Forum editorial: Smokeout still has work to do

In 1976 a group of anti-smoking activists got the idea of having a national day when smokers would be urged to not smoke. From that modest beginning at the California Division of the American Cancer Society emerged The Great American Smokeout, which has been observed every year since then on the third Thursday of November. By any measure, it’s been a success. There is more work to do.
These days, the only people who deny the dire health effects of tobacco use are, well, not bright. Only those who cling to peculiar notions of “personal freedom” and business privilege sans business responsibility dismiss the damage to personal health and public health from tobacco use. They comprise a smaller minority every day, as more enlightened Americans favor laws and regulation to protect individual and public health.
It’s not a new concern. Efforts to restrict smoking in public places go back to 1908 in New York City, where the city council approved a ban on women from smoking anywhere except in their homes. The mayor vetoed the ordinance.
Since then, the nation, often led by states, has moved steadily toward smoke-free environments in public venues and private places that cater to the public, such as restaurants. Today only a handful of states do not have statewide smoking bans. Minnesota approved a ban in 2007. North Dakotans had to go to the polls in 2012 to secure a comprehensive ban after session after session of the Legislature capitulated to the tobacco lobby and refused to enact a statewide ban. Before the 2012 vote, voters in several cities, including Fargo and West Fargo, had pointed the way.
Smoking has not gone away. It won’t anytime soon. About 19 percent of Americans still light up, but that level is way down from the days when up to 60 percent of adults in many states used tobacco in its various forms. Progress has been steady and impressive, and it’s not always been a legislature or ballot measure that drove the issue. In many cities and states, private sector businesses were ahead of public policy in imposing smoking bans.
Credit must go to the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout for keeping the issue in front of Americans. Together with a plethora of medical organizations, public health agencies, schools, attorneys general who were willing to challenge Big Tobacco (and win) and many other efforts, the message has been received. Even those people who smoke for reasons they believe to be legitimate understand what they are doing to themselves by smoking and to others via secondhand smoke. Given the unassailable science and medical evidence, how could they not know?
And so to that dwindling group, today’s Smokeout says: “Give it up for the day. Try to quit.” If a few do, that’s more progress.
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Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/418984/

Utah Lawmakers endorse plan to hike smoking age to 21

By Lee Davidson | The Salt Lake Tribune
Legislators took a first step Wednesday toward raising Utah’s already highest-among-the-states smoking age, from 19 to 21. Committee endorsement of the proposal came despite lively arguments by even some cigarette opponents that the move would infringe on the personal liberty of adults.
“We have a responsibility to protect first and foremost the liberties of our citizens, not to protect them from harm that they may cause to themselves,” said Rep. Brian Greene, R-Pleasant Grove, one of five members of the Health and Human Services Interim Committee who voted against the bill.
But Sen. Stuart Reid, R-Ogden, the bill’s sponsor, said, “We make judgment calls about that all the time. Obviously, you wouldn’t advocate that we didn’t have any regulations, that we didn’t have any speed limits, that we didn’t inspect food.”
Reid added that Utah already bans drinking alcohol until age 21 — and argued that even more reason exists to also ban smoking until that age. “We know tobacco will kill people. You can drink and you’re not necessarily going to get sick or die from it.”
But Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, who voted against the bill, rejected the comparison.
“I think there is a huge difference between cigarettes and alcohol. Cigarettes, you are talking about someone harming themselves. Alcohol, we’re talking about someone getting behind the wheel of a car and killing a family.”
The legal age to buy, sell or possess tobacco in most states is 18, with four exceptions. It is 19 in Utah, Alaska, Alabama and New Jersey. Utah is not the only place looking at raising the smoking age. New York City just approved raising it to 21, as have some other cities nationally. Legislatures in Hawaii, New Jersey, Colorado and Texas are all expected to consider similar bills next year — as will Utah now that the interim committee endorsed it.
Testifying in favor of the bill were anti-smoking groups and state and local health departments. The only group that testified against it Wednesday were retailers who sell cigarettes, although several lawmakers — who all said they dislike cigarettes — raised concerns about interfering with freedom.
DavidPatton, executive director of the Utah Department of Health, said state studies show that most young teenagers obtain their cigarettes illegally from adults who themselves are just barely old enough to buy them legally.
“Ninety percent of legal adults that purchase tobacco for underage smokers are under age 21,” he said, so raising the smoking age likely also would reduce the number of teenagers who try smoking and become addicted.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/57157897-90/adults-age-alcohol-bill.html.csp

