FARGO – One of five Fargo businesses failed a smoke-free law compliance check Thursday.
Fargo police checked the shops to ensure that electronic cigarettes weren’t being used in a prohibited area, and E-Cig Empire at 4900 13th Ave. S. failed, according to a release from Fargo Cass Public Health.
It’s the second time the business has failed a compliance probe within 12 months. A report was sent to the Cass County State’s Attorney’s office for consideration of charges.
People who smoke in prohibited areas can be fined up to $50. Business owners who fail to comply can be fined up to $100 on the first violation, $200 the second time and up to $500 each time after within the same year. A business owner could also lose his or her permit or license.
The state’s smoke-free law includes vaping and Fargo police conduct compliance checks quarterly or on a need basis.
By Andy Rathbun / St. Paul Pioneer Press
Minnesota has seen a jump in the number of children poisoned by e-cigarettes and their liquid refillables, the Minnesota Department of Health said Wednesday.
From 2013 to 2014, the number of e-cigarette and e-liquid poisonings among Minnesota children 5 and younger rose 35 percent — the second year the Minnesota Poison Control System has seen a significant increase of nicotine poisonings related to e-cigarette products, the health department said in a news release. Poisonings from these products rose from three in 2012 to 62 in 2014.
E-cigarette products can contain a fatal amount of nicotine for a child, and about half of the cases last year were treated at emergency departments. Children can confuse the products, which are often flavored, with a candy or drink, the department of health said.
In January, a new state law took effect requiring child-resistant packaging for e-liquid products.
“This past year Minnesota took a big step to keep kids from accidently ingesting these potentially fatal e-liquids,” Minnesota Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger said in a statement. “But parents should still use caution and store the products out of the reach of children.”
The symptoms that can result from nicotine poisoning include nausea, seizures, diarrhea, vomiting and difficulty breathing.
The department of health issued a nicotine heath advisory Wednesday that also warns teens and pregnant women of possible nicotine effects.
The drug can harm brain development during adolescence and harm fetal brain and lung development, the department said. http://www.inforum.com/news/3763762-cases-kids-poisoned-e-cigs-increasing-minnesota
https://tfnd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/TFND-Logo-300x78.jpg00Erin Hill-Obanhttps://tfnd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/TFND-Logo-300x78.jpgErin Hill-Oban2015-06-10 10:31:582015-06-10 10:31:58Cases of kids poisoned by e-cigs increasing in Minnesota
The state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill that would ban electronic cigarettes from restaurants, theaters and other public places in California where smoking is prohibited to address health concerns.
Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said his bill would treat e-cigarettes, also known as “vaping” devices, as tobacco products because they often use nicotine and are popular with teenagers.
“Of great concern is that the fastest growth segment of new users is among middle and high school students who are now smoking electronic cigarettes,” Leno told his colleagues. “They are advertised on television. They are advertised on billboards.”
The measure, which would also subject e-cigarettes to the same licensing requirements as tobacco, was approved by a 24-12 vote, with Sen. Jeff Stone of Murrietta the only Republican to vote for the bill.
Senate Republican leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar said e-cigarettes work on vapor that does not spread as much as tobacco smoke, so they should be treated differently in public.
“E-cigs are used by people trying to kick the tobacco habit,” Huff said. He voted against the bill, saying the state should wait until the federal government takes action.
Stone noted that his mother was a former smoker who died of cancer. He said the tobacco and vaping industries are marketing e-cigarettes to young people with flavors including watermelon, tutti frutti and cotton candy while the vapor has nicotine derived from tobacco. He said “vaping” is a gateway to cigarette smoking.
“Now we are exposing a whole new generation of millenials to this fashionable way of smoking tobacco in a way that is going to jeopardize their lives,” Stone said. The measure next goes to the Assembly for consideration.
https://tfnd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/TFND-Logo-300x78.jpg00Erin Hill-Obanhttps://tfnd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/TFND-Logo-300x78.jpgErin Hill-Oban2015-06-02 14:08:022015-06-02 14:08:02LA Times: California Senate votes to restrict e-cigarettes as tobacco products
A new form of synthetic marijuana is sending teenagers to the hospital.
A Mason County student is in critical condition after inhaling something called “Darth Vapor”, a substance smoked with an E-cigarette.
School officials at Journey High School in Scottville called 911 yesterday afternoon after the 19-year-old had a seizure.
And it’s not the first problem with the drug in the area.
