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E-cigarette regulation bill begins to move in Minnesota Legislature

By Don Davis, Forum Communications

ST. PAUL — Electronic cigarettes would not be available to youths under a bill the Minnesota House is considering, but a provision that would have banned them from public locations was not expected to survive.

The bill would prohibit e-cigarette sales to anyone younger than 18 and ban them from schools.

“It seems like a no brainer,” Rep. Laurie Halverson, D-Eagan, said about her bill.

The use of e-cigarettes among youths doubled in the last year, state Health Commissioner Edward Ehlinger told the House Health and Human Services Committee Wednesday. He said he thinks the products are marketed to hook youths on nicotine in the product, and later they will smoke tobacco cigarettes.

E-cigarettes often include flavors to appeal to children, he said. Some are linked to Gummy Bears and others connected with Hello Kitty.

To continue reading, visit http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/e-cigarette-regulation-bill-begins-move-minnesota-legislature

E-cigarette worries

Minot ordinance would keep e-cigarettes from kids

JILL SCHRAMM (jschramm@ minotdailynews.com), Minot Daily News
Electronic cigarettes should be treated like tobacco when it comes to minors, Minot’s STAMP Coalition told a city committee Wednesday.
The Minot City Council’s Public Works and Safety Committee voted at the coalition’s urging to recommend the council make it illegal to sell or provide e-cigarettes to minors and for minors to possess the devices.
E-cigarettes are designed like a cigarette but are battery powered with a vaporizer and mouthpiece to deliver nicotine.
They don’t fall under the definition of tobacco so there is no legal requirement for stores to restrict sales to minors. Many stores are checking identification and restricting on their own, but there is no penalty if a store fails to do so.
Some legislators are considering changing state law to bring e-cigarettes under the same rules as conventional cigarettes.
“We are absolutely going to be working toward that and hoping for that during the next session,” said Erin Oban-Hill, executive director for Tobacco Free North Dakota, in Bismarck. In the meantime, she said, “A number of communities didn’t want to wait.”
To continue reading, visit http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/592629/E-cigarette-worries.html?nav=5010

To the Editor: Curbs on E-Cigarettes

To the Editor:

Re “Hot Debate Over E-Cigarettes as Path to Tobacco, or From It” (“The New Smoke” series, front page, Feb. 23):

As you note, the health effects of e-cigarette use remain unknown, and their use may actually be leading to greater smoking of traditional cigarettes, especially among children.

In fact, a recent study of 76,000 South Korean teenagers indicates that users of e-cigarettes were less likely to succeed in quitting smoking and were more likely to be heavy smokers.

The availability of e-cigarette flavored vapors (mango and watermelon) enhances the attraction. The troubling increase in the use of e-cigarettes among American teenagers found in the survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also reported in the article, suggests that e-cigarettes are a gateway to tobacco addiction.

The American Thoracic Society, as a member of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies, supports an age restriction and government regulation of the sale of e-cigarettes, which in many states do not exist. Until more research is done, it is dangerous to promote their widespread use.

PATRICIA FINN
Chicago, Feb. 24, 2014

The writer is president of the American Thoracic Society and chairwoman of the department of medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/opinion/curbs-on-e-cigarettes.html?_r=0

Poll: Minnesotans strongly support prohibiting e-cigarette use indoors

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — A poll released today shows that a strong majority of Minnesotans (79 percent) support prohibiting e-cigarette use indoors in places where smoking is prohibited. Other regulations to prevent youth from using e-cigarettes are also overwhelmingly supported by Minnesotans.
“This new poll shows that a strong majority of Minnesotans – 79 percent – support prohibiting e-cigarette use in indoor public places, including workplaces,” said Janelle Waldock, Director of the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “E-cigarette use threatens our high standard of clean indoor air. Limiting their use the same way we limit conventional cigarettes will protect the clean air that Minnesotans have come to expect and support.”
To continue reading, visit: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1758111#ixzz2uT8Px5H7

