40 attorneys general urge FDA to more tightly regulate e-cigarettes, cite marketing tactics

[Vocalek]

40 attorneys general urge FDA to more tightly regulate e-cigarettes, cite marketing tactics | Star Tribune

Actually this story is all over the place, Washington Post, Washington Times, CBS, etc. because it was a syndicated AP story. I selected this particular link because it is one of the shorter ones

BOSTON — Forty attorneys general sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday urging the agency to meet its own deadline and regulate electronic cigarettes in the same way it regulates tobacco products.


The letter, co-sponsored by Massachusetts Attorney Martha Coakley and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, says e-cigarettes are being marketed to children through cartoon-like advertising characters and by offering fruit and candy flavors, much like cigarettes were once marketed to hook new smokers.


At the same time, e-cigarettes are becoming more affordable and more widely available as the use of regular cigarettes decline as they become more expensive and less socially acceptable.
...
E-cigarettes are being advertised during prime-time television hours at a time when many children are watching, according to the letter, which has led a surge in sales and use.
...
The letter urges the FDA to meet an Oct. 31 deadline to issue proposed regulations that will address the advertising, ingredients and sale to minors of e-cigarettes. The decision has been delayed in the past.

 

[AgentAnia]

Forbes puts the AG letter into perspective: Holy End Run! Attorneys General Urge Action As E-Cigarettes Gain Market Share - Forbes

At an estimated $1.7 billion and growing, the e-cigarette market operates free of the financial penalties and marketing restrictions the attorneys general negotiated in the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies. That agreement, which pumps about $6 billion a year into state treasuries...

Perhaps the AGs were blinded by the goodies that flowed in their direction, including fees to their political supporters and $103 million that went to NAAG, the AG’s own professional association.

There could be trouble ahead, however. Payments under the MSA fell from $7.6 billion in 2009 to $6.2 billion last year, and Fitch Ratings warned earlier this month that e-cigs could threaten bonds backed by MSA payments.

But there’s not much the AGs can do to plug the loophole that is draining revenue from their 1998 settlement agreement. Having bet on the continued success of conventional cancer sticks, they were caught sleeping when the market went digital.

 

[ennagizer]

Forbes puts the AG letter into perspective: Holy End Run! Attorneys General Urge Action As E-Cigarettes Gain Market Share - Forbes

There ya go. Follow the money.

 

[Vocalek]

Good find, AgentAnia.

 

[Butters78]

"People, especially kids, are being led to believe that e-cigarettes are a safe alternative, but they are highly addictive and can deliver strong doses of nicotine," Coakley said.

We should regulate energy drinks then as well because they deliver strong doses of Caffeine. It's widely known that nicotine is as dangerous as caffeine.

 

[Kent C]

"A ten year old can walk into a store and buy one of these things" AG Mike DeWine Ohio. (paraphrasing)

 

[Petrodus]

There's reasons why cockroaches have a higher approval rating
than our Washington career politicians ... on both sides of the isle.

 

[Uma]

Excellent journalism, Forbes!!!!!!!

 

[Uma]

Forbes puts the AG letter into perspective: Holy End Run! Attorneys General Urge Action As E-Cigarettes Gain Market Share - Forbes

Please put this in a thread all it's own for the masses to see and find easily. (Please ignore if posted already)

 

[louis]

This is Politics, I mean money. Follow the money & you will find politicians digging to get their share. States are in debt & will do anything to increase revenue.
Like I say Remember this is politics & money.

 

[Vocalek]

"A ten year old can walk into a store and buy one of these things" AG Mike DeWine Ohio. (paraphrasing)

But did the clerk ask the ten year old what strength of nicotine he preferred?

 

[Uma]

Wasn't it just a little while ago these same people were refusing to accept a bill proposed by the ecig people to set age restrictions across the states? http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/07/22/e-cigarette-bill-called-trojan-horse.html
The Trojan horse they called it.
" Anti-smoking advocates say that below the surface of House Bill 144 is a tobacco-industry-crafted “Trojan horse” designed to ensure that the emerging electronic-cigarette market and other alternative nicotine products remain taxed at a lower rate than traditional cigarettes and stay outside the state’s indoor smoking ban."

 

[Kent C]

But did the clerk ask the ten year old what strength of nicotine he preferred?

They make this stuff up... unfortunatly, there are people who believe it.

I was pointing out in another thread - they're losing the 'it harms you arguments', so the last resort is kids and ridiculous associations that could apply to any delivery system, including eating... ban forks!! Or tax 'em.

 

[Valhalla17]

They make this stuff up... unfortunatly, there are people who believe it.

I was pointing out in another thread - they're losing the 'it harms you arguments', so the last resort is kids and ridiculous associations that could apply to any delivery system, including eating... ban forks!! Or tax 'em.

Thats exactly right, when you don't have an arguement tug on the heart strings and play the "kids" card. Cuz we always see kids with EGOs hanging out of their mouths right? Step 1: villianize something until it looses support. Step 2: regulate it and take control. Step 3: tax it until you squeeze all the money out of it you can. The 3 step plan of the lying politician to take money that isnt theirs.

 

[DrMA]

The letter urges the FDA to meet an Oct. 31 deadline to issue proposed regulations that will address the advertising, ingredients and sale to minors of e-cigarettes. The decision has been delayed in the past.

Whoever said nothing good would come out of the government shutdown.

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

Sales tax...that's all you deserve goverment!

 

[Anjaffm]

Anti-vaping "arguments"?
Hey, I got something for ya - this comment poster in The Guardian hits the nail right on the head

toadalone--> Patrick Barry

08 October 2013 11:13pm



What was the argument for having eCigs a medical product?

Errrrr.... I can't remember!

So much crap has been piled onto the debate since the original proposal for the TPD (Tobacco Products Directive, or, as I now like to call it after reading this thread, Taco Products Directive) amendment that I can't remember what the original rationale was - if there was one. I suspect it went something like this:

1. People are inhaling something in a way that looks like smoking.
2. EEEEK! It must be bad for them.
3. Definitely is - they're inhaling NICOTINE, everyone knows that gives you Cancer(TM) (* NOTE *).
4. What are we going to do about it?
5. Did I mention, they're enjoying it as well?
6. Then we've definitely got to do something. Can't have people enjoying Drugs(TM). What can we do?
7. Er, it's a round hole, we haven't come across one of those before.
8. Well, we've got a square peg (pharmaceutical licensing).
9. But it's a square peg, it won't go in a round hole.
10. Yes it will, we just need to make up some arguments after the fact to ram it in. Round up the usual Tobacco Control suspects, shout "Nicotine! Cancer! Children! Flavours! Gateway Drug!" at them to get them excited, poke them with sticks a little bit, and before you can say "fix-up" we'll have stacks of "academic research" proving that e-cigs give you cancer just if you look at them, corrupt children, deplete the ozone layer, give you acne, and strangle baby wombats when they think no-one's looking. And that medicinal licensing is the only way to stop this.

* NOTE *: The fact that nicotine causes cancer is an interesting fact. It's what is known as an Untrue Fact. Some people call this kind of fact by other names, such as Bollocks, Total and Utter Bull...., or You're Totally Making This Up Aren't You? Surprisingly, almost half of UK GPs think that it's a True fact, though.

source

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail

Crud...cigalikes DO look like nails! dagnabit

 

[LDS714]

Perhaps the Attorneys General should pick up their cell phones and call their friendly local Surgeons General before saying this kind of stuff.

No, wait...

Don't cell phones have the same types of dangerous batteries as electronic cigarettes? And haven't they been said to also cause cancer?

Well then, at least they have consistent reasoning in not having an informed opinion...