UTTC goes tobacco free

By Hannah Johnson
BISMARCK, N.D. _ United Tribes Technical College will become a tobacco-free campus starting Jan. 1.
Both the University of Mary and Bismarck State College have already gone tobacco-free. United Tribes is the first tribal college in the state to do so.
The policy was spearheaded by the Wellness Circle, a group at UTTC that identifies ways to improve campus health and wellness.
“Our Wellness Circle knew this was the right thing to do,” said Pat Aune, the group facilitator.
The group wanted the policy for several years, Aune said, but it takes time to get the community on board.
“It takes a long time to bring the whole community along on such a big change,” she said.
Now, she said, the community is mostly very supportive.
She expects some resistance and knows the policy would be difficult to enforce, with some people likely continuing to use tobacco just outside campus boundaries.
“We know that some of that will happen, but we don’t want to make it easy,” Aune said.
Still, she said, the new policy may be the push many need to quit smoking, or using tobacco.
The campus plans to offer cessation classes and the policy will be printed in the student and employee handbooks.
The signing ceremony for the policy will happen at 10:15 a.m. Thursday in the college’s Wellness Center multipurpose room.
The policy will go into effect Jan. 1 — “new year, new policy,” Aune said.
Hopefully, she said, United Tribes can be an example to other tribal colleges in the state.
Native Americans have a higher than average rate of tobacco use, Aune said, and the new policy is just one step toward reducing that statistic.
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/education/uttc-goes-tobacco-free/article_db3e09f4-515c-11e3-bf61-001a4bcf887a.html