Senators look for e-cigarette marketing limits

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM AP Tobacco Writer
RICHMOND, Va.—Several U.S. senators on Wednesday introduced a bill that would curb electronic cigarette marketing while the fast-growing industry awaits regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.
The bill is co-sponsored by California Sen. Barbara Boxer, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, both Democrats, and others. It would ban marketing to children based on standards set by the Federal Trade Commission and allow the agency to work with state attorneys general to enforce the ban on advertising. The battery-powered devices heat a liquid nicotine solution and create vapor that’s inhaled.
Companies vying for a stake in the electronic cigarette business are reviving the decades-old marketing tactics the tobacco industry used to hook generations of Americans on regular smokes. Those tactics, such as running TV commercials and sponsoring race cars and other events, are raising worries that e-cigarette makers could tempt young people to take up something that could prove addictive.
While the FDA plans to set marketing and product regulations for electronic cigarettes in the near future, for now, almost anything goes.
And Harkin said e-cigarette makers are attempting to create “a new generation of nicotine addicts.”
“When it comes to the marketing of e-cigarettes to children and teens, it’s ‘Joe Camel’ all over again,” Harkin said in a statement.
A 2009 law gave the FDA the power to regulate a number of aspects of tobacco marketing and manufacturing, though it cannot ban nicotine or cigarettes outright.
The agency first said it planned to assert authority over e-cigarettes in 2011 but hasn’t yet. The proposed FDA regulation was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review in October.
While FDA regulation of these products remains critical, Harkin said the legislation would complement the agency’s oversight.
http://www.twincities.com/nation/ci_25233292/senators-look-e-cigarette-marketing-limits

Colorado, Utah Want To Raise Tobacco Age To 21

DENVER (AP) – Two Western states with some of the nation’s lowest smoking rates are considering cracking down even more by raising the tobacco age to 21.
Utah and Colorado lawmakers both voted favorably on proposals Thursday to treat tobacco like alcohol and take it away from 18- to 20-year-olds, a move inspired by new research on how many smokers start the habit as teenagers.
“By raising the age limit, it puts them in a situation where they’re not going to pick it up until a much later age,” said Marla Brannum of Lehi, Utah, who testified in favor of the idea there.
In Colorado, the testimony was similar – that pushing the tobacco age could make it harder for teens to access tobacco, and possibly reduce usage rates among adults.
“What I’m hoping to do is make it harder for kids to obtain cigarettes,” said Rep. Cheri Gerou, a Republican who sponsored the measure.
To read more, visit http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/02/22/colorado-utah-want-to-raise-tobacco-age-to-21/

