Look at e-cigarettes with a questioning eye

By: Erin Hill-Oban, Executive Director, Tobacco Free North Dakota
There’s been a lot of buzz lately regarding electronic cigarettes and the rise in popularity (and sales) they’ve seen all across the country, including right here in North Dakota.  Whether news and opinions have come from the mouths of trusted news sources, Big Tobacco (which now manufactures e-cigarettes), health professionals, or e-cigarette users themselves, we should all stay informed.
Tobacco Free North Dakota (TFND) would like to add the voice of our organization and our members to the conversation.  We have no interest in scaring the public; rather, we feel education and information is important.  What we know about e-cigarettes for certain, unfortunately, is pretty minimal.
As of today, there is not enough data collected nor studies conducted to determine how safe or unsafe these products are OR to prove e-cigarettes are effective cessation devices.  Tobacco companies are promoting e-cigarettes as a means to help users quit, but until science backs up that claim, TFND cannot and will not endorse it.  NDQuits provides excellent (and free) services – both counseling and access to FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapy – to North Dakotans who wish to quit.
In addition, e-cigarettes are not regulated by the FDA as a tobacco product, and therefore, are neither taxed as such nor have age restrictions placed on their sales.  That does, in fact, mean your 10-year-old child or grandchild could legally purchase these devices.  Though we hope many retailers in our state would deny their purchase based on morals, it’s irresponsible not to have laws in place to prevent our kids from that kind of access.
TFND is genuinely concerned about reports of e-cigarette explosions, studies that show youth use of e-cigarettes doubling in just one year, and the knowledge that adolescents have found ways to alter these devices to smoke other drugs, like marijuana, without a detectable scent.
TFND wants answers and common sense protections put in place by both the FDA and our state policymakers, a goal we will be working toward leading up to the next state legislative session in 2015.  In the meantime, we encourage the public to stay informed, proceed with caution, and visit with your district legislators about any shared concerns you may have.
http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/content/look-e-cigarettes-questioning-eye
http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/277311/group/homepage/
http://www.jamestownsun.com/content/letter-editor-e-cigarettes-should-be-regulated-state
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/417138/

E-Cigarettes A Blast From The Past, In A Bad Way

By Erica Sebastian and Jonathan Chaffee Special to the Olean Times Herald
Youth love to trick-or-treat on Halloween. Unfortunately, there is one product that is more trick than treat: e-cigarettes look and taste like a treat, but contain a nicotine solution that is turned into a vapor that users inhale.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Youth Tobacco Survey states that e-cigarette use among middle and high school students has doubled since 2011. This growth can be attributed to the variety of flavors of e-cigarettes, such as chocolate, vanilla, cookies and cream and fruit flavors that appeal to teens and young adults.
E-cigarette advertisements are also appearing on television and in magazines. E-cigarettes’ formula for success is not that much different from how the tobacco industry marketed cigarettes.
Stanton Glantz, who directs the Center For Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California-San Francisco, says, “They’re making health claims. They’re using celebrities, movies, television. It’s just like getting into a time machine.”
In 2009, the FDA tested e-cigarettes from two leading manufacturers and found detectable levels of toxins and carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) in their cartridges.
Any product designed to deliver more than trace amounts of nicotine can lead to addiction. As such, the sale and distribution of these products should only occur after these products are appropriately regulated by the FDA.
The FDA has not approved e-cigarettes as smoking-cessation devices. To date, there are no well-controlled studies that test the efficacy of e-cigarettes as a smoking-cessation device despite industry ads to the contrary.
New York has made great strides in reducing youth smoking rates. High school youth smoking rates are down nearly 60 percent from 2000 to 2012. The introduction of e-cigarettes threatens the substantial gains made in reducing youth smoking in New York.
(Ms. Sebastian is the Cessation Center coordinator for Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Wyoming counties; Mr. Chaffee is the Reality Check Program coordinator for Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties.)
http://www.oleantimesherald.com/editorial/article_779e64d0-4300-11e3-92ff-001a4bcf887a.html