Regulation push catching up with electronic cigarettes

By John Keilman and Mitch Smith, Chicago Tribune reporters
Jay Altman smoked cigarettes for 25 years before deciding a few months ago that for the sake of his wallet and his health, a change was in order.
But Altman didn’t quit — he switched.
The North Side insurance worker swapped his daily pack and a half of smokes for the vanilla-flavored nicotine aerosol of an electronic cigarette. He feels better these days, he said, and not just because he’s saving more than $100 a week.
“My friends have noticed a difference,” Altman said while sampling assorted flavors at Smoque Vapours, an e-cigarette shop in the Loop. “They’ll say, ‘You smell good,’ instead of, ‘You stink.'”
The fast-growing e-cigarette industry has hitched its future to such testimonials, pitching its product as a safer and cheaper alternative to tobacco cigarettes. So far the business has escaped the reach of regulators, but from Washington, D.C., to the Chicago suburbs, that is changing quickly.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration appears poised to label e-cigarettes a “tobacco product,” a distinction that would give the agency power over their marketing, manufacture and sale. North suburban Mundelein just passed an ordinance banning the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone younger than 18, and on Jan. 1 a similar law will take effect statewide.
Evanston, meanwhile, has gone even further, banning the use of e-cigarettes anywhere smoking is prohibited.
“There hasn’t been a whole lot of long-term research on this, but we really wanted to make sure we were on the front end to protect our residents,” said Carl Caneva, assistant director of Evanston’s health department.
The lack of regulation has turned e-cigarettes into a commercial Wild West, where basement chemists and giant corporations alike concoct mixtures that taste like everything from peach schnapps to Mountain Dew. The novel flavors concern anti-smoking advocates, who note that teen e-cigarette use recently doubled within a single year.
“I don’t think that there’s any question that flavors appeal to young people,” said Danny McGoldrick of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “It’s just another way to help introduce them to the habit.”
Researchers aren’t sure of all the chemicals released by the products, but some say there’s ample reason for worry.
The American Lung Association, which favors strict regulation, cites a recent study that found chemicals such as formaldehyde and acetone in exhaled e-cigarette vapor.
“We’re very concerned because we don’t know what’s in e-cigarettes or what the health consequences of them might be,” said Erika Sward, the lung association’s assistant vice president for national advocacy. “Frankly, until the FDA begins its oversight of these products, I think everyone needs to proceed very cautiously.”
E-cigarettes use tiny atomizers to turn nicotine-infused liquids into an aerosol, which is inhaled by the user. They’ve been sold in the United States since the mid-2000s, but the Electronic Cigarette Industry Group says sales have boomed in recent years, turning the gadgets into a $2 billion-a-year business.
The group’s president, Eric Criss, said e-cigarettes are intended to be a safer alternative for people who already smoke.
“We feel very strongly that we not be taxed and regulated as a tobacco product because our goal as an industry is to distinguish ourselves from traditional tobacco cigarettes,” he said. “We believe there’s a ladder of harm. Cigarettes are at the top of that, and our goal is to get people to move down that ladder.”
The science behind that claim is far from settled. The industry points to research — some of it funded by e-cigarette interests — that shows the products to be less risky to users, sometimes called “vapers,” and bystanders alike. Robert West, a health psychology professor at University College London, maintains that a global switch from tobacco cigarettes to atomized nicotine would save millions of lives a year.
Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education at the University of California at San Francisco, agreed that e-cigarettes appear to be less harmful than tobacco but said they’re hardly risk-free.
He said most smokers don’t give up tobacco cigarettes entirely when they use electronic ones, so their health doesn’t improve much. And while bystanders aren’t exposed to secondhand smoke, he said, initial research shows that they’re still inhaling nicotine, an addictive substance, along with toxic chemicals and ultrafine particles that can cause heart problems.
“Just because someone chooses to service their (nicotine) addiction by using an e-cigarette, that still doesn’t create a right for them to poison people in the neighborhood,” Glantz said.
The FDA says a federal appeals court has given it the power to regulate e-cigarettes as though they are tobacco products. The agency has a proposed regulation in the works, and while officials won’t say what it contains, public health advocates and industry representatives expect the FDA to assert its authority over e-cigarettes.
Many states are waiting for that to happen before deciding whether to incorporate e-cigarettes into smoking bans, but Glantz argues that new rules could take years to finalize and aren’t necessary for states to tighten their clean air laws.
Three states — North Dakota, New Jersey and Utah — already include e-cigarettes in their smoking bans, and about 100 cities and counties nationwide have taken similar steps, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.
But Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, said the research on e-cigarettes’ secondhand effects is still too preliminary to act upon.
“It’s still evolving, and it will still (take) time until we know the total health effects,” she said.
Chicago Ald. Edward Burke, who often takes up health issues, has a proposed ordinance before the City Council to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. He said he might try to amend it to make e-cigarettes subject to the city’s smoking ban.
“I think we certainly should apply the same regulations to e-cigarettes that we apply to regular cigarettes,” the 14th Ward alderman said.
For now, though, the devices exist in a mishmash of vague and confusing regulations. They’re not allowed to be used on airplanes, though the U.S. Department of Transportation doesn’t explicitly ban them. They’re not allowed in Chicago’s airports, though city ordinances are silent on the point.
“As a practical matter, airport staff does not determine if a cigarette that is being smoked is a tobacco cigarette or an e-cigarette,” said Karen Pride, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation. “As such, the use of electronic cigarettes, as with tobacco cigarettes, is prohibited in the airports.”
While the city allows bar patrons to partake of e-cigarettes, taverns make their own rules. Declan’s Irish Pub in Old Town and Lange’s Lounge in Lakeview have no problems with the devices, but Joe’s Bar, a Goose Island establishment, says no.
“We don’t allow it inside because it promotes other people to take out their cigarettes and smoke them,” general manager Bob Casey said.
Despite the lack of clarity over e-cigarette use, several boutique shops selling the devices have sprung up in the city. Jared Yucht, owner of Smoque Vapours, said he started creating “e-liquids” in his basement when he stopped smoking. He opened his first store and lounge in Lakeview last spring and added a second location in the Loop this month.
He said he is proud of his safety precautions, carefully monitoring the nicotine levels of his products and refusing to sell to minors, though neither step is yet required by law.
“I don’t know anyone who owns another store who serves underage,” he said. “I have children and I wouldn’t want them taking stimulants at a young age. It’s an unwritten rule in the community that this is an adult activity for adults.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-electronic-cigarettes-20131115,0,5010760.story?page=1

CDC: More teens smoking e-cigarettes, hookah

By RYAN JASLOW / CBS NEWS
More middle and high school students are smoking electronic cigarettes, hookahs and cigars, according to a new government report form the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While rates for those tobacco products have increased, overall youth smoking rates haven’t declined at all, a concerning figure for health officials.
“We need effective action to protect our kids from addiction to nicotine,” Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said in an agency press release.
For the new report, researchers combed data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally-representative poll of about 25,000 students in grades six through 12 on their tobacco use habits and attitudes towards smoking.
They found recent e-cigarette use among high school students rose to 2.8 percent in 2012, up from 1.5 percent the year before. About 1.1 percent of middle school students reported using the products, up from 0.6 percent in 2011.

