Originally published May 6 2014
FDA announces regulations for e-cigarettes
by S. D. Wells
(NaturalNews) Vaporizing liquid nicotine is a habit that's growing very fast, and the FDA wants to regulate the sales to children for fear of electronic cigarettes serving as a gateway drug to commercial cigarettes. If kids try nicotine and become addicted, will they differentiate later between a cigarette loaded with 7,000 chemicals or the vaporized and flavored "e-cig"? Will they even care which one they get when they are having nicotine withdrawals and can't find a nic-loaded vaporizer? Even if the ingredients are disclosed in electronic cigarettes, will the levels of nicotine be regulated also? One thing is for sure: Marketing electronic cigarettes to minors with flavors like "bubble gum" and "chocolate" is insidious, and something has to be done to stop it!
The U.S. government is currently proposing historic rules to ban "e-cig" sales to minors and require warning labels. The FDA wants control of not just battery-powered nicotine delivery devices but water pipes (hookahs) and cigars too. Right now, the FDA regulates cigarettes and snuff, so this will be broad reaching legislation. Still, this won't ban advertising electronic cigarettes, as long as companies don't make health-related claims (though it's okay to sell GMO corn-sugar-loaded cereals and make health claims).
U.S. poison centers report surge in illnesses linked to liquid nicotine
Since nicotine constricts your blood flow and makes your heart work much harder than normal, one danger with kids puffing on electronic cigarettes is that they might have a heart attack and die. Nicotine is the third most addictive drug in the world also and puts a ton of strain on the cleansing organs, including the kidneys and liver which you cannot live without. Hollywood celebrities are boasting and toasting with e-cigs, saying they got off commercial cigarettes, but that may be the opposite effect for kids who try vaporizing their favorite flavored "nic." (http://www.cdc.gov)
Nicotine is still derived from tobacco leaves, so now the FDA is stepping in, or at least talking about stepping in. Irresponsible marketing, like to the kids who attend rock concerts, is staring the FDA in the face. There is currently NO CONTROL over the product, which is sold all around the world, by professionals and amateurs who concoct the "e-juice" or "nic-juice" in their basement and sell it on eBay or at kiosks in malls, at outdoor fairs and at music festivals. Sadly, it's taken over three years for the FDA to even start "stepping up to the plate" to regulate this. The FDA says e-cigarettes have not been fully studied. Have they studied nicotine? What's left to know besides the DOSE the kids get with each vapor puff and how soon they develop health problems -- major health problems? Maybe they should study how cocaine and heroin affect human health also while they're in the lab running tests on nicotine.
In 2000, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the FDA did NOT have the authority to ban tobacco sales to minors (that began in 1996), so will it even matter if the FDA makes these new rules and mandates on e-cigs? Finally in 2009, Congress passed a law granting the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. If nicotine is derived from tobacco, shouldn't the FDA have stepped in at least a few years ago when e-cigs went "viral" across the country and the globe, doubling in sales? They are drug devices, but since they're not marketed for therapeutic purposes, it leaves for only regulations as tobacco products to be debated.
Vials of liquid nicotine can kill you
One commercial cigarette delivers about 100 milligrams of nicotine if treated with ammonia during the manufacturing process (common with most commercial cigarettes), but nicotine level testing only reflects about 12 to 15 milligrams, because the nicotine is delivered as a vapor, instead of inside tobacco particles, when smoked. So how different are e-cigarettes, really, from the inherent danger of nicotine reaching the brain and heart within three seconds? If you touch PURE NICOTINE to your skin, you can overdose and die. What happens when kids get a hold of the liquid via the internet and try to concoct their own juice cartridges? There are a lot of teens taking chemistry and physics who might start "breaking bad" if given the opportunity. The FDA needs to step in and stop backpedaling, dancing around the issue and acting like there is some kind of confusion about the "safety" of e-cigs and nicotine.
The President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says, if it takes more than a year to finalize this rule, the FDA "isn't doing its job." However, the release of the proposal to regulate e-cigarettes is hundreds of pages long, so it is sure to set off frantic lobbying efforts in Washington, DC, as the whole e-cig industry tries to "head this off at the pass" (pardon the pun).
Sources for this article include:
http://www.nytimes.com
http://www.usatoday.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.cdc.gov
http://science.naturalnews.com
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