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Tobacco tax increase a success: Fewer Minnesota kids smoking

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The Raise it for Health coalition praised the results of a study today released by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), showing a dramatic drop in the number ofMinnesota kids smoking cigarettes. Specifically, the smoking rate among Minnesota students grades six through 12 decreased from 18.1 percent in 2011 to 10.6 percent in 2014, the steepest decline ever recorded by this survey. The study also showed fewer Minnesota kids using other tobacco products, including cigars, cigarillos and smokeless tobacco.
The Minnesota Legislature raised the tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products significantly in 2013. The proposal had strong support from Governor Dayton, elected officials on both sides of the aisle and a majority of Minnesotans from all corners of the state.
“The dramatic drop in the number of Minnesota kids smoking is one clear indication that the tobacco tax is working,” said Molly Moilanen, Director of Public Affairs at ClearWay Minnesota, and co-chair of the Raise it for Health coalition. “The tobacco industry spends nearly 165 million dollars each year marketing their dangerous products in our state. Raising the price of tobacco is the best tool we have to prevent youth smoking and give our kids a fighting chance against Big Tobacco.”
In addition to keeping more kids from smoking, the $1.60 per-pack increase will:

  • Help more than 36,600 addicted adults stop smoking.
  • Prevent 25,700 Minnesotans from dying prematurely from smoking-related deaths.
  • Save $1.65 billion in long-term health care costs.

“Thank you, Governor Dayton and members of the Minnesota Legislature, for taking this bold and important step,” said Janelle Waldock, Director of the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, and co-chair of the Raise it for Health coalition. “These results reinforce what we know: increasing the tax on tobacco products was a victory for the health of Minnesota’s kids.”
The Minnesota Department of Health has conducted the Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey (MYTS) in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014. The survey includes questions on the use of various tobacco products, characteristics of smokers, exposure to secondhand smoke, media awareness and other topics. Public schools and classrooms across the state were selected at random and invited to participate.
For more information on the MYTS, please visit www.health.state.mn.us.
Raise it for Health is a coalition of Minnesota’s leading health and nonprofit organizations with a common goal of reducing tobacco use in the state. Partners include: AARP Minnesota, Allina Health, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association in Minnesota, Association for Minnesota Counties, Association for Nonsmokers – MN, Blue Cross and Blue Shield ofMinnesota, CentraCare Health System, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, ClearWay Minnesota(SM), Courage Center, Four Corners Partnership, HealthEast Care System, HealthPartners, LAAMPP Institute, Local Public Health Association, Mayo Clinic, Medica, Metro-MN Oncology Nursing Society, Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians, Minnesota Cancer Alliance, Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association, Minnesota Council of Health Plans, Minnesota Medical Association, Minnesota Public Health Association, Park Nicollet Health Services, PartnerSHIP 4 Health, School Nurse Organization of Minnesota, Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota, Southwest Community Health Improvement Program and Twin Cities Medical Society.
SOURCE Raise it for Health
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tobacco-tax-increase-a-success-fewer-minnesota-kids-smoking-282162591.html