E-cigarette use among youths surges

In September, the CDC released a report that found the number of middle and high school students who ever used an e-cigarette doubled, from 1.4 percent and 4.7 percent of surveyed students in 2011 to 2.7 percent and 10 percent by 2012, respectively.
Hookah use was also looked at in the new report. The CDC finding smoking rates increased from 4.1 percent of high schoolers in 2011 to 5.4 percent by 2012.
Cigar use rose “dramatically” among black high school students, with 16.7 percent reporting using them, up from 11.7 percent in 2011 and a doubling of rates since 2009.
Included in cigars were flavored little cigars or cigarillos, which contain fruit or candy flavorings and tend to look similar to cigarettes. They are often cheaper because they are taxed at lower rates and can be sold individually.
Last month, the CDC also released a report on youth smoking rates for flavored little cigars, finding six percent of surveyed middle and high students said they had tried them.
E-cigarettes, hookahs, cigars and other “new” tobacco products are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, the CDC points out. Increases in the marketing and availability of these products — along with a misconception they’re safer than cigarettes — may be fueling these increases in kids.
“This report raises a red flag about newer tobacco products,” said Frieden. “Cigars and hookah tobacco are smoked tobacco — addictive and deadly.”
Overall, about 7 percent of middle school students reported smoking any tobacco product along with 23 percent of high school students, rates unchanged from 2011.
The new report was published Nov. 14 in the CDC’s journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The FDA intends to propose a rule to tighten regulation of non-cigarette nicotine products like e-cigarettes. The authors also called for more tobacco-control measures implemented to these newer products, including increasing the price of them, using media campaigns aimed at curbing smoking, increasing access to services that help people quit and enforcing restrictions on advertising and promotion.
Under the Affordable Care Act, more Americans will qualify to coverage for tobacco cessation services, the CDC added.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57612410/cdc-more-teens-smoking-e-cigarettes-hookah/

More U.S. Teens Try E-Cigarettes, Hookahs: Report

By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter – US News
(HealthDay News) — The rapidly growing use of electronic cigarettes, hookahs and other smoking alternatives by middle school and high school students concerns U.S. health officials.
While use of these devices nearly doubled in some cases between 2011 and 2012, no corresponding decline has been seen in cigarette smoking, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
“We have seen, between 2011 and 2012, a big increase in the percentage of middle- and high-school students who are using non-conventional tobacco products, particularly electronic cigarettes and hookahs,” said Brian King, a senior scientific adviser in CDC’s office on smoking and health.
These products are marketed in innovative ways on TV and through social media, he said. “So, it’s not surprising that we are seeing this increase among youth,” he added.
E-cigarettes and hookah tobacco come in flavors, which appeals to kids. And since hookahs are often used in groups, they also provide a social experience, which may be adding to their popularity, King said.
Teens may also believe that e-cigarettes are safer than tobacco, said Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco. However, nicotine is addictive and can hamper the developing brains of teens.
“This paper shows that the return of nicotine advertising to TV and radio, combined with an aggressive social media presence and use of flavors is promoting rapid uptake of electronic cigarettes by youth,” said Glantz.
The report, based on data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey, was published in the Nov. 15 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
King said efforts are needed to curb use of these tobacco products and prevent other teens from ever trying them. “We know that 90 percent of smokers start in their teens, so if we can stop them from using tobacco at this point, we could potentially prevent another generation from being addicted to tobacco,” King noted.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 1,200 people every day.
E-cigarettes simulate the experience of smoking without delivering smoke. They are shaped like cigarettes but users inhale a vaporized, nicotine-based liquid.
“Nicotine is an addictive drug that affects brain development, especially in adolescents, whose brains are still developing,” he said.
According to the report, from 2011 to 2012 use of e-cigarettes among middle-school students rose from 0.6 percent to 1.1 percent. Their use by high school students jumped from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent.
Over the same period, hookah use among high schoolers jumped from 4.1 percent to 5.4 percent, the researchers found.
Currently, electronic cigarettes, hookah tobacco, cigars and certain other new tobacco products are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA has said it intends to classify these products as tobacco products, putting them under the agency’s control.
The popularity of these new products hurts ongoing tobacco-prevention efforts, experts say. “This proliferation of novel tobacco products that are priced and marketed to appeal to kids are slowing our progress in reducing tobacco use among kids,” said Danny McGoldrick, research director for Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
“You have the marketing of electronic cigarettes that are using all the themes and tactics that have been used by cigarette companies for decades to market to kids, like flavors, the use of celebrities, the use of sports and entertainment, as well as glamour, sex and rebellion,” he said.
This is why the FDA needs to assert jurisdiction over all tobacco products, McGoldrick said.
Cigar use is also rising among adolescents. Their use by black high school students rose from about 12 percent to nearly 17 percent from 2011 to 2012, and since 2009 has more than doubled, according to the report.
Cigars and cigarettes were smoked by about the same number of boys in 2012 — more than 16 percent.
Cigars include so-called “little cigars,” which are similar in size, shape and filter to cigarettes, King said. But since they are taxed at lower rates than cigarettes, they are more affordable. “You can buy a single, flavored little cigar for mere pocket change, which could increase their appeal among youth,” he said.
Fruit and candy flavors, which are banned from cigarettes, are added to some of these little cigars, King said.
According to the CDC, about one in three middle- and high-school students who smoke cigars use flavored little cigars.
Every day, more than 2,000 teens and young adults start smoking. Smoking-related diseases cost $96 billion a year in direct health care expenses, according to the CDC.
More information
For more information on stopping smoking, visit the American Cancer Society.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/11/14/more-us-teens-try-e-cigarettes-hookahs-report