Candy Flavors Put E-Cigarettes On Kids' Menu

By Jenny Lei Bolario
Electronic-cigarettes are often billed as a safe way for smokers trying to kick their habit. But it’s not just smokers who are getting their fix this way. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 5 middle schoolers who tried one say they’ve never smoked a cigarette. And between 2011 and 2012, e-cigarettes doubled in popularity among middle and high school students.
At a middle school in the San Francisco Bay Area, 8th grader Viviana Turincio noticed some kids smoking in class– or at least, that’s what it looked like.
“There was a group at the table and they were just smoking on the vape pen and the teacher was right there, and the teacher didn’t even notice,” she remembered.
That’s because her classmates were smoking an electronic cigarette, sometimes called a vape pen. It’s a hand-held, battery-powered device that vaporizes a liquid, which is often infused with nicotine. You inhale the vapor through a mouthpiece, and exhale what looks like smoke. In this case the smoke smelled like candy.
“My favorite flavor is gummy bears because it tastes really good,” Viviana said.
Vapor liquids come in various flavors but teens prefer dessert-inspired ones, which are more appealing than the smell and taste of burning tobacco. Marleny Samayoa, also in the 8th grade, thinks traditional cigarettes taste too bitter. “It has kind of a weird taste to it, like coffee without sugar,” she explained.
E-cigarettes are easier for kids to buy than regular cigarettes. There’s no federal age limit for how old you have to be. But some states, including California, prohibit the sale to minors. That’s why middle-schoolers turn to sites like E-bay, where independent sellers don’t ask for your age.
“A lot of kids are getting them online and they’re just introducing it to a lot of other kids and it just keeps going from there,” explained Marleny.
She has noticed the growing popularity of e cigs on social media sites like Instagram. Look up #Vapelife and the pictures are endless. “I take pictures and do tricks, like blowing O’s, blowing them on flat surfaces and making tornadoes,” Marleny described.
Swirling clouds of vapor are touching down in theatres, restaurants and malls, while health professionals are trying to catch up with this new fad.
Dr. Cathy McDonald runs a center for Tobacco Dependence, Treatment and Cessation for Alameda County in California. She admitted that, “right now we don’t have as much information as we would like.” What researchers do know, Dr. McDonald explained, is “ten minutes of smoking an e-cigarette for a person who has never smoked a cigarette does cause a noticeable increase in airway resistance in the lungs.”
But, she conceded, “it’s probably better than smoke and I say that because smoking a cigarette is 4000 chemicals, 400 are poison, 40 cause cancer.”
Researchers haven’t had the time to do long-term studies comparing traditional cigarettes to electronic ones. But at least among my friends, the ones who’ve made the switch have noticed a positive change. My boyfriend, Gray Keuankaew, is one of them.
“Within the two months that I’ve been vaping, my body feels a little bit more healthy,” he said. “I’m a runner, so I’m able to run a bit longer without having to catch my breath. So if it’s gonna be any type of positive benefit, then I’m definitely gonna stick to it.”
I’m glad it’s easier for him to run, but he hasn’t outrun his nicotine addiction. E-cigarettes still have nicotine – you choose what amount you want. The Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association estimated that e-cigarette sales will surpass $2.5 billion dollars this year. Geoff Braithwaite owns Tasty Vapor, a company in Oakland that sells and distributes liquids for e-cigarettes.
“Our target customer base is those people who felt doomed to a life of smoking,” said Braithwaite. But he admits that adults aren’t the only ones who may be jumping on this new trend. “There’s going to be that novelty around it, it’s a brand new thing, it’s an electronic device. That kind of stuff will always appeal to kids, it would have appealed to me.”
Anti-smoking campaigns spent decades and billions of dollars to make smoking lessappealing to youth– helping cut teen smoking by 45%. But cheap prices for brightly colored e-cigs, sweet flavors, and the ability to vape anywhere is putting nicotine back on the kids menu. The Food and Drug Administration has said it plans to regulate e-cigarettes, but so far the agency hasn’t issued any rules.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/youth-radio-youth-media-international/candy-flavors-put-e-cigar_b_4833286.html

E-Cigs Becoming More Popular in High Schools

By: Tiffany Huertas
PANAMA CITY- Since smoking is being banned in so many places, e-cigarettes are all the rage for people who still want to smoke in public.
The battery-powered devices provide doses of nicotine and other additives to the user in an aerosol.
They don’t emit the smoke or the smell that non-smokers complain about.
That’s how they can be concealed, even on school campuses.
“The concerning thing is where the students are getting them because I’m sure they don’t see those to underage minors, but the question is where do they get cigarettes,” said Sandy Harrison, Mosley High Schoolprincipal.
Last year Bay County school board member’s added e-cigarettes to the list of products banned on campuses.
According to the centers for disease control and prevention, e-cigarettes used by high school students grew from 4.7 percent in 2011 to 10 percent in 2012.
“The issue with electronic cigarettes is they’re not really regulated. I’m not sure what its doing to their health. The issue is they don’t smell like a regular cigarette, so it’s a little harder to catch them. We do have students that, some of them are fairly bold with their use perhaps in a classroom, when the teachers back is turned or so forth.”
Mosley High School offers classes like life management skills and personal fitness class where they discuss e-cigarettes.
“Additionally we have a school nurse that’s on campus at least once a week and she schedules into classes and speaks to them about, a variety of health issues, including tobacco products and e-cigarette use and so forth.”
“Electronic cigarettes are treated on campus like any other tobacco product. They’re not legal for students to have and they are subjected to the same disciplinary measures as any tobacco product would be.”
The devices are sold nationwide but are not regulated by the FDA and their health hazards are still unknown.
http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/246441801.html

