Coming Soon to the E-Cigarette Regulation Debate: A Sliver of Clarity

[Bill Godshall]

Coming Soon to the E-Cigarette Regulation Debate: A Sliver of Clarity
Coming Soon to the E-Cigarette Regulation Debate: A Sliver of Clarity - Chris Opfer - The Atlantic Cities

Was pleasantly surprised to see that Chris Opfer extensively quoted me in this article.

"It's pretty clear to me that e-cigarettes have helped more people quit smoking than the 2009 tobacco Control Act, all the FDA-approved smoking cessation drugs and all the government anti-tobacco propaganda programs combined," says Bill Godshall, executive director of Smokefree Pennsylvania, a non-profit organization that's advocated for strict restrictions on traditional cigarettes since 1990. "When a cigarette company says 'I would like to market a less hazardous alternative to smokers,' public health officials should be thanking them."

Godshall, who supports bans on e-cigarettes for users under the age of 18, points out that the vast majority of kids (80 percent of middle schoolers) who admitted trying e-cigarettes in the recent CDC study had already tried traditional cigarettes. He also says that much of the push for other restrictions is being funded by pharmaceutical companies who see the electronic products as competition for more expensive, highly regulated nicotine replacement therapies and smoking cessation drugs.

But Godshall argues the rush to limit or even outlaw e-cigarettes is misguided. "There's no evidence that anyone has ever been harmed by using an e-cigarette," he says. "If you're going to ban any tobacco product, ban the most hazardous one, not the least hazardous one."

Godshall's organization has helped successfully resist complete bans on e-cigarettes in eight states over the last four years, including in Illinois, Tennessee, and California, where then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a ban in 2009. Elsewhere in the state, the Laguna Beach city council voted down a measure in August that would have subjected e-cigarettes to tobacco restrictions already in place. City council members cited a dearth of information about secondhand vapor effects and the potential benefits of e-cigs as smoking cessation devices. Lawmakers in Boise shot down an effort last year to include e-cigs in the city's indoor smoking ban.

Paradise and Godshall both say the biggest question is whether the agency will deem e-cigs a "tobacco product," given that they contain nicotine. In a recent letter to the FDA, 41 state attorneys general urged precisely this action. That would bring them under the Tobacco Control Act's wide ranging restrictions. It would probably also mean that Stephen Dorff's run as the industry's version of the Marlboro Man is over.

Another question remains as to what will become of internet sales, much of which cater to aficionados who use higher-end devices that they refill with liquids purchased online. In what Godshall calls a "cannibalization" of the industry, disposable e-cig makers who sell their wares in physical smoke shops and convenience stores have supported bans on internet retailers, who may represent up to half of e-cigarette product sales.

In the increasingly likely event of widespread electronic cigarette regulation, Godshall says the real winner won't be these relative newcomers, however. Instead, it's the tobacco industry's oldest and best funded players who are best positioned to take the electronic market by storm, given their expertise in the regulatory environment, deep pockets and contractually mandated convenience store shelf space.

"What it will do is effectively give the entire industry to big tobacco," Godshall says.

 

[aikanae1]

Good points.

 

[Semiretired]

But, will they listen...

 

[Bill Godshall]

We've generated more news stories exposing and opposing the FDA deeming regulation this week than any week so far.

We need to continue getting the word out in news stories, op/eds, letters to editors, letters/calls to members of Congress, etc.

 

[Nermal]

WOW!

'Scuse me for shouting.

 

[rvc]

Great points, thanks for your efforts.

 

[jwhyde1]

Good Work Bill, thank you for your efforts , i, think there is a growing number of medical professionals that would go on record , of the positive aspects of vaping vs smoking, so im gonna keep on emailing my state representatives and pursue getting more doctors on board

 

[soba1]

Bill thanks for all you have done in the past and what you will do now and in the future

 

[tommy2bad]

We didn't think we could turn the EU ship around but we did. Keep pressing your point, their are people who will listen and some will see our side as right and more will at least see that we have been sidelined by the regs procedure and balk at that.
We won't get everything we want but we'll get nothing if we don't try.

 

[Anjaffm]

Great! Bill, you rock! Thank you for all you do!

 

[Uma]

I love it when you come out to play. That was fantastic!

 

[wv2win]

Bill, thank you for posting and all your efforts on the "common sense" of vaping.

If we could just somehow get more vapers, especially on ECF, to wake up and join CASAA. It is baffling how much apathy is demonstrated by so many vapers on ECF.

 

[Ruby_Red_Shoes]

Kudos to a voice that illuminates and informs.