ND smoking ban: 1 year later; Support increases, businesses see no change

By Katherine Grandstrand, The Dickinson Press
Support has only increased in the year since North Dakota voters decided to end smoking in bars, the group that lobbied to implement the law said.
North Dakotans got the measure on last November’s general election ballot and it passed with a supermajority of 67 percent. Three months later, Tobacco Free North Dakota polled a statistical cross section of the state to find that approval had increased to 72 percent.
“This was actually the people who voted this law in,” said Jeanne Prom, executive director of the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy. “This was not a government mandate. This was a mandate by the voters.”
North Dakota voters took up the issue because the Legislature did not, said Erin Hill-Oban, executive director of Tobacco Free North Dakota.
“When the Legislature doesn’t act for so many years on something and they only meet every other year the way it is, to get things accomplished, the public really stepped up,” Hill-Oban said. “It’s a difficult and expensive way to get something done. But, in my opinion, when the public speaks, their voices should be heard.”
Banning smoking from bars and smoke shops — the last non-residential indoor place people could smoke — was about protecting non-smoking patrons and employees from second-hand smoke, Prom said.
“People still had to be exposed to a known human carcinogen at their place of work,” Prom said. “No one should have to choose between a healthy place to work and an unhealthy place to work. A place to work should be healthy.
“This is really about clearing the air in all workplaces and also all public places.”
In Dickinson, local bars haven’t seen much of a change in business over the past year since the ban.
“It’s a lot less stinky,” said Milissa Bauer, general manager of Army’s West Sports Bar. “As far as business goes, I don’t think it’s changed a whole lot.”
Because the ban went into effect in winter, there was a bit of a dip in business right away at The Rock bar in downtown Dickinson, but people have gotten used to it, said manager Traci Barnum.
“It actually shocks us that it’s only been a year,” Barnum said. “It feels like it’s been a lot longer than that. Everybody pretty much got right on board and nobody really complains about it anymore.”
This is the norm, Hill-Oban said.
“There have been many studies done that show that it does not have an economic impact on business,” Hill-Oban said. “People get adjusted to it and they go back to their regular routine and going back to places they frequented.”
Enforcement has been smooth, Bauer said.
“It’s clearly posted on the front door as you come in,” Bauer said. “There were few incidents where we’d have someone light one up at the very beginning, but not much of a problem.”
Some businesses were upset that they were required to cover the cost of posting smoke-free signs, but the 2013 North Dakota Legislature made a provision that allows the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control to provide signs and templates for businesses, Prom said.
“On request, we do provide signage as well as templates online,” Prom said. “If any businesses need signs, we provide that free of charge. There is no excuse for not having a smoke-free sign in a business or public place.”
State law still allows for smoking in outdoor public areas and in multi-family housing. However, anti-smoking groups are working with municipalities to add these places to the smoke-free list.
“Our local public health units are working with their parks and recreation departments and their city officials to make parks and recreation facilities — which, of course, include outdoor facilities — smoke free as well as tobacco free,” Prom said.
Apartments, townhouses and condos share ventilation systems, so if a neighbor is smoking, second-hand smoke can make its way into the rest of the building.
“It’s mostly just how it affects people who aren’t users,” Hill-Oban said.
Removing smoking from public takes it out of normal social behavior, Prom said.
“It creates a very healthy social norm for youth and young adults,” Prom said. “When they see that there is no smoking in public or in workplaces, the norm is that if you’re going to be out in public and if you’re going to work, it’s going to be a healthy environment and there won’t be smoking there.”
http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/content/nd-smoking-ban-1-year-later-support-increases-businesses-see-no-change?fb_action_ids=10153494288605599&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210153494288605599%22%3A179267778943604%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210153494288605599%22%3A%22og.recommends%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Gov. Branstad ‘Absolutely Interested’ in Regulating E-Cigarette