NYC Council gets tough on tobacco, approves raising purchase age to 21

By Rande Iaboni, CNN
New York (CNN) — The New York City Council voted on Wednesday night to approve an anti-tobacco law that will raise the tobacco-purchasing age from 18 to 21.
In addition to the “Tobacco 21” bill, which includes electronic cigarettes, the council also approved a second bill, “Sensible Tobacco Enforcement.” It will prohibit discounts on tobacco products and increase enforcement on vendors who attempt to evade taxes.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has 30 days to sign the bills into law. Given his previous support, that is likely to happen soon.
“By increasing the smoking age to 21, we will help prevent another generation from the ill health and shorter life expectancy that comes with smoking,” Bloomberg said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Tobacco 21” will take effect 180 days after it is enacted, according to the council’s news release.
New York City has now become the largest city to have an age limit as high as 21. Needham, Massachusetts, raised the sale age to 21 in 2005, according to the New York City Department of Health.
Neighboring states and counties have raised the tobacco sale age to 19, including New Jersey in 2005, the Department of Health said.
Raising the sales age “will protect teens and may prevent many people from ever starting to smoke,” Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley, said in a statement after the vote.
While many lawmakers appeared to be applauding the bills, some younger New Yorkers were not so pleased.
“You’re an adult; you should be able to buy a pack of cigarettes,” one New Yorker told CNN affiliate NY1. “I mean, you can think for yourself.”
“I think it’s ridiculous,” another New Yorker said, “Let us be, let us live.”
This is another step in Bloomberg’s mission for healthier NYC lifestyles.
In September 2012, the Board of Health voted to ban the sale of sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces in restaurants and other venues, a measure Bloomberg spearheaded.
The ban was later repealed by a New York State Supreme Court judge.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/30/us/new-york-city-tobacco-age/

Editorial: Kids and e-cigs

Gainsville Sun Editorial:
As anti-smoking campaigns reduce tobacco use among young people, public health advocates see a new threat in electronic cigarettes.

E-cigarettes convert liquid nicotine into a vapor that users inhale. They come in flavors such as various types of fruits and candies, potentially attracting children to use them.
The 2013 Florida Youth Tobacco Survey found that 12 percent of high school students had tried e-cigarettes, an increase of 102 percent since 2011.
Alachua County Commissioner Robert Hutchinson asked staff to draft an ordinance to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, require them to be placed behind counters in stores and prohibit their use in non-smoking areas. Clay County has enacted and Marion County is considering similar measures.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is also considering the regulation of e-cigarettes. A federal rule would be more effective than a patchwork of local ordinances.
In the meantime, Alachua County and other municipalities are right to work to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of minors. Yet the county should resist the urge to regulate the personal behavior of adults that doesn’t affect others.
Some research suggests that e-cigarettes help a small percentage of tobacco users quit. But the health effects of inhaling nicotine vapor are unclear, and the track record of the tobacco companies that sell some e-cigarette brands gives reason to be skeptical of claims that it is a safe alternative to smoking.
It’s reasonable to regulate an addictive product that poses potential health risks. Hopefully the FDA soon does it job and prevents the need for Alachua County to act.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20131102/OPINION01/131039866/-1/entertainment?Title=Editorial-Kids-and-e-cigs&tc=ar

