Reaction to WHO guidelines

[TropicalBob]

http://clovecigarettes.org:80/?p=342

[CaSHMeRe]

quite an interesting article ... in your opinion TB, do you feel tobacco *should* be regulated? would just like to hear your own personal opinion ...

[dc2k08]

i read this in the london times today where he was also quoted saying:

delegates at the Durban summit had also been heavily influenced by a coalition of anti-tobacco activists and pressure groups, who had been given special access to the convention, while the tobacco industry had been effectively excluded.

BAT fears explosion in tobacco smugging - Times Online

he does raise a good point as the story below also concludes:
Cigarette Price Increase Results in Bootlegging Boost - Health & Fitness - InfoNIAC

[robw]

To regulate is not what im worried about.
Im worried about taxing us to death.
If they cant tax nicotine in general, then they cant tax e-cigs.

A tax on a consumer product specifically is called a excise tax. It is put on mass consumer products because the masses use the product regularly and there for by taxing it can specifically pay for a service in the government that the product relates to.
As an example the tax on gasoline is supposed to be used to pay for roads.

The excise tax on tobacco was put there to force consumer to stop buying the product.
This tax is unconstitutional and although it has been challenged it remains because it is a huge source of tax revenue.

If the excise tax on cigarettes is transferred tot the e-liquid, it will constitute a unfair taxation because the chemical nicotine is used in other products that are not taxed.

[dc2k08]

If the excise tax on cigarettes is transferred tot the e-liquid, it will constitute a unfair taxation because the chemical nicotine is used in other products that are not taxed.

yeah the price of eggplant and potatoes would rocket.

[CaSHMeRe]

rob ...

that is what I was essentially getting at

regulation = taxing plain and simple

from what I have seen, I don't seem to understand. They want to control nicotine in cigarettes, but not the 4000 other chemicals ...

All tobacco products are taxed, NRT products are taxed I believe ... What other products are you talkin about Rob?

EDIT: MINUS trace amounts found in eggplant and potato's like DC just pointed out ...

[dc2k08]

those guidelines cash really just advised that tobacco products should have to have all their packaging removed bar the name of the brand in black and white. also they need to be removed from display in stores. vending machines are a no-no. no advertising, no sponsorship, no product placement. they want them to disappear. come to think of it, i dont even remember them mentioning tax. so BAC's argument is kind of void. people can still get their product where-ever they used to, bar vending machines, they just can't see them on display.

It still surprises me that Philip "check out our new pink lipstick shaped cigarettes" Morris has not released a statement and refuses to be phased by any of these guidelines even to their investors.

[CaSHMeRe]

interesting dc ....

[robw]

When I spoke to the FDA they told me that nicotine is present in the manufacturing of many consumer products. Specifically they mentioned food. I guess a little googleing will determine what and how much.

To regulate to me means to make sure the product does not fall into the hands of people who are to young.

Regulation in that form does not bother me.

What I dont want to see is a $5 tax put on a $.01 product. The e-cig would then become as expensive to use a cigarettes and when you add the complexity of using the ecig to the requirement of maintenance and part replacement, many smokers would never make the switch, even if they knew it was safer.

The main thing a consumer looks at is price. If it is cheaper to use, then they over look the complexities that are associated with it.

[TropicalBob]

Cash, just got around to your question. I still consider myself a smoker (and always will even if I never smoke a cigarette again) and I think regulation by the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency was fine. I do not want the FDA regulating tobacco.

Note also that it's not just nicotine that the FDA might seek to restrict if given the authority over tobacco products. It can tinker with the formula all it wants, banning some ingredients and restricting others. There is no limit that stops at nicotine. It can order all carcinogens out. There are more than 40 in tobacco smoke.

While I don't favor the FDA regulating tobacco, I do think a case can be made for that agency regulating our e-liquid. Pure nicotine is a drug. We make recreational use of it. And it comes from China, with no assurances that manufacturing followed any standard (take our word, they say .. sure, but you're the people who killed pets and babies with industrial melamine). Trust no one, the X-Files taught us. In this case, the slogan fits.

Sadly, I think some regulation is coming and even necessary if e-smoking is to become a significant segment of the "smoking" population.