By James Lynch, Reporter

DES MOINES, Iowa –
Gov. Terry Branstad, who made Terrace Hill and the governor’s office smoke-free the day he took office, is open to regulating electronic cigarettes in much the same way as the traditional variety.
Iowa law prohibits smoking in workplaces other than on casino floors, but electronic cigarettes – e-cigarettes – are not covered by the five-year-old Iowa Smoke-free Air Act.
Branstad wouldn’t commit to any specific regulation of e-cigarettes, which are battery-operated products that heat liquid nicotine derived from tobacco plants into a vapor that the user inhales. However, during a visit to Timberline Manufacturing in Marion Tuesday, he said he is “absolutely interested” in looking at proposals by Attorney General Tom Miller to regulate e-cigarettes.
Last week, Miller called on state lawmakers to ban sales of e-cigarettes to minors, add e-cigarettes to products covered by the state’s Smoke-free Air Act and tax them more than the standard state sales tax rate.
In addition to looking at Miller’s proposal, Branstad wants to look at what other states have done before deciding the appropriate course of action.
“My wife and I have been strong supporters of smoke-free workplaces,” Branstad said. “We think this is an important part of our goal to the healthiest state.”
He compared e-cigarettes to synthetic drugs created to circumvent state and federal drug laws.
“They just keep coming up with different things just like we have to deal with all these synthetic drugs,” Branstad said.
According to Miller, Iowa’s smoke-free air act does not address the new technology. He said officials in Arkansas, New Jersey, North Dakota and Utah have included e-cigarettes in their indoor smoking bans and Minnesota changed its definition of tobacco products to include e-cigarettes and subject them to the tobacco taxes.
He called on the Legislature to define e-cigarettes and recommended they be subject to the state cigarette tax — $1.36 on a pack of 20 traditional cigarettes.
Miller didn’t have Iowa numbers, but in a letter to the Food and Drug Administration, he said sales of e-cigarettes, which doubled every year since 2008, now are accelerating even faster and are projected to reach $1.7 billion.
At the same time, the cost has fallen, making them more affordable and more attractive to young people.
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Gov-Branstad-Absolutely-Interested-in-Regulating-E-Cigarette-231681781.html

Controversy, concerns heat up over e-cigarettes and vaping trend

SAN DIEGO – All the cool kids are doing it. Should you?
The use of electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes, also referred to as “vaping,” is suddenly a smoking hot trend, fueled by the recent visibility of numerous celebrities including Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Ryan Seacrest among others. Actress Katherine Heigl even convinced talk show host David Letterman to give her rig a try on a recent appearance on “Late Night.”
For those unfamiliar, electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid-filled cartridge, allowing the user to inhale the aerosol vapor. The components of the blend vary. They typically include nicotine, propylene glycol or glycerol to produce the aerosol, and various flavorings, which range from mint to fruits to even chocolate.

A standard e-cigarette.