Concordia campus goes fully tobacco-free

By Grace Lyden | Forum News Service
MOORHEAD – Following the lead of college campuses around the country, Concordia College at Moorhead is now fully tobacco-free.
As of Aug. 18, the college prohibits the use, sale or distribution of cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hookahs, electronic cigarettes and any other smoking products, as well as smokeless tobacco products, such as chew and snus, on campus grounds.
“We felt that what we wanted to do was be as comprehensive in this as possible,” said Sue Oatey, Concordia’s vice president of student affairs.
According to a survey done by Concordia’s Student Government Association in 2013, 88 percent of Concordia students did not use tobacco products on campus and 70 percent supported a tobacco-free policy.
Those statistics make it surprising that the move didn’t happen sooner, as it did at other colleges in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
Minnesota State University Moorhead went tobacco-free on Jan. 1, 2008. Two years later, North Dakota State University’s smoking ban went into effect March 1, 2010.
And in the past five years, the number of smoke-free campuses nationwide has soared.
Just 365 campuses were smoke-free in October 2009, compared to 1,372 campuses in July 2014, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, a group that tracks those numbers.
Alyssa Coop, president of Concordia’s student government and a senior at the college, said her understanding was that a smoking ban had been often discussed but also often tabled.
“It’s kind of come and gone,” she said. “Every once in a while, the administration will make headway on it, but it seems to take a while to get through the red tape.”
That’s why the SGA wasn’t confident when they started working with Oatey and others on this proposal two years ago.
“We really didn’t have high hopes for it,” Coop said. “We didn’t know if it was going to be time for it or not.”
Now that it is in place, though, Concordia’s ban is one of the nation’s most comprehensive because it prohibits smoking products, smokeless products and also e-cigarettes.
E-cig debate
E-cigarettes have been a point of debate on numerous college campuses.
They’re marketed as a better option for public use due to reduced secondhand smoke effects, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization have questioned those claims and called for stronger regulation.
Just 176 of this year’s 1,372 smoke-free campuses also prohibit e-cigarettes, according to the ANRF data, and three of those are now in Fargo-Moorhead.
MSUM released a statement March 13 that e-cigarettes would be added to its tobacco policy, citing the lack of FDA regulation and also a 2014 U.S. Surgeon General report that said e-cigarettes constitute tobacco use.
NDSU also recently added e-cigarettes to its policy to be in compliance with state law, said Janna Stoskopf, NDSU dean of student life.
North Dakota is one of two states that specifically prohibit using e-cigarettes in 100 percent smoke-free venues, according to the ANRF July report. The other is New Jersey.
NDSU differs slightly from Concordia and MSUM because while the campus is smoke-free, smokeless tobacco is allowed.
Stoskopf said students who spearheaded the ban were intentional about that choice.
“They thought they would have the best possible success based on the notion of secondhand smoke and the impact of that on others,” she said.
Slightly more than two-thirds of smoke-free college campuses – 938 of the 1,372 – are also tobacco-free, according to the ANRF.
There have not been efforts to change that aspect of NDSU policy, Stoskopf said.
http://www.inforum.com/content/concordia-campus-goes-fully-tobacco-free

World Health Organization: Public Health Rules Needed to Curb E-Cigarette Risks

by Katie Weatherford, Center for Effective Government

Contrary to industry advertising, a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) finds that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and other electronic nicotine delivery systems pose significant public health hazards because of toxins emitted from the devices. The agency recommends that countries adopt e-cigarette rules to prevent misleading marketing of the products and to educate the public about the potential health risks involved.

E-Cigarettes Emit Dangerous Toxins

E-cigarettes contain a battery that heats a nicotine fluid inside the device until it produces a mist-like aerosol that the user can inhale. According to the WHO report, the aerosol contains “nicotine and a number of toxicants” that pose health hazards to users and non-users, especially pregnant women and children, contrary to claims that these devices release nothing more than water vapor. Nicotine use is linked to long-term adverse effects on brain development. Moreover, the aerosol typically contains “some carcinogenic compounds,” including formaldehyde.

Although the report finds that adult smokers who completely switch from regular cigarettes to e-cigarettes will be exposed to lower levels of toxins, WHO warns that the “amount of risk reduction . . . is presently unknown.” The report also notes uncertainty about whether second-hand exposure risks from e-cigarettes are lower than regular cigarettes.

Marketing Contains Unsubstantiated Claims, Targets Children

The WHO report also takes misleading marketing to task, noting the frequent use of unsubstantiated claims about e-cigarettes in product ads. According to the report, there is insufficient evidence that using e-cigarettes will help people quit smoking, yet ads commonly market e-cigarettes as a smoking-cessation device. Other marketing tactics may even encourage more frequent smoking.

For example, many ads promote using e-cigarettes in places where regular smoking is banned. WHO cautions that this could interfere with the intent of smoke-free policies, which “are designed not only to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke, but also to provide incentives to quit smoking and to denormalize smoking . . . .”

Moreover, e-cigarette marketing has “the potential to glamorize smoking,” which may encourage nonsmokers and children to start using e-cigarettes. The endless variety of designs and flavor options can also appeal to adolescents.

