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Fargo City Commissioners look to update tobacco ordinances

Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) – Fargo city commissioners are taking a step to stop the increase of e-cigarette use among minors.
Right now, electronic cigarettes are not regulated by the FDA, meaning there are no laws about their use.
In the last year, the percentage of US middle and high school students who reported using them has doubled.
Even though most Fargo businesses have their own rules prohibiting minors, legally anyone can buy them.
Monday night the city council plans to update its tobacco ordinances to include e-cigarettes and all its parts; so that no one can sell to anyone under 18, and minors cannot purchase them.
Holly Scott/Tobacco Prevention Coordinator: “I would venture a guess that most places would not sell to a minor, but by having it written in city ordinance, that way we just ensure that all businesses are following the same set of rules, in that, kinds can’t have access to these products.”
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/92153/

E-Cigarettes: Separating Fiction From Fact

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
It’s the new year, a time when a smokers’ thoughts often turn to quitting.
Some people may use that promise of a fresh start to trade their tobacco cigarettes for an electronic cigarette, a device that attempts to mimic the look and feel of a cigarette and often contains nicotine.
Here’s what you need to know about e-cigarettes:
What is an e-cigarette?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes an e-cigarette as a battery-operated device that turns nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals into a vapor that can be inhaled. The ones that contain nicotine offer varying concentrations of nicotine. Most are designed to look like a tobacco cigarette, but some look like everyday objects, such as pens or USB drives, according to the FDA.
How does an e-cigarette work?
“Nicotine or flavorings are dissolved into propylene glycol usually, though it’s hard to know for sure because they’re not regulated,” explained smoking cessation expert Dr. Gordon Strauss, founder of QuitGroups and a psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “Then, when heated, you can inhale the vapor.”
The process of using an e-cigarette is called “vaping” rather than smoking, according to Hilary Tindle, an assistant professor of medicine and director of the tobacco treatment service at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She said that people who use electronic cigarettes are called “vapers” rather than smokers.
Although many e-cigarettes are designed to look like regular cigarettes, both Tindle and Strauss said they don’t exactly replicate the smoking experience, particularly when it comes to the nicotine delivery. Most of the nicotine in e-cigarettes gets into the bloodstream through the soft tissue of your cheeks (buccal mucosa) instead of through your lungs, like it does with a tobacco cigarette.
“Nicotine from a regular cigarette gets to the brain much quicker, which may make them more addictive and satisfying,” Strauss said.
Where can e-cigarettes be used?
“People want to use e-cigarettes anywhere they can’t smoke,” Strauss said. “I sat next to someone on a plane who was using an e-cigarette. He was using it to get nicotine during the flight.” But he noted that just where it’s OK to use an e-cigarette — indoors, for instance? — remains unclear.
Wherever they’re used, though, he said it’s unlikely that anyone would get more than a miniscule amount of nicotine secondhand from an e-cigarette.
Can an e-cigarette help people quit smoking?
That, too, seems to be an unanswered question. Tindle said that “it’s too early to tell definitively that e-cigarettes can help people quit.”
A study published in The Lancet in September was the first moderately sized, randomized and controlled trial of the use of e-cigarettes to quit smoking, she said. It compared nicotine-containing e-cigarettes to nicotine patches and to e-cigarettes that simply contained flavorings. The researchers found essentially no differences in the quit rates for the products after six months of use.
“E-cigarettes didn’t do worse than the patch, and there were no differences in the adverse events,” she said. “I would be happy if it turned out to be a safe and effective alternative for quitting, but we need a few more large trials for safety and efficacy.”
Strauss noted that “although we can’t say with certainty that e-cigarettes are an effective way to quit, people are using them” for that purpose. “Some people have told me that e-cigarettes are like a godsend,” he said.
Former smoker Elizabeth Phillips would agree. She’s been smoke-free since July 2012 with the help of e-cigarettes, which she used for about eight months after giving up tobacco cigarettes.
“E-cigarettes allowed me to gradually quit smoking without completely removing myself from the physical actions and social experience associated with smoking,” Phillips said. “I consider my e-cigarette experience as a baby step that changed my life.”
Are e-cigarettes approved or regulated by the government?
E-cigarettes are not currently regulated in a specific way by the FDA. The agency would like to change this, however, and last April filed a request for the authority to regulate e-cigarettes as a tobacco product.
The attorneys general of 40 states agree that electronic cigarettes should be regulated and sent a letter to the FDA in September requesting oversight of the products. They contend that e-cigarettes are being marketed to children; some brands have fruit and candy flavors or are advertising with cartoon characters. And, they note that the health effects of e-cigarettes have not been well-studied, especially in children.
Are e-cigarettes dangerous?
“It’s not the nicotine in cigarettes that kills you, and the nicotine in e-cigarettes probably won’t really hurt you either, but again, it hasn’t been studied,” Strauss said. “Is smoking something out of a metal and plastic container safer than a cigarette? Cigarettes are already so bad for you it’s hard to imagine anything worse. But, it’s a risk/benefit analysis. For a parent trying to quit, we know that secondhand smoke is a huge risk to kids, so if an electronic cigarette keeps you from smoking, maybe you’d be helping kids with asthma or saving babies.”
But on the flip side, he said, in former smokers, using an e-cigarette could trigger the urge to smoke again.
The other big concern is children using e-cigarettes.
“More and more middle and high school kids are using e-cigarettes,” Tindle said. “Some are smoking conventional cigarettes, too. The latest data from the CDC found the rate of teens reporting ever having used an e-cigarette doubled in just a year. We could be creating new nicotine addicts. We don’t know what the addictive properties of e-cigarettes are,” she added.
“It’s shocking that they’ve been allowed to sell to minors,” Tindle said.
More information
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more about electronic cigarettes.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2014/01/03/e-cigarettes-separating-fiction-from-fact