Some e-cigarettes mimic the look of the real thing, with a tip that glows when the user inhales. Others have a futuristic high tech look, something like a miniature light saber from “Star Wars.” They come in enough colors and various bling options to turn them into a fashion accessory.
The devices were first introduced into the general market about 10 years ago, but improved second generation devices produced by the tobacco companies who’ve seen the writing on the wall as well as the vapor in the air have jumpstarted vaping’s popularity. Lorillard, which manufactures several brands of cigarettes including Kent, Newport and True, controls about half the vaping market in the U.S., thanks in part to its aggressive advertising featuring Jenny McCarthy. E-cigarettes now account for four percent of its total revenue. Reynolds American and Altria also have a significant presence in the vaping marketplace.
Starter vaping kits run under $100, but high end vaping pens can cost as much as $1,000. Some users collect them and have different models they select day to day just as they choose a pair of shoes to go with the rest of their attire.

Bring on the vape bling: E-cigarettes are becoming fashion accessories. Photo: Courtesy VapeGirl.com

Vaping has been big in Southern California for several years, and the trend is now spreading, fueled by the visibility of famous faces puffing away.
The Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association estimates that four million Americans now use the battery-powered cigarettes. Sales of the devices are expected to exceed $1 billion by the end of this year. It’s the best news for Big Tobacco in a long time.
The use of e-cigarettes has spawned its own culture including dedicated retail vape shops and even vaping bars, similar to hookah bars in some regions where patrons can freely indulge in their e-cigarettes in a social setting.
Fans of e-cigarettes say they are an effective way to stop smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes. Users can taper off their intake of nicotine to a fraction of what they were previously consuming, without ingesting the tars and other dangerous additives in cigarettes. Some say they’ve tried patches, gum, and counseling without success before finally kicking their habit with e-cigarettes.
Critics say e-cigarettes encourage minors to smoke, and point out they are far from nicotine free. They believe the devices will eventually lead many young users to try tobacco cigarettes and develop a nicotine habit they wouldn’t have pursued otherwise. Harold P. Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, said the organization is “very concerned that e-cigarettes with flavors like cotton candy and bubble gum are being marketed to kids, which could result in a lifelong addiction to nicotine.”
The Center for Disease Control’s 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that 10 percent of high school students have tried vaping at some point, 1.78 million people. This is double the previous year. One-third of these users are regular users. What alarms the CDC is that regular tobacco use nearly doubled during this time period as well. How much is attributable to the “starter” factor created by e-cigarettes is unclear.
There is currently no regulation of e-cigarettes by the Food and Drug Administration as there is over tobacco products. It is illegal to sell e-cigarettes devices to minors. It is legal in most states including California to use an e-cigarette indoors, but users say they are careful where they choose to indulge their new habit. Many school districts and local governments are extending current smoking bans to e-cigarettes.
Public health officials and governments say they don’t know what they don’t know about e-cigarettes, saying that more research is needed and regulation may be needed similar to existing tobacco use laws. School districts are putting specific bans on e-cigarettes in place, and local governments are beginning to restrict their use in ways similar to traditional cigarettes.
The European Parliament recently refused to classify and regulate e-cigarettes like other nicotine delivery systems including patches, to the dismay of the companies which manufacture them andt he delight of e-cigarette users in Europe who voiced strong opposition to the regulations.
One truth must be acknowledged: In a 2010 CDC survey, over two thirds of all traditional cigarette smokers said they wanted to quit. Fifty-two percent said they had tried to quit. But just 6.2 percent of smokers who have tried to quit were eventually successful, less than one out of ten. Smokers who used e-cigarettes to quit smoking tobacco reported a 96 percent success rate. If this is anywhere close to being accurate, e-cigarettes could be the tool health experts and society have desperately sought to try and lower the number of deaths attributed to cigarette smoking in the U.S. and worldwide.
 

Can vaping help cigarette smokers kick their habit with greater success? Survey data is promising.

Professor John Britton of the Royal College of Physicians in Great Britain says “If all the smokers in Britain stopped smoking cigarettes and started smoking e-cigarettes we would save five million deaths in people who are alive today.”
This should not signal the relaxation of laws protecting nonsmokers from being subjected to unwelcome vapors in the atmosphere. A vaping bar can look like the fog just rolled in off San Francisco Bay. But the cost to society from cigarette smoking demands that the potential of e-cigarettes be fully explored.
Let’s bear in mind also at a time when our economy isn’t all that healthy that Big Tobacco generates a tremendous amount of revenue, jobs, and taxes. Finding an alternative marketplace that allows these companies to stay in business selling a product that might cut down on cigarette production nothing but positive.
The CDC and FDA both say they will continue to explore ways to increase monitoring and research on e-cigarettes, with particular attention to developing strategies to prevent the use of e-cigarettes among minors.
Gayle Lynn Falkenthal, APR, is President/Owner of the Falcon Valley Group in San Diego, California. Read her regular columns Media Migraine and Ringside Seat in Communities at The Washington Times. Follow Gayle on Facebook and on Twitter @PRProSanDiego. Gayle can be reached via Google +
Please credit “Gayle Falkenthal for Communities Digital News at WashingtonTimes.com” when quoting from or linking to this story.   
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/communities-health-and-science-today/2013/nov/11/controversy-concerns-heat-over-e-cigarettes-and-va/
 