WHO Recommends Developing Public Safeguards

The WHO report says, “Regulation of [e-cigarettes] is a necessary precondition for establishing a scientific basis on which to judge the effects of their use, and for ensuring that adequate research is conducted, that the public has current, reliable information as to the potential risks and benefits of [e-cigarettes], and that the health of the public is protected.”

The report will be a topic of discussion this October at the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Convention is an international effort to address global tobacco use. The report calls on the 179 countries that are parties to the Convention to adopt new standards to protect the public from the hazards associated with e-cigarettes. Such safeguards would:

  • Prohibit claims that these products can help people quit smoking until manufacturers provide sufficient scientific evidence to support the claim and gain regulatory approval

  • Ban indoor use of e-cigarettes unless it is proven there are no health effects from second-hand exposure

  • Restrict marketing by requiring that all ads, promotions, or sponsorships provide warnings, encourage people to quit smoking, in no way promote use by nonsmokers or adolescents, contain no images, words, etc. associated with a tobacco product, and more

  • Require that manufacturers design products to reduce exposure to toxins, make information about contents and exposure levels available to users, register products with a governmental body, and report design and emissions information to a governmental body

  • Prohibit sales to people under the age of 18 and ban fruit, candy-like, and alcohol-drink flavors unless and until it is proven that these flavors do not appeal to minors

To ensure strong public health protections, the global community must adopt WHO’s recommendations so that people understand the risks associated with e-cigarettes and adults can make informed choices about whether or not to use them.

Protecting Public Health in the U.S.

Although the U.S. is a signatory to the Convention, it has not yet ratified the tobacco control treaty. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking some steps similar to WHO’s recommendations.

FDA proposed a rule in April that would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18. The rule would also require e-cigarette manufacturers to register with the agency and report the manufacturing process and ingredients used in their products. Moreover, companies would be required to place health-warning labels on e-cigarettes.

However, some tobacco control advocates believe the proposal does not go far enough and are urging FDA to prohibit manufacturers from marketing candy-flavored options that attract children. The Center for Effective Government and other health and safety groups also heavily criticized the FDA’s decision to discount the benefits of the proposed rule by 70 percent, which the agency claims is necessary to account for the “lost pleasure” from reducing tobacco use.

FDA is currently reviewing public comments and considering any changes to its draft rule. We hope the agency will correct its flawed benefit calculation and move forward with strong safeguards without delay. The U.S. should also ratify the treaty and communicate its support for global efforts to combat the tobacco use epidemic.

http://www.foreffectivegov.org/node/13198

The Health Claims Of E-Cigarettes Are Going Up In Smoke

Jasper Hamill, Contributor | Forbes

The sales pitch of electronic cigarette manufacturers seemed too good to be true. Could nicotine addicts around the world really get their fix whilst dodging the health risks of puffing away on cancer sticks?

Sadly for smokers and “vapers”, the answer is far from clear. Over the past week, new evidence has emerged which suggests that E-Cigarettes can be dangerous too – in some cases carrying higher amounts of certain toxins than the blazing tobacco of old.

Researchers at the University of South California have found that although E-Cigarettes are less harmful than ordinary smokes, the vapour emitted by the gadgets contains the toxic element chromium, which is not found in traditional cigarettes, as well as levels of nickel four times higher than in real tobacco. The electronic replacements also contain lead, zinc and other toxic metals, although in lower levels than cigarettes.

English: Two electronic cigarette models. Self...

Two electronic cigarette models. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Our results demonstrate that overall electronic cigarettes seem to be less harmful than regular cigarettes, but their elevated content of toxic metals such as nickel and chromium do raise concerns,” said Constantinos Sioutas, professor at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

There is a bit of good news for reforming smokers, as E-Cigarettes contain virtually no detectable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are known to cause cancer. The researchers also said the metal particles were likely to come from the cartridge of the E-Cigarette devices, opening up the possibility that a change in the production process could eliminate the dangerous chemicals.

But this isn’t the only bit of bad news for vape inhalers. In the UK, the BBC reported that E-Cigarette liquid sold in the north east of England was found to contain a chemical called diacetyl, which is used to add butterscotch flavor to liquid tobacco.