Nationwide Fight Begins Over Raising Tobacco Age to 21

By 
New York City councilmen voted Wednesday to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21, a measure that will go into effect six months after it’s signed into law by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a zealous anti-smoking advocate.
The Big Apple measure – which soared 35-10 through the city council – is part of a nationwide effort that seeks to make illegal the sale of tobacco to young adults.
In New Jersey, legislators are likely to debate a bill soon that would raise that state’s age limit to 21. New Jersey is currently tied for the highest statewide tobacco age limit, at 19.
Richard Codey, governor of New Jersey from 2004 to 2006, helped bump the state’s age limit from 18 to 19 less than 10 years ago. He’s now a state senator and the sponsor of new age limit legislation, which he is confident will prevail – and possibly help start a chain-reaction.
“Someone is going to read this in Connecticut or Illinois or somewhere else and go, yeah that’s a good idea,” Codey told U.S. News. “The only people who are opposed, obviously, are the tobacco companies. As far as I’m concerned, I’m on the side of the angels.”
Codey expects his bill to pass and take effect in early 2014. He hasn’t heard from Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., but he expects the prospective presidential candidate to consent to the change.
“Are some people going to get someone to buy cigarettes for them when they are not 21? Of course,” he said. “But there are other people who are not going to do that and obey the law and by the time they’re 21 are more mature and rational will realize that it’s not a good thing to do.”
Codey says his legislation was inspired by a phone conversation earlier this year with New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, then a candidate for mayor, who called him and shared her plan for the higher age limit. After some conversation, he joined on.
Codey’s not sure if his bill would affect electronic cigarette sales – as New York City’s law does – but he’s opposed to young smokers adopting that technology.
“It’s like someone who starts on marijuana, then they want a better high – it’s just a reality of life,” he said. Electronic cigarette advocates vehemently disagree with such arguments and say the vast majority of users are conventional smokers seeking a healthier alternative.
One of the largest national anti-tobacco organizations fully supports banning 18-to-21-year-olds from buying cigarettes.
“As states and localities have looked into this, we’ve begun to get involved,” said Danny McGoldrick, vice president for research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
McGoldrick said his organization generally supports a “tried and true trifecta” of anti-tobacco policies – higher taxes, public smoking bans and educational campaigns – but will also advocate for raising tobacco age limits to 21 in any jurisdiction considering it.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is currently supporting an attempt to raise the smoking age to 21 at the county level on Hawaii’s largest island and has been involved in generalized efforts to raise the age to 21 for around a year.
A fact sheet from the group says around 50 percent of smokers begin using cigarettes daily before they turn 18 and that more than 75 percent of adult smokers do so before they turn 21, arguing that cutting off access at a young age may drop future adult smoking rates.
“To the degree we wouldn’t be involved, it would only be a resource question,” McGoldrick said. “We certainly support it from a policy perspective. We’re just going to have to see what the landscape looks like in terms of the biggest opportunities for success.”
In New York City, one unhappy activist who organizes smokers to push back against tough laws says politicians can expect a black market boom with the new age limit.
“They are not stopping anyone in that age group who wants to smoke,” said Audrey Silk, founder of New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment. “These young adults know very well where to get their cigarettes. The ones who have already been doing that will have more joining them to get their cigarettes from the ‘buttleggers,'” a term for smugglers who avoid high city taxes.
As the city government increased taxes on tobacco, Silk said, “a huge enterprise sprung up” and now many smokers have learned through word of mouth of illicit, less expensive cigarette dealers.
Silk, a former New York City cop, defiantly smokes cigarettes in city parks – deliberately violating Mayor Bloomberg’s ban by doing so – and her group won a rare victory Oct. 11 when a judge ruled against a statewide ban on smoking in parks.
“This one has no room for a lawsuit, unfortunately,” she concedes.
It’s unclear how city policy might change under Bloomberg’s successor, who will be selected in November. Neither Democrat Bill de Blasio nor Republican Joe Lhota have gone out of their way to advertise a position on the new age restriction.
“The lines have become blurred party wise because you can’t depend on any one party to defend our civil liberties,” Silk said. “My question to them is: Will you decline to accept the votes of this age group if they’re not smart enough [to decide whether or not to smoke]?”
Silk says it’s possible the age restriction will one day be reversed, but it’ll be an uphill climb.
“Prohibition [of alcohol] was reversed,” she said. “It took 13 years for that, so is it possible the age will be reduced one day? Yeah, it’s possible.” But, in the meantime, she admits “New York is a trendsetter” and will likely inspire young adult bans elsewhere.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/31/nationwide-fight-begins-over-raising-tobacco-age-to-21