The sheriff says this is the fourth time since March that they’ve seen an overdose on the vapor. They had it tested, and confirmed it’s a form of synthetic marijuana.
It’s not regulated by the state, which he says, makes it hard to prevent more trips to the ER.
“Just because it’s not regulated by state law doesn’t stop you from being a parent. Your parental rights trump state law as far as I’m concerned,” says Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole.
The sheriff wants parents to help prevent more overdoses on “Darth Vapor”, which put a 19-year-old in critical condition
“The big thing is the parents need to know what these kids are getting into. If you see your child has a e-cig look into that, question why they have it and what they’re putting into it because you mark my words were going to be doing a story on somebody dying,” says Sheriff Cole.
Doctors say smoking vapors is the most dangerous way to ingest something, because the toxins have direct access to your blood.
“It’s almost like taking it in an IV. I mean you just absorb it and it doesn’t go through your liver. So you’re getting the drug directly into the vein, into the circulation,” says Dr. Robert Kowalski, and MD at Munson Healthcare Cadillac Hospital.
And because these vapors are so new and unregulated, treatment can be difficult.
“Most of the treatment for these overdoses is symptomatic. In other words we don’t have a specific antidote for these medications or drugs,” says Kowalski
A business in Ludington has agreed to take the vapor off the shelves, but teens can still manage to get their hands on it.
“I would, you know, tell young adults and children that sell it to you. They’re not pharmacists. They’re not physicians they just want to sell you the drug,” says Kowalski.
All of the overdoses involved students in mason county. The Ludington Schools Superintendent says they’re working with staff and students to prevent problems in the future.
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A 19-year-old is in critical condition after inhaling a substance from an e-cigarette.
The call came in Monday afternoon from Journey High School in Scottville.
The man used an e-cigarette to inhale the substance that caused him to overdose.
The Mason County Sheriff says a 16-year-old was taken to juvenile court for giving the vapor to the 19-year-old.
During the investigation, deputies also found an unloaded rifle in the 16-year-old’s car.
The 19-year-old was airlifted to a Grand Rapids hospital for treatment.
Stay with Northern Michigan’s News Leader throughout the day on air and online for more information on this developing story.
https://tfnd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/TFND-Logo-300x78.jpg00Erin Hill-Obanhttps://tfnd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/TFND-Logo-300x78.jpgErin Hill-Oban2015-05-19 12:47:282015-05-19 12:47:28"Darth Vapor" Sending Students to the Hospital
Just one exposure significantly diminished cough reflex sensitivity.
by Nancy Walsh, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
DENVER — Exposure to electronic cigarette vapors significantly diminished cough reflex sensitivity in a group of healthy volunteers, a researcher reported here.
Using a capsaicin cough challenge, the time until the concentration of capsaicin that can induce five or more coughs (C5) was significantly longer after an electronic cigarette “vaping” session, rising from a mean log C5 of 0.50 at baseline to 0.79 15 minutes after exposure (P<0.0001), according to Peter V. Dicpinigaitis, MD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.
“We have previously shown that chronic smokers of tobacco cigarettes have reduced cough reflex sensitivity to capsaicin compared with healthy nonsmokers, presumably on the basis of chronic cigarette smoke-induced desensitization of airway cough receptors,” he said.
“What impressed us in this study what that this was just one exposure, and there was a real effect, a significant effect,” he said in a press conference at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society.
Electronic cigarettes are increasingly popular devices that are intended to deliver vapor containing nicotine to the lungs without exposing the lung tissue to the damaging products of tobacco combustion. However, little is known about their effects on the respiratory system, and even less is known about their effects on the sensitivity of the cough reflex.
Cough sensitivity is important in that coughing is a very important protective mechanism for eliminating foreign particles, and suppression of this could render someone more susceptible to respiratory tract infection, he explained.
Capsaicin challenge has become a standard research tool for investigating the effects of various exposures on cough reflex sensitivity, in that the challenge is safe, dose-dependent, and reproducible.
To explore these effects, Dicpinigaitis and his colleagues enrolled 30 lifetime nonsmokers who each underwent a single session of vaping, which consisted of 30 puffs on a disposable device at 30-second intervals. This provided an exposure to nicotine of 1.5 to 1.8 mg, which approximates that of a single tobacco cigarette.
The effects on C5 were transient, as was shown by the fact that 24 hours after the exposure, there was a decline in mean log C5 to 0.55 (P=0.0002).
The clinical significance, if any, of this transient, acute effect and the consequences of chronic exposure remain to be elucidated.