Nicotine Poisoning Blamed on E-cigs

BY 
Threats of nicotine poisoning are now serving as the catalyst of new protests against electronic cigarettes, prompting some countries to consider regulating or banning the e-cigs.  The European Union is currently considering either bans or regulation, and some places such as Spain have already banned the e-cigs.
Some cities in the US are also considering bans or stronger regulations on the products.   New York, Chicago, and Oklahoma City are also seeking regulation with some cities choosing to treat the e-cigs as tobacco products, even though they do not contain any tobacco.  New York just recently passed a ban on e-cig product usage in public places.
E-cigs are electronic cigarettes that feature a heating element.  They contain propylene glycol which produces a vapor when heated and also have a flavoring liquid.  The liquids come in a variety of flavors and contain different levels of nicotine.
The e-cigs are used by people who are trying to quit smoking tobacco, and many people see them as a safer alternative to regular cigarettes which contain several carcinogenic compounds.
The liquids used for e-cigs contain concentrated amounts of nicotine and are being blamed for poisoning children who accidently drink the fluid.  In May 2013, an Israeli 2 year old reportedly died after drinking the fluid and ingesting a lethal dose of nicotine.
In Sweden, 29 cases of nicotine poisoning were attributed to e-cigs last year.  Due to less strict requirements, e-cig users are able to use in more places, which may be leading to accidental overdoses as users are not required to wait for a smoking break.
Nicotine poisoning can exhibit many side effects such as nausea and vomiting, abdominal cramps, agitation and weakness.  Severe cases can lead to coma and respiratory failure.
Nicotine has an average lethal dosage of 0.5 to 1 milligram per kilogram in body weight for humans.  It is easily absorbed through the skin.  It has a half life of approximately two hours.
Most overdoses happen with simultaneous use of nicotine products, such as smoking and use of a patch at the same time.
Emergency treatment of nicotine poisoning includes administering activated charcoal and gastric lavage.
Nicotine has been used and valued for centuries due to its positive effects.  It can relieve depression, suppress appetites and can help with mental focus.  Nicotine is widely believed to be highly addictive, although some theories suggest that pure nicotine is not addictive, but it is only addictive when used in tobacco form.
No matter what the true reason, tobacco usage is highly addictive and has been attributed to several health problems, such as strokes and lung cancer.  The e-cigs are seen as a safer alternative by many users and some health officials have even come out in favor of e-cigs over regular tobacco.
Other officials claim that e-cigs are unregulated and have not been fully researched for potential side effects.  Authorities claim that the health hazards from inhaling the propylene glycol mist are unknown.
Some cities that are considering bans on e-cigs are concerned that they may be used by teenagers as a gateway into cigarette smoking. According to a youth survey by the US Center for Disease Control, 10 percent of high school students have tried using e-cigs.  CDC official called the results troubling.  Opponents blamed the increase in teenage usage on advertising featuring popular celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy and Courtney Love touting the benefits of the e-cigs.
Proponents of the e-cigs point out that the products are safer than the traditional cigarettes and say that many people have been able to stop using traditional tobacco thanks to the use of e-cigs.  Many satisfied customers point that the e-cigs have been their only alternative as nicotine patches are costly, and smoking cessation pills such as Chantix can have severe side effects such as suicidal thoughts.
http://www.newschanneldaily.com/nicotine-poisoning-blamed-e-cigs/2316/kb-hallmark/