Tobacco Marketing Costs Exceed Those of Prevention Efforts

By Marisa DeCandido – email
There’s been a statewide effort over the past several years to cut down on tobacco use in North Dakota. And state lawmakers now know exactly how much those prevention programs are costing.
It’s not easy for smokers in North Dakota to find a place to light up, and state lawmakers now know just how much it costs to keep it that way.
The Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy says it spends about fifty-five dollars on each North Dakota Tobacco user. That money goes towards programs that help users break the habit.
“A great portion of the program is focused on preventing young people, youth and young adults, from ever using tobacco so we don’t have to spend as much on cessation, or getting them to quit later in life,” says Prom
And Prom says youth smoking rates have gone down in the last year. Even though the tobacco industry spends about one-hundred and ninety five dollars a year marketing to North Dakotans.
“It’s odd that we have a situation today where we have an industry, the tobacco industry, who promote a product that when used as intended kills. There’s really nothing normal about that. So we want to change that to where not using tobacco is the norm,” says Jeanne Prom, North Dakota Tobacco Prevention.
Prom presented these numbers on the same day that New York City proposed a law that would change the tobacco buying age from eighteen to twenty-one. But North Dakotans don’t thing that will happen here.
“North Dakota, at this time, we need to focus on our taxes and raising that, and that is going to make the biggest impact for stopping our youth from starting and helping others to quit,” says Kim Schneider, American Lung Association.
That’s because the tobacco tax here is only forty-four cents, one of the lowest in the country.
“We’ve spent a lot of time in the past year just educating again on the smoke-free law and on the tobacco tax. It’s a big issue in North Dakota,” says Schneider.
Tobacco prevention groups in the state say raising the tax is the next step towards fighting tobacco use.
For more information on how much smoking costs North Dakotans, visit breathend.com.
http://www.kumv.com/story/23842127/tobacco-marketing-costs-exceed-those-of-prevention-efforts

Regulators unsure how to treat electronic cigarettes

By Nathan Porter – The Washington Times
The questions concerning the safety of electronic cigarette use are neatly matched by the questions concerning how — and even whether — governments should regulate the product.
Having long strictly limited marketing and use of traditional tobacco products, the Food and Drug Administration is expected in the coming days to propose its first rules and restrictions on electronic cigarettes.
About half of the states, including Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota and New Hampshire, haven’t waited for federal action and have banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. A group of 41 state attorneys general wrote to the FDA urging the federal government to “take all available measures” to regulate the product.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has said that federal regulations that prohibit smoking on airplanes will be extended to e-cigarettes.
But the industry is arguing that e-cigarettes are fundamentally different from traditional cigarettes and shouldn’t face the same one-size-fits-all restrictions. Some companies go further, saying e-cigarettes can lower smoking rates for more dangerous tobacco products and should, in certain circumstances, be encouraged.