Whilst this substance is harmless to eat, it is extremely dangerous to inhale. The chemical is known to cause a serious condition called popcorn lung, orbronchiolitis obliterans, an irreversible disease which scars the lung and makes it impossible to breathe properly. This illness has struck workers in popcorn factories, who are known to breathe in vast quantities of diacetyl, as well as ordinary people who eat a lot of popcorn.

Commenting on the report, Dr Graham Burns, a respiratory expert at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, said the illness is often “serious enough to warrant lung transplantation”.

VP, the firm which manufactured the cigarettes, immediately withdrew the liquid from sale, and Lynne White, head of retail distribution, admitted there were concerns about inhaling the liquid on a long-term basis.

“We are very sorry it has happened, we are investigating how it has happened,” she added.

“Because of the small amount the vaper would actually consume it was deemed in the short term there would be no health concerns.

“Long-term yes there could well be, however we decided it was a withdrawal rather than a recall of the product and that was based on Ecita’s (Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association) guidelines.”

But for many health-conscious people, the damage is likely to have been done. Once upon a time, the world didn’t know about the many terrible effects of cigarettes. It was only after a concerted campaign by scientists, doctors and activists that the risks began to be publicized and governments began to act on them. The long term implications of switching to E-Cigarettes have not yet been tested, so anyone using the devices has to ask themselves if they are willing to take the risk of becoming a guinea pig.

Marlboro Cigarettes

Marlboro Cigarettes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The World Health Organisation has issued a report advising that use of E-Cigarettes should be banned indoors and and all advertising stopped until the emerging industry produces “convincing supporting scientific evidence and obtains regulatory approval”.
Backing this call, the British Medical Association board of science deputy chair Ram Moorth said “tighter controls are needed to ensure their use does not undermine current tobacco control measures and reinforces the normalcy of smoking behaviour”.

‘There is a need for research to understand the health impacts of E-Cigarettes on both the user and bystanders, and it is vital that the sale of e-cigarettes is appropriately regulated to ensure they are not sold to minors, and are not aggressively marketed to young people as tobacco was in the past,” he continued.

“Any health claims must be substantiated by robust independent scientific evidence to ensure that the consumer is fully informed regarding potential benefits and risks of E-Cigarettes.”
Are you willing to take the chance and keep on vaping?
For more news and comment, follow me on Twitter @jasperhamill
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasperhamill/2014/08/31/the-health-claims-of-e-cigarettes-are-going-up-in-smoke/

WHO urges stiff regulatory curbs on e-cigarettes

BY STEPHANIE NEBEHAY, Geneva
(Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) stepped up its war on “Big Tobacco” on Tuesday, calling for stiff regulation of electronic cigarettes as well as bans on indoor use, advertising and sales to minors.

In a long-awaited report that will be debated by member states at a meeting in October in Moscow, the United Nations health agency also voiced concern at the concentration of the $3 billion market in the hands of transnational tobacco companies.

The WHO launched a public health campaign against tobacco a decade ago, clinching the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Since entering into force in 2005, it has been ratified by 179 states but the United States has not joined it.

The treaty recommends price and tax measures to curb demand as well as bans on tobacco advertising and illicit trade in tobacco products. Prior to Tuesday’s report the WHO had indicated it would favor applying similar restrictions to all nicotine-containing products including smokeless ones.

In the report, the WHO said there are 466 brands of e-cigarettes and the industry represents “an evolving frontier filled with promise and threat for tobacco control”.

It urged a range of regulatory options, including banning e-cigarette makers from making health claims such as that they help people quit smoking, until they provide convincing supporting scientific evidence.

Smokers should use a combination of already-approved treatments for kicking the habit, it said.

While evidence indicates that they are likely to be less toxic than conventional cigarettes, the use of e-cigarettes poses a threat to adolescents and the fetuses of pregnant women using them, it said.

“NOT MERELY WATER VAPOR”

E-cigarettes also increase the exposure of bystanders and non-smokers to nicotine and other toxicants, it said regarding Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems that it calls ENDS.

“In summary, existing evidence shows that ENDS aerosol is not merely ‘water vapor’ as is often claimed in the marketing for these products,” the WHO said in the 13-page report.

