All Things Considered Transcript - About as positive as we can hope for

[Tugger]

E-Cigarettes: The New Frontier In War On Smoking : NPR

I'm pretty happy with this one. They interviewed Dr. Siegel and everything.

12 million people will hear this this afternoon.

[jexmex]

Very nice. I was waiting for it to come on tonight, now I dont have to worry if I miss it!

[tannerk]

Very nice. I was waiting for it to come on tonight, now I dont have to worry if I miss it!

Look to NPR live thread, there are live stream links for 4pm EST of the Net.

[Vicks Vap-oh-Yeah]

and, did anyone notice what was missing? there wasn't a single reference to "what about the children!"

The FDA's Sharfstein, however, says it is premature to say e-cigarettes are safer until regulators know what is in them.

Ummmm - didn't the FDA just test these products, and splash their 'results' all over the media??? Now they are still claiming that they don't know what's in them?

"It just may be that these products could help some people quit smoking, in which case the manufacturers have the opportunity to come to the FDA and demonstrate that with data," he says. "It's their obligation to prove that in order to market to the American people."

Unfortunately, this is the rock vs. hard place we find ourselves in regarding the FDA - they can't get over the entire "quit smoking" thing..... but, then again, there have only been 2 catagories for the longest time...you either smoke or you don't..... and they simply cannot wrap themselves around an alternative....as I've said before - E-Cigs need to be classified differently, because they are an immergent technology and can't be pidgenholed into the same tired old classifications...

And, personally, I'd still like to hear directly from the FDA the reasons WHY the studies that have been done are not acceptable - they continue to demand data from the manufacturers - and don't acknowledge the studies already done....

[BigJimW]

NPR is a pretty big news and commentary media. It may very well be picked up by other media outlets. We can only hope

[Porphy]

Good report that actually included ... the act of reporting.

I just hope the average listener who is hearing this argument for the first time can detect the absurdity in the FDA spokesperson's debate. The fact that a SmokingEverywhere representative misrepresented their product (and to a reporter no less) does nothing good for our argument. They really got to get their act together.

And yeah, we still got to get on the manufacturers a**es to get their products tested for (by) the FDA for approval.

[grimmer255]

very good report to be honest. there wasn't any bashing. Lets do what the FDA wants let these suppliers and manufacturers bring forth the data to prove that these things work. At least get the ecig as an alternative to tobacco as a tobacco product and let people make the choice themselves. I think it would be a good step to get people off tobacco. Tax it as though it were 3 bucks per pack of cigarettes. They'll still make there money and everyone gets to keep there ecigs and everyone is happy....scratch there back and we'll scratch there's.....unfortunately thats how this government works.

[BigJimW]

In case you missed the audio broadcast

MPR News segment of the Electronic Cigarette Pit-Tube - Get drunk and video yourself

[TheIllustratedMan]

Thanks for the audio BigJim... saved me having to try and read while brushing the finace's hair. :-P

I think that was an incredibly fair report, and mirrors a lot of what I (and others) have been saying. It's fair for us to want to use them to not smoke, it's fair for public health and safety officials to want to know the impact on public health and safety, and it's fair for ... well, ASH just has it out for smoking...
We definitely need to push for better quality control from the manufacturers. American manufacturers could have a lot to gain here if the American users and suppliers all vowed to order only from them should they get the proper testing done and ensure quality control. Nothing against Chinese manufacturers, but I see a huge opportunity to start it right here...

[drdave]

I was very glad to hear this. It seems a much more balanced piece and a lot less gloom and doom. NPR has traditionally been a bit more responsible in their reporting than a lot of the "flashy" news outlets.