Critics say that when it comes to regulation — and, just as important, taxation — the booming e-cigarette industry is trying to have it both ways as the government considers its regulatory approach.
“When it’s convenient to be like tobacco, they’re like tobacco,” Stanton A. Glantz, director of the University of California-San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, recently told The New York Times. “And when it’s not convenient, they’re not.”
The regulatory mishmash is not limited to the United States.
In Germany, Norway, Ireland, Poland and Portugal, the sale and use of electronic cigarettes is completely legal. In a closely watched vote last month, the European Parliament decided to regulate e-cigarette marketing the same as regular tobacco products, forbidding sales to minors and most advertisements in the economic bloc.
But EU legislators rejected a proposal to regulate e-cigarettes with the same stringency as medical devices, which would have put a major crimp in a product that is gaining increasing popularity in markets such as France. If the measure passed, e-cigarettes could have been sold only in pharmacies.
Charles Hamshaw-Thomas, spokesman for E-Lites, Britain’s biggest e-cigarette seller, called the Parliament’s vote a “fantastic result for public health and the millions of smokers around Europe who are switching to e-cigarettes.”
“Common sense,” he added, “has prevailed.”
In Britain, e-cigarettes are not subject to the same use, sale and advertising regulations as traditional tobacco products. Three e-cigarette commercials, however, were aired by E-Lites, and its rivals were banned last month.
The Canadian government has stated that officials do not endorse e-cigarettes but that the sale and use of the product are legal. South Korea also has deemed e-cigarettes legal, but the government has imposed heavy taxes on e-cigarettes to discourage use, particularly among teenagers.
Switzerland has adopted a split approach: While nicotine-free e-cigarettes are legal nationwide, e-cigarettes containing nicotine cannot be sold within the country. They can, however, be imported.
Dubai, Lebanon, Mexico, Panama and Singapore are among the many countries that have adopted outright bans on the e-cigarette use.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/31/regulators-unsure-how-to-treat-electronic-cigarett/?page=2&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=RSS_Feed

Electronic cigarette peddlers are just blowing smoke, health officials say

By Nathan Porter – The Washington Times
That cloud hanging over electronic cigarettes these days isn’t just from the nicotine-laced vapor that the newfangled butts emit.
As big tobacco companies rush to cash in on e-cigarettes and governments scramble to regulate their use, the nation’s top researchers say basic questions about the safety and long-term effects of e-cigarettes have yet to be answered. They also caution that regulators may be about to go too far without knowing what they are dealing with.
At a gathering of the nation’s leading cancer specialists outside Washington this week, a panel on e-cigarette smoking, or “vaping” as it is often called, cast a skeptical eye on the intense regulatory interest in the e-cigarette phenomenon.
“One of the problems and challenges with the regulation will be how to not overregulate the product,” said Maciej Goniewicz, assistant professor of oncology at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. “We want the regulation to provide safer, better products, and this is a huge challenge.”
E-cigarettes are battery-powered electronic inhalers designed to resemble and function much like traditional tobacco cigarettes. Many electronic cigarettes release nicotine like tobacco cigarettes, but some release just flavored vapor. Because they do not use tobacco, e-cigarettes are viewed by many as less harmful than traditional cigarettes and a way for smokers to transition to a less-dangerous alternative.

Still, no conclusive long-term research has been conducted on the effects of vaping, and critics and many health officials warn that e-cigarettes can be a “gateway drug” to the real thing, especially among younger users.

The Food and Drug Administration has been forced to address the issue in large part because of the market excitement generated by e-cigarette sales.
Although still a fraction of the $90 billion U.S. tobacco market, annual e-cigarette sales have gone from $20 million five years ago to as much as $1.7 billion this year, according to analysts. North Carolina-based Lorillard said its market-leading Blu e-cigarette brand recorded $63 million in sales in the most recent quarter, a fivefold increase aided in part by a national television ad campaign featuring model and actress Jenny McCarthy.
The increasingly large sums involved also have sparked a lobbying battle. The Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association — the “voice of the electronic cigarette industry” — plans a Capitol Hill “fly-in” next week to talk to lawmakers and staffers about the potential negative effects of state and federal regulatory initiatives.
“While our industry understands reasonable and appropriate regulation is needed, it is vital our young industry not be grouped with combustible cigarettes” as federal guidelines are drafted, said Cynthia Cabrera, executive director of the trade association. “Excessive regulation could limit adult access to e-cigs and stifle growth and innovation in the segment.”
Many industry watchers say e-cigarettes’ popularity may override concerns over their health effects.
“The challenge here is that big tobacco companies now have their own brands of electronic cigarettes. What drives this? Of course, the market,” Mr. Goniewicz said.
Some CEOs of e-cigarette companies have said that their goal is to make tobacco cigarettes obsolete. Government regulation, they fear, could undercut the market before it can truly take off.
Because of the lack of research, there is no way of knowing whether e-cigarettes help smokers quit or whether they merely cause smokers to switch, and only temporarily, to a less-harmful habit.
“The whole point here is that people who are addicted to tobacco are switching. This notion of switching from one thing to another is cognitively very different than quitting,” said Scott Leischow, a senior associate consultant at the Mayo Clinic’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/31/electronic-cigarette-peddlers-are-just-blowing-smo/