E-cigarettes should be regulated to “minimize content and emissions of toxicants”, and those solutions with fruit, candy-like and alcohol-drinks flavors should be banned until proven they are not attractive to children and adolescents, it said.

Adolescents are increasingly experimenting with e-cigarettes, with their use in this age group doubling between 2008 and 2012, it said.

Vending machines should be removed in almost all locations, it added.

Scientists are divided on the risks and potential benefits of e-cigarettes, which are widely considered to be a lot less harmful than conventional cigarettes.

One group of researchers warned the WHO in May not to classify them as tobacco products, arguing that doing so would jeopardize an opportunity to slash disease and deaths caused by smoking.

Opposing experts argued a month later that the WHO should hold firm to its plan for strict regulations.

Major tobacco companies including Imperial Tobacco (IMT.L), Altria Group (MO.N), Philip Morris International (PM.N) and British American Tobacco (BATS.L) are increasingly launching their own e-cigarette brands as sales of conventional products stall in Western markets.

A Wells Fargo analyst report in July projected that U.S. sales of e-cigarettes would outpace conventional ones by 2020.

Uptake of electronic cigarettes, which use battery-powered cartridges to produce a nicotine-laced inhalable vapor, has rocketed in the last two years and analysts estimate the industry had worldwide sales of some $3 billion in 2013.

But the devices are controversial. Because they are so new there is a lack of long-term scientific evidence to support their safety and some fear they could be “gateway” products to nicotine addiction and tobacco smoking.

The American Heart Association said in a report on Monday that it considered e-cigarettes that contain nicotine to be tobacco products and therefore supports their regulation under existing laws on the use and marketing of tobacco products.

“Although the levels of toxic constituents in e-cigarette aerosol are much lower than those in cigarette smoke, there is still some level of passive exposure,” the AHA said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; additional reporting by Ben Hirschler and Martinne Geller in London, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/26/us-health-who-ecigarettes-idUSKBN0GQ0PF20140826

CDC: E-cigs may be tempting non-smoking youths to smoke

By Reuters Media

CHICAGO – Electronic cigarettes may be more tempting to non-smoking youths than conventional cigarettes, and once young people have tried e-cigarettes they are more inclined to give regular cigarettes a try, U.S. researchers said on Monday. A report, released by a team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lends evidence to the argument that electronic cigarettes encourage youth smoking.

The study, based on nationally representative youth surveys, found that more than a quarter-million adolescents and teens who had never smoked used an electronic cigarette in 2013, a threefold increase from 2011.

Youths who had tried e-cigarettes were nearly twice as likely to say they would try a conventional cigarette in the next year compared with those who had never tried an e-cigarette, according to the study in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

E-cigarettes are slim, reusable, metal-tube devices containing nicotine-laced liquids that come in exotic flavors. When users puff, the nicotine is heated and released as a vapor containing no tar, unlike conventional cigarette smoke.

Health experts have raised concerns that the burgeoning $2 billion e-cigarette industry, which has been virtually unregulated, would reverse gains in the decades-long effort to curb youth smoking in the United States. Just 15.7 percent of U.S. teenagers reported smoking in 2013, the lowest rate on record.

In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed rules that would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under 18 but would not restrict flavored products, online sales or advertising, which public health advocates say attract children.

Earlier this month, attorneys general from 29 states urged the FDA to strengthen those rules to better protect young people from nicotine addiction.

“We are very concerned about nicotine use among our youth, regardless of whether it comes from conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes or other tobacco products,” Dr. Tim McAfee, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said in a statement.

“Not only is nicotine highly addictive, it can harm adolescent brain development.”

In the CDC study, researchers analyzed data from the 2011, 2012, and 2013 National Youth Tobacco Surveys of students in grades 6-12. They found that more than 263,000 who had never smoked a conventional cigarette used e-cigarettes in 2013, up from 79,000 in 2011.

Among non-smoking youth who had tried electronic cigarettes, 43.9 percent said they intended to smoke conventional cigarettes within the next year, compared with 21.5 percent of those who had never used e-cigarettes.

