Was surprised I posted the first (and only so far) comment on the Washington Post's reprint of the AP article at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...260448-d293-11e2-b3a2-3bf5eb37b9d0_story.html
Excellent comment Bill !!
Copied and pasted here for reference
Bill Wrote:
In attempting to defend its ban on e-cigarette imports in 2009, the FDA made many false and misleading claims about e-cigarettes, including falsely claiming the products are target marketed to youth. Although all 13 federal judges who adjudicated the lawsuit filed by two cigarette companies agreed that FDA violated its legal authority in banning e-cigarettes, the agency has refused to correct or clarified any of its inaccurate fear mongering propaganda against e-cigarettes, which has been repeated in hundreds of news articles.
After losing in court, in 2011 the FDA stated its intent to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products, but the agency and the news media have failed to acknowledge that Section 905(j) and Section 911 of the Tobacco Control Act would ban ALL e-cigarettes that weren't on the market before 2007. That's why the drug industry funded anti tobacco groups that urged FDA to ban e-cigarettes in 2009 want the agency to ban them again.
But the Tobacco Control Act requires the FDA to base all new regulations on evidence that they can/will benefit public health by reducing tobacco diseases and/or tobacco use, and the agency has repeatedly stated that its tobacco regulations are based upon scientific evidence.
But the FDA still hasn't cited any evidence indicating that regulating (er banning) the products can benefit public health, and substantial evidence has been submitted to the agency confirming that an e-cigarette ban would harm the health of e-cigarette users and smokers.
In fact, the evidence consistently finds that e-cigarettes 99% less hazardous than cigarettes, pose no risks to nonusers, have helped several million smokers quit smoking and/or sharply reduce cigarette consumption, are used almost exclusively by smokers, and haven't addicted even one nonsmoker to nicotine.
As FDA tries to protect cigarette markets and threaten public health by banning e-cigarettes, the free market for e-cigarettes has been saving millions of lives.