But the take-home messages of the study, he said, were that the vapor in e-cigarettes is not simply a benign, inert vapor, and it may have not only this acute, peripheral effect, but it also may have a delayed central brain effect.
Also, the results raise the question of what might happen with prolonged, chronic exposure, given the physiologic effect of just one exposure, Dicpinigaitis added.
Banana pudding-flavored ecigs disturbed the lungs, one study found
E-cigarette research is heating up, and scientists are starting to show that using e-cigarettes can have some surprising health effects, according to new findings presented at the meeting of the American Thoracic Society.
“Millions of people around the world that are puffing e-cigs,” says Peter Dicpinigaitis, professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and one of the authors of new e-cigarette research, “but when you look at the scientific literature about the effects of e-cigs, there’s nothing out there.”
Here are some of the newest findings:
Using e-cigarettes suppresses your ability to cough
Smoking an e-cigarette makes you less likely to cough, even when coughing would benefit your health, according to research by Dicpinigaitis. Researchers asked 30 nonsmokers to puff an e-cigarette 30 times in a 15-minute period. After puffing, people in the study were less sensitive to capsaicin, a component of chili peppers that induces coughing. You might think stopping a cough would be a positive side effect, but coughing keeps you from choking and removes agents that may cause infection, says Dicpinigaitis. He presumes that those the effects would continue throughout the day for someone who uses an e-cigarette frequently.
E-cigarette temperature may affect how many chemicals you’re exposed to
People tend to think about the effects of cigarette smoke or e-cigarette vapor when they consider how the products harm their health. But the mechanics of e-cigarettes may also contribute to how much smoking harms your health, according to new research from University of Alabama School of Medicine professor Daniel Sullivan. His research found a correlation between coil temperature and the creation of harmful chemicals like acrolein, acetaldehyde and formaldehyde in the e-cigarette. There are no configuration standards for e-cigarettes, and Sullivan’s research suggests that the lack of consistency makes it hard to assess uniformly the health effects of smoking e-cigarettes.
E-cigarette flavors may have different effects
Researchers tested the effects of flavored e-cigarette liquid on calcium in the lungs and found that not all flavors had the same effect. Five of 13 flavors tested caused changes to calcium signaling in the lungs, according to a study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher Temperance Rowell. Hot cinnamon candies, banana pudding and menthol tobacco were among the flavors that disturbed the lungs.
Evidence is growing that e-cigarettes probably aren’t an effective way to quit smoking
E-cigarettes are a popular tool people use to stop smoking, but they may not be the best way, suggests one research review. Using e-cigarettes improved the likelihood that a smoker would quit smoking cigarettes for the first month on the new technology, but the effect dissipated at 3 and 6-month followups, according to a meta-analysis of four studies by University of Toronto researcher Riyad al-Lehebi. He recommended that people who want to quit smoking consider “other more well-established options.”
What are e-cigarettes? Have you ever seen one? Do you know how they work? Are they as bad for your health as traditional cigarettes?
It is fair to say that three or four years ago these were new questions and we did not know the answers. But now we do, and it is certainly time for you to know — and for our St. Louis County Board of Commissioners to know as they consider a vote to help protect citizens of our county from the “invisible” harm caused by these gadgets if being used indoors.
Details about e-cigarettes and their health effects are well-described in a recent report from the California Department of Health, and even more recent good information on e-cigarettes can be found in the News Tribune’s “Our View” editorial on Friday, headlined, “County up next in quest for clear air.”
E-cigarettes is a good news/bad news story. Are they less toxic than traditional cigarettes? Likely. Are they really safe to use? Not likely.
First, how do they work? With no tobacco or cigarette paper to burn, there’s no smoke. They really are electronic gadgets with several sections, one with a small battery, one with a small amount of fluid usually containing some nicotine as well as flavoring and other chemicals, and a high-temperature chamber that converts the liquid into an aerosol or fog to be inhaled by the user (an action called vaping) and then exhaled where it is readily inhaled by those around the user.
What is in this aerosol emitted by the e-cigarette? At least 10 chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, including nicotine, formaldehyde, heavy metals and volatile organic compounds, according to the report. It’s not what you or your favorite teenager should be exposed to.
Nicotine, a key ingredient in the aerosol, is highly addictive. Of course, that is why so many users of traditional cigarettes said for years that they could quit whenever they wanted but usually never could.