Kathleen Sebelius column: Working toward a tobacco-free generation

For Press-Gazette Media

Here’s a sobering statistic about the tobacco epidemic — a battle many Americans think is already won: If we continue at current smoking rates, 5.6 million children alive today will ultimately die prematurely from smoking. That’s one in 13 kids gone too early due to an entirely preventable cause. That is unacceptable.
That’s why we are asking every American to join our efforts to make the next generation tobacco-free.
Today, we are at a crossroads. In the past 50 years, we’ve more than cut the adult smoking rate in half from nearly 43 percent down to 18 percent, and we’ve reduced 12th-grade students’ smoking rate to 16 percent in 2013 from a high of 38 percent in l976.
Yet nearly 500,000 Americans die of smoking-related disease each year. What’s more, the tobacco epidemic costs us nearly $300 billion in productivity and direct medical costs annually.
I believe a tobacco-free generation is within our reach, but it will take commitment from across the spectrum — from federal, state and local governments, but also from businesses, educators, the entertainment industry and beyond.
Already, we are seeing leadership from the private sector. This month, CVS, the second largest pharmacy chain in the country, announced it will no longer sell tobacco products. In doing so, CVS it is at once reducing access to these harmful products and helping to make smoking less attractive.
We know that consumers, especially children, are influenced by pro-smoking messages when they shop in stores that sell tobacco products. This includes the display of cigarettes behind the register known as the “power wall.” For young people, power walls help shape cigarette brand awareness and the sense that smoking is normal and accepted.
In multiple ways, CVS’ decision will have impact. I applaud this private sector health leader for taking an important new step to curtail tobacco use. I hope that other retailers will take up this pro-health mantle.
The stakes are high. Each day, more than 3,200 youth under age 18 in the United States try their first cigarette, and another 700 kids under age 18 who’ve been occasional smokers become daily smokers.
I am thrilled that earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration launched its first national tobacco education campaign, TheRealCost.gov. The campaign is targeting on-the-cusp youth –— the 12- to 17-year-old kids who are open to smoking or have experimented with cigarettes, but are not regular smokers.
But creating a tobacco-free generation cannot start and end with our youngest citizens: working toward this goal begins in the present, and reaching adult smokers is essential.
In that light, I’m very pleased the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has started the third season of its impactful Tips From Former Smokers campaign. The 2012 tips series alone prompted an estimated 1.6 million smokers to try to quit, resulting in more than 200,000 additional calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW, and helped at least 100,000 smokers quit for good.
I am inspired by the ongoing work that is necessary to drastically reduce smoking rates in our country. Whether it’s other retailers following CVS’ lead, more colleges and universities joining the 2,000 schools that are part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Tobacco-Free College Campus Initiative (tobaccofreecampus.org), or movie studios taking tobacco use and imagery out of youth-rated films, I encourage new partners to help us stop the cycle of sickness, disability and death caused by tobacco.
Victory will require bold action. What will you do to help make the next generation tobacco-free?
Kathleen Sebelius is secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20140220/GPG06/302200419/Kathleen-Sebelius-column-Working-toward-tobacco-free-generation?nclick_check=1

Mandan bans e-cigarettes for minors

By LeAnn Eckroth, Bismarck Tribune
MANDAN, N.D. –The Mandan City Commission on Tuesday approved the first reading of an ordinance that bans selling e-cigarettes to minors under the age 18. The vote was 4-0.
The Mandan ordinance prohibits providing or selling the products to minors, and minors cannot have or use them.
E-cigarettes include any electronic oral device with a heating element, battery or electronic circuit which provides vapor of nicotine or other substances to simulate smoking.
Violators can be fined up to $500 for the infraction, said City Administrator Jim Neubauer.
Police Chief Dennis Bullinger introduced the proposal.
There was no comment from commissioners who quickly moved the ordinance to a final vote on March 4.
To read more: http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/mandan-bans-e-cigarettes-for-minors/article_2923d71c-9905-11e3-9a69-0019bb2963f4.html