds Tobacco Co., has handed out more than $2 billion a year.
In total, the landmark settlement requires tobacco product manufacturers to make $206 billion in payments to 46 states and U.S.-territories.
If e-cigarettes are regulated the same way, that might mean millions more for states still struggling to find financial footing following the recession.
Utah, North Dakota and the District of Columbia have included e-cigarettes as part of their indoor-smoking bans, setting up the argument that the vapor sticks should be regulated like other tobacco products in the state. Wyoming, Tennessee, New York and Colorado are among nine other states that have already dumped e-cigarettes into the tobacco product category.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/18/states-push-to-regulate-tax-booming-e-cigarette-industry/

Letter: Commending CVS for tobacco policy

By: Keely Ihry, Moorhead, INFORUM
As a public health agency we are always educating on the harms of tobacco-use and exposure. We know that smoking kills nearly 500,000 Americans each year, and costs $289 billion in health care costs. Even with the dangers of tobacco use being well documented, the pharmacy industry has continued to sell tobacco products, and as a health care organization this has started to raise some ethical questions. Pharmacies are seen by people as places they go to get better when sick, and to stay healthy during the year, not as a place that should be profiting off products that are the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.
This is why we truly commend CVS for taking one of the strongest actions any business has ever taken to address the public health problems caused by tobacco use. CVS recognized that selling tobacco products did not align with their commitment to improving the health and wellness of its customers. It should also be noted that CVS chooses not to sell e-cigarettes because they are not FDA approved.
This came at a great time with the momentum of the 50th anniversary of the first ever surgeon general’s warning on smoking and health. In the release the surgeon general called for continued work towards encouraging smokers to quit and preventing youth from starting to use tobacco. We know that nearly 90 percent of youth start smoking before the age of 18. CVS’ decision to stop selling tobacco is a huge statement to Americans, especially youth that tobacco use is harmful to their health.
We hope that this will encourage other pharmacies who are selling tobacco to take notice and take similar action. Removing the sale of tobacco products from a healthcare organization just makes good sense.
Ihry is PartnerSHIP 4 Health tobacco coordinator, Clay County Public Health.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/429362/group/Opinion/