Maryland cigarette sales down 17% since tobacco tax hike, report says

, Reporter-Baltimore Business Journal
The number of cigarette packs sold in Maryland has declined 17 percent since 2008, according to a new report released Wednesday by a health care advocacy group.
A total of 200 million packs of cigarettes were sold in Maryland in fiscal 2012, down from 243 million in 2008, according to data compiled by Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative that analyzes data from the national Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The report is intended to highlight improvements in combatting smoking among teens and adults since Maryland raised a tax on cigarette packs in 2008 to $2.
The report comes as the Citizens’ Health Initiative and other health care organizations prepare to lobby for another $1 increase on the cigarette tax. If successful in the Maryland General Assembly, the tax would rise to $3 a pack.
The total number of cigarette packs sold in Maryland has been declining for more than a decade, according to the report. Back in 1995, 389 million packs of cigarettes were sold in the state.
Maryland’s General Assembly in 2012 increased the tax on mini cigars (which come in fruit flavors and have become popular among teenagers) to 70 percent of wholesale price, up from 15 percent. The assembly also increased the tax on smokeless tobacco to 30 percent of wholesale price, up from 15 percent.
In the assembly’s next session, which starts in January, health advocates will also be seeking another increase to the tax on smokeless tobacco and mini cigars.

City Council to Vote on Raising Cigarette Purchase Age

In the latest move to snuff out smoking in New York, the City Council could vote Wednesday to bar anyone under the age of 21 from buying cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

Under federal law, no one under 18 can buy tobacco anywhere in the country, but some states and localities have raised it to 19.

Public health advocates say a higher minimum age discourages, or at least delays, young people from starting smoking and thereby limits their health risks. But opponents of such measures have said 18-year-olds, legally considered adults, should be able to make their own decisions about whether or not to smoke.

Some communities, including Needham, Mass., have raised the minimum age to 21, but New York would be the biggest city to do so.

Officials say 80 percent of NYC smokers started before age 21, and an estimated 20,000 New York City public high school students now smoke. While it’s already illegal for many of them to buy cigarettes, officials say this measure would play a key role by making it illegal for them to turn to slightly older friends to buy smokes for them. The vast majority of people who get asked to do that favor are between 18 and 21 themselves, city officials say.

Under Mayor Bloomberg and the health commissioners he has appointed, including Farley, New York has rolled out a slate of anti-smoking initiatives.

Bloomberg, a billionaire who has given $600 million of his own money to anti-smoking efforts around the world, began taking on tobacco use in the city shortly after he became mayor in 2002.

Over his years in office, the city — at times with the council’s involvement — helped impose the highest cigarette taxes in the country, barred smoking at parks and on beaches and conducted sometimes graphic advertising campaigns about the hazards of smoking.

Earlier this year, the Bloomberg administration unveiled a proposal to keep cigarettes out of sight in stores until an adult customer asks for a pack, as well as stopping shops from taking cigarette coupons and honoring discounts, but the proposal was dropped earlier this week, according to the New York Times.

Bloomberg’s administration and public health advocates praise the initiatives as bold moves to help people live better. Adult smoking rates in the city have fallen from 21.5 percent in 2002 to 14.8 percent in 2011, Farley has said.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Cigarettes-Vote-New-York-Wednesday-229822281.html