Lorillard Inc leads the U.S. e-cigarette market, while Reynolds American Inc and Altria Group Inc are rolling out their own brands nationwide this summer. A Wells Fargo analyst report in July projected that U.S. sales of e-cigarettes would outpace conventional ones by 2020.

http://www.inforum.com/content/cdc-e-cigs-may-be-tempting-non-smoking-youths-smoke

Faces of the Boom: Smoke shop angles for return customers

By Amy Dalrymple, Forum Communications
ALEXANDER, N.D. – New Yorker Phil Hamda came to North Dakota to scout for real estate opportunities, but his plans changed after paying nearly $8 for a pack of cigarettes in Williston.

Hamda, whose father owned tobacco shops in New York City, noticed that tobacco prices in the Bakken varied widely.

“In New York, if you don’t like the prices, there’s a store right next door,” Hamda said.

Instead of trying to develop housing, Hamda took lessons he learned from his father and opened the Tobacco Depot in Alexander in February. He says his niche is fair, consistent prices that earn him repeat customers.

“Everybody’s nuts about our prices,” Hamda said. “We’re not extortionists.”

He initially struggled to find retail space and planned to operate from a trailer in Watford City. But when that location didn’t work out, he discovered a space for rent along the heavily traveled U.S. Highway 85 in Alexander, between Williston and Watford City.

“You couldn’t ask for better visibility than this,” Hamda said as a steady stream of oilfield traffic goes by his shop.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation is constructing a bypass that will take Highway 85 traffic around Alexander. Hamda said he expects the bypass will actually help his business because the traffic is often so heavy that customers can’t get into his parking lot.

“A lot of guys say they’ve been trying to get in here for a week,” Hamda said.

Hamda said he wasn’t prepared for the demand for electronic cigarettes and personal vaporizers. They account for about half of his business, primarily because smoking isn’t allowed on many oilfield locations and housing camps where workers live, Hamda said. He also sells a lot of chewing tobacco and cigarettes by the carton.

Hamda, who spent 20 years self-employed as a contractor, was in the middle of developing two six-unit condominium buildings in Jersey City, N.J., when the recession hit. He still wants to finish the buildings, and his success in North Dakota will help him do that.

He plans to sell the buildings once they’re complete and make North Dakota his home.

“After I’m done with them, I’m bringing that money here,” said Hamda, who has plans to expand his tobacco business. “There’s plenty of opportunity out here and I think it’s safe to invest.”

http://www.inforum.com/content/faces-boom-smoke-shop-angles-return-customers-0

New E-Cigarette Store Opening in Mandan

By Steph Scheurer, Reporter, KX News

A new store specializing in e-cigarettes opens in Mandan tomorrow.

But there are concerns about the vaporizers.

“Tried anything, everything from the gum, the patch, chantix, nothing’s worked for me,” says Craig Russell, Owner, Borealis Vape.

Until he discovered the latest trend…

“Something like this has just worked really well for me,” says Russell.

Craig is the owner of the new e-cigarette store, Borealis Vape on Main in Mandan.

With over 100 likes on Facebook in the first 48 hours of advertising his business, Craig says people are pretty excited about this type of product…

A product that he says is much safer than regular cigarettes.

“The only chemicals that are in e-juice are VG (vegetable glycerin), PG Propylenee Glycol), your flavoring, and your nicotine,” says Russell.

Craig says that e-cigarettes contain four ingredients and emit four chemicals versus a traditional cigarette which he says contains 600 ingredients and emits 7,000 chemicals.

So it may seem like the e-cigarette is the safer choice, however, they’re not FDA approved.

“There’s over 250 e-cigarette brands on the market and not a single one of them have been proven safe or effective as a cessation device to help people quit smoking,” says Kristie Wolf, Program Manager, Tobacco Control & Advocacy.

Kristie Wolf says another big concern is that this new business might lead to more young people starting up smoking e-cigarettes.

“I see quite a bit of it at school. I try not to be around it too much. But I know it’s kind of popular with the younger crowd.”

“I feel like kids nowadays, they think it’s a cool way to do stuff and they think it’s less harmful but I feel like they’d end up smoking and using the real stuff anyway.”