We should all wonder why the three major tobacco companies purchased start-up e-cigarette companies. What do they know that we do not? One thing is this: Kids who start using purportedly safer e-cigarettes often switch and become traditional smokers or, even worse, dual smokers who use both e-cigs and traditional tobacco cigarettes. They are then addicted to nicotine for decades. Is that what the big tobacco companies are banking on?
Our elected county leaders soon will vote on this simple question: Should e-cigarette use indoors be regulated as a public health hazard just like traditional tobacco smoke? That is, no smoking in indoor places such as worksites, bars, restaurants, stores, arenas, etc.
The city of Duluth and many other communities in Minnesota already have answered this question in the affirmative: Yes, e-cigarette aerosol and tobacco smoke have enough in common to warrant being regulated in the same way under the Minnesota Clean Air Act.
In short, keep them outside.
Terry Clark and Mary J. Boylan are doctors from Duluth. Joseph Bianco is a doctor from Ely.
The North Dakota Legislature is buying into Big Tobacco’s clever but dishonest narrative about e-cigarettes. Lawmakers would be better served by paying attention to Dr. Terry Dwelle, the state’s chief health officer.
In comments published a few days ago, Dwelle said without equivocation that, given current research and information, the “cons” of e-cigs outweigh the “pros.” He said more work is needed to further define the risks and any potential benefits of the nicotine-delivery devices. He said the assumption that vapors produced by e-cigs are less risky than smoke from traditional tobacco products is not backed up by sound research.
Lawmakers likely will ban e-cig sales to minors, as several North Dakota cities have done already. But there is wrong-headed sentiment among some lawmakers that the devices should not be taxed and otherwise treated the same way tobacco is. Under the state’s smoking ban law, e-cigs are treated like cigarettes and other tobacco products. The e-cig provision was part of a voter-approved smoking and secondhand smoke measure. The measure passed with 66 percent approval.
Yet, lawmakers have smoke in their eyes when it comes to the clear message North Dakotans sent about tobacco use – and the stealth campaign to paint vaping with e-cigs as an innocent tobacco-free option.
There is nothing innocent about it. Big Tobacco has become Big Vaping. The companies have jumped into the e-cig market with slick advertising campaigns and legitimate-sounding claims about the safety and efficacy of e-cigarettes. The push has all the elements that peddlers of tobacco used a generation ago to convince the gullible that cigarettes did not cause cancer. The lie then has morphed into the lie now.
There is less-than-definitive indication that e-cigs help smokers quit. If it’s true, it’s a good thing. But that unproved aspect of e-cigs has nothing to do with taxing a nicotine-delivery device that by some studies can be a gateway for young people to tobacco use. It is counterintuitive to grant a tax break to devices and substances that use candy flavors and faux fashion to attract users of all ages to a nicotine-delivery tube. It’s also stupid policy. It’s playing into the dirty hands of the folks who for years peddled the fiction that tobacco was good for us. Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board. http://www.inforum.com/opinion/editorials/3711115-forum-editorial-dont-be-fooled-e-cig-hype
https://tfnd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/TFND-Logo-300x78.jpg00Erin Hill-Obanhttps://tfnd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/06/TFND-Logo-300x78.jpgErin Hill-Oban2015-03-31 15:35:072015-03-31 15:35:07Forum editorial: Don’t be fooled by e-cig hype
BISMARCK – A bill outlawing e-cigarette sales to minors in North Dakota unanimously passed the Senate on Tuesday, though one lawmaker warned that not defining the nicotine-delivery devices as tobacco products will make it more difficult to enforce the law and protect minors.
“Sometimes the good outweighs the flaws, and that’s precisely how I view this bill,” said Sen. Erin Oban, D-Bismarck, executive director of Tobacco Free North Dakota.
Senators voted 46-0 in favor of House Bill 1186, which makes it an infraction to sell or give anyone under 18 an electronic smoking device or alternative nicotine product, or for minors to buy, possess or use them.
Introduced by Rep. Kim Koppelman, R-West Fargo, the bill also requires child-resistant packaging for liquid nicotine containers and bans self-service displays for e-cigarettes.
The Senate didn’t change the bill as approved by the House 71-20 last month, so it will soon head to Gov. Jack Dalrymple for his signature.
Sen. John Grabinger, D-Jamestown, who carried the bill from the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 6-0 do-pass recommendation, said the committee heard a lot of testimony and efforts to amend the bill but couldn’t decide on any changes that would make it better.
“Your committee decided rather than trying to fix the bill that really was getting these products out of the reach of the young, we should support the present bill,” he said.