Arizona fire officials see increased fire danger with e-cigarettes

Lauren Gilger, ABC15.com
PHOENIX – As electronic cigarettes grow in popularity, so do the number of fires they start. Phoenix Fire Department officials say they’ve noticed the increase and want families to know about the potential danger.
AN ARIZONA COUPLE’S LOSS
“I got to the bedroom door and it was just a huge fire,” Vicki Orman said, remembering the fire that burned down much of her Phoenix home in October.
“I was traumatized,” she said. “You see your belongings, your home on fire. It’s terrible.”
Vicki and her husband, Dale, lived in that house for 18 years, they said. But it all changed one day after Vicki plugged in her electronic cigarette and left it charging.
“The fire was confined to the master bedroom, but the rest of the house had quite a bit of smoke and water damage,” Dale explained.
In all, the damage was estimated to be more than $100,000, according to fire records.
Fire officials say the cartridge of the e-cigarette overheated while it was plugged into the charger, sparking the fire.
Vicki said she heard the smoke detector and found the fire in their bedroom.
After the fire, Vicki was in shock.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Vicki said, “What do you do? Where am I going to go? What about my animals?”
She and her three dogs made it out safely, but Dale suffered smoke inhalation and spent three days in the hospital, he said.
FIRE OFFICIALS SEE A PATTERN
“These things are causing fires,” said Phoenix Fire Department Captain and Arson Investigator Gary Hernandez.
He responded to the fire at the Orman’s house, but this wasn’t the first e-cigarette-related fire he’s seen.
“They had plugged this in, in the charger, put in on top of the bed, they left,” he said. “That’s a very dangerous thing.”
Electronic cigarettes use a battery to heat up the steam users inhale to get the nicotine and various flavors.
Vicki says she used the name brand Smokin’ T. They’re re-usable.
Sister station ABC15 contacted the manufacturer of Smokin’ T e-cigarettes, Smokin’ Time, but they didn’t respond to numerous messages.
“I’m not sure why it’s happening and why they’re malfunctioning,” Hernandez said. “But, I think you can be keenly aware that these can malfunction and these can cause a fire.”
There have been several report of e-cigarette-related fires involving various name brands across the country, including at least four in the Phoenix area.
“I’M ANGRY”
“They shouldn’t explode,” Dale said. He said he looked at the instructions that came with the e-cigarette and didn’t see any warning against leaving it to charge for a specific amount of time.
It’s been two months since the fire and the Ormans and their dogs are still living in a hotel room.
“I’m angry that they put out a product that is so dangerous,” Vicki said. “I am angry that I lost some personal property that I can no longer replace…I am angry at myself that I didn’t know better.”
She says she would like to see the manufacturer stop selling this product until they’ve figured out why this happened.
“There’s obviously something wrong,” she said, “We are not the only ones that this has happened to.”
Vicki said she and her husband are considering a lawsuit against the company that makes the e-cigarette that started their fire.
CHECK YOUR SMOKE ALARM
Fire officials say there was one thing that saved the Ormans that day: their smoke detector.
It’s easy to forget, so make sure you check your smoke detector to make sure it’s working.
The FDA is in the process of compiling regulations to oversee electronic cigarettes.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/u-s-world/arizona-fire-officials-see-increased-fire-danger-with-e-cigarettes