Although he has a business to promote, Craig says he will set the bar high…

For obeying the law.

“Any teenager could walk in here and purchase but me, as an owner, that’s high risk so we have to card. We have to card these kids, we have to tell these kids hey, why are you smoking, get out there play football, basketball, there’s other stuff to be doing than to be smoking,” says Russell.

Wolf also says e-cigarettes are included in the North Dakota smoke free law, so anywhere traditional cigarettes are not allowed, neither are e-cigarettes.

If you’re wanting to quit smoking, she urges you to try ND Quits.

For more information you can visit their website or call 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

Website: www.ndhealth.gov/ndquits

http://www.kxnet.com/story/25908937/new-e-cigarette-store-opening-in-mandan

FDA extending comment period on e-cigarette rules

MICHAEL FELBERBAUM, AP Tobacco Writer

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The public will have more time to weigh in on a federal proposal to regulate electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday the public comment period slated to end July 9 is being extended until Aug. 8.

In April, the agency proposed banning sales of e-cigarettes to anyone under 18, adding warning labels and requiring product approval. But it didn’t immediately restrict marketing or ban fruit or candy flavors, measures that some anti-smoking groups and members of Congress are demanding.

The FDA also proposed extending its authority to regulate cigars, hookahs, nicotine gels and pipe tobacco.

The agency has received more than 33,700 comments on the proposal. By comparison, it received around 176,000 comments on potential menthol cigarette regulations during a 120-day comment period.

Electronic Cigarettes Makers Under Fire in Senate

By JENNIFER C. KERR Associated Press

E-cigarettes with fruity flavors like “cherry crush” ignited an intense Senate debate Wednesday about whether manufacturers are trying to appeal to youngsters similar to the way that Big Tobacco used Joe Camel decades ago.

“The last thing anyone should want to do is encourage young people to start using a new nicotine delivery product,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said as he opened a hearing on the battery-powered devices and worries that e-cigarette makers aim to tempt young people to take up something that could prove addictive.

Jason Healy, president of blu eCigs, and Craig Weiss, president of NJoy, were challenged for more than two hours about industry marketing practices that include running TV commercials and sponsoring race cars and other events. Both men insisted they aren’t trying to glamorize smoking and don’t target young people and that their products are a critical alternative for people desperate to quit traditional smokes.

Electronic cigarettes heat a liquid nicotine solution, creating vapor that users inhale. E-cigarette users say the devices address both the addictive and behavioral aspects of smoking without the thousands of chemicals found in regular paper-and-tobacco cigarettes. But there’s not much research on any health risks of e-cigarettes, and the studies that have been done have been inconclusive.

As the Food and Drug Administration considers regulating e-cigarettes, critics wonder whether e-cigs keep smokers addicted or hook new users and encourage them to move on to tobacco.

Healy of blu eCigs, which is owned by the tobacco company Lorillard Inc., testified that his company has voluntary restrictions in place, such as limiting advertising placements to media and events where the target audience is at least 85 percent adults.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., questioned the youthful-sounding flavors for e-cigarettes. Healy’s company, for example, sells electronic cigarettes that come in flavors like Cherry Crush, Peach Schnapps and Pina Colada. Healy countered that the average age for consumers of his e-cigarettes is 51.

Rockefeller was not swayed, bluntly admonishing both men and telling them: “I am ashamed of you. I don’t know how you sleep at night.”

About 2 percent of U.S. teenagers said they’d used an e-cigarette in the previous month, according to a survey done in 2012 and released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And about 7 percent said they’d tried an e-cigarette at least once in 2012, which translates to nearly 1.8 million.

In April, the FDA proposed regulating e-cigarettes, banning sales to anyone under 18, adding warning labels and requiring agency approval for new products. But the FDA didn’t immediately place marketing restrictions on e-cigarette makers or a ban on fruit or candy flavors, which are barred for use in regular cigarettes. The agency has left the door open to further regulations, but says it wants more evidence before it rushes into more restrictions.

————

AP Tobacco Writer Michael Felberbaum in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/electronic-cigarettes-makers-fire-senate-24202582