E-cigarette ads model big tobacco ads of old

Jolie Lee, USA TODAY Network
Correction: An earlier version of this story included a quote that suggested the Food and Drug Administration regulated alcohol. The FDA does not have jurisdiction over alcoholic beverages.
Some e-cigarette companies are following in the marketing footsteps of tobacco companies: celebrity appeals and flavors that could attract kids. The Food and Drug Administration restricts how regular cigarettes are advertised, but e-cigarettes fall into a loophole for federal regulation.
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said these new kinds of cigarettes threaten the next generation and some members of Congress are urging the FDA to regulate e-cigarette ads as well.
About 4 million Americans now use e-cigarettes and sales have grown dramatically since 2010, according to the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association. E-cigarette manufacturers have cited their product’s potential to get smokers to give up tobacco cigarettes.
But critics of e-cigarettes have raised concerns that the industry is targeting non-smokers, including young people. The CDC says 10% of middle and high students have tried e-cigarettes, a rate that doubled from 2011 to 2012.
Here’s a look at how e-cigarette ads compare to tobacco marketing strategies, many of which targeted young people.
Ads in front of kids
Vype e-cigarettes were advertised in a children’s iPad game last month.

British Tobacco Company, the owner of Vype, apologized for the ad placement, citing a “breach of protocols by third party used by ad agency,” according to a company tweet.

Decades earlier — before they were pushing vitamins, the Flintstones were lighting up Winstons in a 1960 commercial.
“Cigarette ads have always tried to exploit kids’ aspirations that they want to be glamorous, rugged, rebellious,” said Vince Willmore, spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “Now e-cigarettes are appealing to those same aspirations.”
The FDA is considering expanding regulations to the e-cigarette industry, including how products are advertised. TVECA’s position is that e-cigarettes should be regulated like tobacco, co-founder Tom Kiklas said, noting the possibility that localities could impose strict regulations on the use of e-cigarettes unless the FDA provides guidelines for their sale.
Cartoon mascots
E-cigarette company eJuiceMonkeys has a smiling, smoking monkey as its mascot.
Camel started using the cartoon Joe Camel in its advertising campaigns starting in 1988. Joe Camel retired in 1997 — the same year big tobacco reached a $365 billion settlement, which included an end to marketing to kids.
Fun flavors
E-cigarettes come in a variety of flavors, including chocolate, gummy bears and evenwaffles topped with maple syrup and butter. To get in the fall spirit, V2 Cigs offers a pumpkin spice e-cigarette

The Food and Drug Administration banned flavors for regular cigarettes in 2009, saying cigarettes characterizing fruit, candy and cloves “have special appeal for children.”
Kiklas, though, disputes the need to extend these regulations to e-cigarettes. He cited the FDA’s approval of cherry-flavored nicotine lozenges. “Is that marketing to kids?” he said.
“We support any flavor that assists in a smoker’s transition to e-cigarettes,” he said.

Before the FDA ban on flavored cigarettes, Camel was offering tropical flavors such as “Kauai Kolada” with a hint of pineapple and coconut, as well as “Twista Lime.”
Kids in ads
The British e-cigarette company E-Lites features a baby dancing Gangnam-style. The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority banned the ad on TV and radio.
This Marlboro ad from the 1950s shows another family-friendly scene — a little boy sailing a paper boat with his dad while he’s smoking a cigarette.
Credit: From the collection of Stanford University (tobacco.stanford.edu)
E-cigarette company Bull Smoke tweets, “Everybody is doing it!” with pictures of celebrities, including movie stars Katherine Heigl and Dennis Quaid, reality TV star JWoww and actor Kevin Connolly.

The tobacco industry enacted a self-imposed ban on ads featuring entertainers, athletes and personalities in 1964. Before then, tobacco companies used A-list stars to sell their product.