City leaders regulate e-cigarettes

By: WDAY Staff Reports , WDAY
Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) – City leaders have decided to include E-cigs in the Fargo tobacco ordinance.
That means it will be illegal to give or sell electronic cigarettes to minors.
The electronic smoking devices claim to be a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes because they give off a vapor instead of smoke.
State law does prohibit smoking in any public places, which includes e-cigarettes.
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/91782/publisher_ID/29/

‘Vaping’ Santa Billboard Causes Backlash

By Gillian Mohney

ht vaping santa kb 131218 16x9 608 Vaping Santa Billboard Causes Backlash
E-cigarette company draws controversy after using “vaping” Santa in billboard. (VaporShark/Facebook)

This might put Santa on the naughty list.
The e-cigarette company Vapor-Shark is facing backlash after putting up a billboard of a “vaping” Santa Claus in Florida. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids complained the ad was similar to old cigarette ads aimed at children and called it ” a new low.”
Even e-cigarettes fans said the ad was inappropriate.
“Showing Santa vaping, globally recognized as a children’s icon, is irresponsible and is and will be seen as a ploy to appeal to under age customers,” said Aaron Frazier, a self-described “vapor,” on the company’s Facebook Page. 
“We disagree … it’s a difference of opinion” said Vapor Shark CEO Brandon Liedel of their dissenters. “The only type of kid that would be persuaded by Santa Claus is a 5-year-old. I think a gorgeous woman would be more persuasive for a teenager.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/12/18/vaping-santa-billboard-causes-backlash/

Nicotine in e-cigs, tobacco linked to heart disease

By Jen Christensen, CNN
(CNN) — The nicotine delivered by cigarettes — even the electronic versions — may still contribute to heart disease, a new study suggests.
A new paper delivered at the American Society of Cell Biologyannual meeting in New Orleans on Sunday suggests that nicotine can cause direct harm to cells in the heart.
Nicotine is an highly addictive substance found in tobacco and is also found in vegetables in the nightshade family like eggplant and tomatoes.
The substance itself has a powerful impact on the body. It elevates your mood, suppresses your appetite and stimulates your memory; however, it also speeds up your heart rate and blood pressure.
E-cigarettes satisfy a smoker’s craving for nicotine and mimic the physical movements of smoking, but were viewed as a healthier alternative by some since they don’t contain the cancer-causing toxins of regular cigarettes.
Previous studies, such as one published in the journal The Lancet in September, have suggested e-cigarettes may be a more effective way for smokers to quit than nicotine patches or the “cold turkey” method.
In 2007, the Royal College of Physicians concluded, “If nicotine could be provided in a form that is acceptable and effective as a cigarette substitute, millions of lives could be saved.”
Smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature death, according to the American Heart Association.
For years, doctors have also known that smokers often develop heart problems in addition to lung problems.
Smoking increases a person’s risk of developing atherosclerosis, a disease in which plaque, a waxy substance, builds up in the arteries, narrowing and hardening them over time and limiting blood flow.
Atherosclerosis can cause heart attacks, strokes, and can even lead to death. The connection between smoking and atherosclerosis has been unclear, but scientist Chi Ming Hai may have discovered the root cause of the problem in the new study.
The molecular pharmacology professor at Brown Universityexposed cells found in the heart to nicotine. After only six hours, a kind of cellular drill, called podosome rosettes formed and ate through tissue.
When this happens in the vascular smooth muscle cells which are in the middle layer of the arterial wall to the inner layer, this can cause plaque to form in atherosclerosis. This happened when Hai exposed human and rat cells to nicotine.
What that means is that the nicotine is acting like “a kind of cancer of the blood vessel which is waking up these cells and breaking them away from their surrounding matric and then migrating having an effect like it is almost like digging a hole through the wall,” Hai said. “I think this is potentially very interesting and significant.”
It also means that the nicotine substitute of an e-cigarette may reduce a person’s chance of having lung cancer, but it does not mean that their risk of heart disease will go away.
Research is still in the very early stages, Hai said, but he believes it would be a good area for the government to invest in to better understand the connection between smoking and heart disease.
“We have certain pillars in this data that shows something significant is going on here and we need to understand it better,” Hai said.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/16/health/nicotine-e-cigarettes/