Health advocacy groups and the state Department of Health have urged lawmakers to define e-cigarettes as tobacco products because the nicotine in the liquid vaporized by the battery-powered devices is derived from tobacco plants.
The definition would make e-cigarettes subject to tobacco excise taxes and require those who sell them to obtain a tobacco retailer license, as three North Dakota cities – Wahpeton, West Fargo and Grand Forks – have mandated through their city ordinances.
Twenty-three cities have updated their ordinances to prohibit e-cigarette sales to minors, according to the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy.
Oban raised concern about using terms like “alternative nicotine product” for products “that are indeed tobacco products and should be treated as such under the law.”
“Creating multiple definitions makes enforcement and compliance more difficult and protection for minors less effective,” she said. “In addition, currently we have no idea who’s even selling products like electronic cigarettes, and unfortunately this bill doesn’t help us to address that concern, either.”
Still, she encouraged a yes vote with the understanding “that we may need to make some improvements in the future.”
Sen. Jonathan Casper, R-Fargo, said the debate over whether to classify e-cigarettes as tobacco products will continue as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration develops regulations for the devices. He said HB1186 struck a “middle-ground balance” between interests on both sides.
Senators also voted 9-37 Tuesday to defeat HB1078, which would have made it illegal for minors to use or be sold nicotine devices. Grabinger said committee members felt the bill introduced by Rep. Diane Larson, R-Bismarck, didn’t go far enough.
By JONATHAN BERR | MONEYWATCH
The Food and Drug Administration expects to publish its much-anticipated regulations for e-cigarettes in June, as the products are surging in popularity. In fact, sales are expanding so rapidly that some experts predict e-cigs will overtake sales of conventional smokes within the next decade.
“From our perspective, the rules are long overdue,” said Erika Sward, assistant vice president of national advocacy at the American Lung Association, who noted the regulations have been in the works for about a year.
The FDA already regulates cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco. Under the 2009 Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act, the FDA can “deem” additional tobacco products to be subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Among other things, firms would be required to register with the FDA and submit product and ingredient listings, and include health warnings and take steps to prevent sales to underage consumers.
“To date, FDA has not been able to fully assess the public health impacts of unregulated tobacco products,” the FDA said in a statement sent to CBS MoneyWatch. “For example, some testing of e-cigarette cartridges has revealed significant variability in nicotine content and the presence of chemical constituents that raise concerns of toxicity.”
Altria Group (MO) and Reynolds American (RAI), two of the biggest tobacco companies, are welcoming the FDA’s efforts, arguing that the patchwork of existing state regulations fails to protect consumers against defective products, some of which have even exploded. The companies are lobbying the FDA to treat e-cigarettes differently than conventional smokes.
Some proponents of e-cigaretttes have claimed that they can be an effective smoking cessation tool. A study published last year found that people who wanted to quit smoking were about 60 percent more likely to be successful if they used e-cigarettes as opposed to other products such as nicotine patches or gum.
Industry critics, including the American Lung Association, counter that the evidence to back up these claims is inconclusive. A study released last month by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that e-cigarettes generate some of the same dangerous chemicals found in traditional smokes.
“There is absolutely no federal oversight of e-cigarettes in terms of what is in them, how they are being marketed,” said Sward of the American Lung Association, adding that e-cigarette makers are “following the Big Tobacco playbook” by offering flavored e-cigarettes that would appeal to underage smokers. “Really, what we are seeing are the same tactics that we saw 30, 40 years ago.”
Altria, which is based in Richmond, Virginia, has put a 116-word warning on packs of its MarkTen e-cigarettes even though it wasn’t legally obligated to do so. AsReuters noted, it said nicotine is “addictive and habit-forming” and that MarkTen isn’t intended for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding or people being treated for depression or asthma. Spokesman Steve Callahan said the wording on the company’s label was based the “available science.”
In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Reynolds argued that the FDA needed to regulate e-cigarettes fairly.
“We believe if (the) FDA is going to regulate vapor products, then it should regulate all vapor products — including open systems and the vape shops in which the liquid nicotine used in open systems is mixed or compounded — to create a level playing field where all manufacturers are subject to equal treatment, including FDA inspection/registration/regulation, manufacturing standards and product clearance requirements,” writes Richard J. Smith, a spokesman, in an email.
Whenever the regulations are issued, it will open another front in the decades-long battle that pits people trying to protect the public health against the rights of an industry selling an otherwise lawful product.