E-cigs may deliver more toxins than smoke, researchers say

By Andy Soltis
Don’t make that nicotine switch just yet.
E-cigarette users may be getting higher concentrations of toxins than regular smokers because they inhale deeper and more frequently when they puff, NYU researchers say.
Although they are often touted as a safer alternative, e-cigs, introduced in the States in 2007, haven’t been in use long enough to determine their health effects, said Dr. Deepak Saxena, of NYU’s College of Dentistry.
“We have no scientific data to show that nicotine at this concentration is safe,” said Saxena, an associate professor of basic science and craniofacial biology.
Each e-cig nicotine cartridge provides 200 to 400 puffs, equal to two to three packs of regular cigarettes.
Saxena says e-cigs, which deliver nicotine in a vapor form, must be studied as their popularity grows.
“They are designed for new smokers, to bring up a new generation,” he said.
The City Council is now weighing a proposal to place e-cigs under the same restrictions as regular cigs. Former tobacco smokers oppose it, saying e-cigs helped them kick regular puffing.
“People are saying, ‘Now I am smoking and happy with my addiction,’ ” Saxena said.
“But the problem is that if you want to get out of the addiction, you may become more addicted.”
http://nypost.com/2013/12/14/e-cigs-may-deliver-more-toxins-than-smoke-researchers-say/

Smoke from E-Cigs Still Poses Some Second-Hand Risk

By  @acsifferlin , TIME Health & Family
It’s not real tobacco smoke, but the emissions from electronic cigarettes can still contain harmful ingredients.
A new study published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research shows that e-cigarettes generate enough nicotine emissions that they can be inhaled by those near a smoker. The researchers conducted two studies on three brands of e-cigarettes that investigated what the devices emitted into the surrounding air.
In the first study, the scientists used a smoke machine to “smoke” the cigarettes and then measure the concentrations of nicotine and other volatile organic compounds such as carbon monoxide released. They compared these emissions to those of standard cigarettes. Then, the team asked five male participants to smoke both tobacco and e-cigarettes in a room that measured contaminant exposure.
The found that e-cigarettes are a source of second-hand exposure to nicotine, but not of other compounds released when tobacco is burned. And the nicotine exposure was 10 times less than that from tobacco smoke.
However, another recent study from New York University researchers reported that e-cigarette smokers may not be spared such exposures. They inhale more nicotine because they puff more often and tend to breathe in more deeply than regular cigarette smokers. So higher nicotine consumption may be a risk for e-cig smokers.
Both studies suggest there’s much still to be learned about the health risks of e-cigarettes, including their effect not just on smokers but on those around them. The Food and Drug Administration currently does not regulate e-cigarettes, but has proposed a rule that would give the agency more regulatory power over the devices.
http://healthland.time.com/2013/12/13/smoke-from-e-cigs-still-poses-some-second-hand-risk/#ixzz2nfw3Jckr

CHART OF THE DAY: How Cigarettes Became Bigger Than Spitting Tobacco 100 Years Ago

, Business Insider
These days, you can’t talk about tobacco without talking about the rise of e-cigarettes.
“By year-end 2013, the e-cigarette category is expected to have doubled to over $1B from $500MM in 2012, according to various industry sources,” noted RBC Capital analyst Nik Modi.
Still, e-cigarettes represent a very tiny fraction of the tobacco business.  Tobacco giant Lorillard recently said that e-cigarettes may have taken 1% of the U.S. cigarette volume.
However, there was once a time when the cigarette wasn’t the dominant product in the tobacco business.
“We point out that it took 45 years for tobacco consumers to transition from smokeless to cigarettes during the late 1800s and early 1900s,” added Modi. “The cigarette’s popularity among tobacco consumers as we know it today was helped by two key catalysts: 1) spitting tobacco was declared unsanitary and disease spreading, leading to spittoons being removed from public places in 1915; and 2) during the Second World War, soldiers were given cigarettes as part of their rations.”
The removal of spittoons a hundred years ago isn’t unlike the bans on smoking we see today.
Who knows where we’ll be 45 years from now?

cotd tobaccoRBC Capital Markets

http://www.businessinsider.com/historical-share-of-tobacco-2013-12#ixzz2nekV5FUw