Former American Lung Association President and CEO Charles Connor Joins Electronic Cigarette Industry Group

[BuGlen]

This seems like good news, except that I've never heard of "The Electronic Cigarette Industry Group, Inc.", so I don't yet know where they stand on issues such as flavors:

Former American Lung Association President and CEO Charles Connor Joins Electronic Cigarette Industry Group | Fort Mill Times - Fort Mill, SC

Is this group a new organization, or is it something I've just missed?

 

[BuGlen]

OK, probably not so good news after all. From the ecig website:

Homepage

The Electronic Cigarette Industry Group, Inc. is a non-profit 501c6 association of consumers, manufacturers, importers and distributors of electronic cigarettes. ecig supports a ban on Internet sales or at a minimum, strengthening federal regulations to keep electronic cigarettes out of the hands of children.

 

[AgentAnia]

Good find, BuGlen.

From the ecig home page, they ask you to sign a petition:

The Electronic Cigarette Industry is a small but growing sector of the United States Economy. Unlike other cigarette alternatives such as cigars and smokeless tobacco, electronic cigarettes offer consumers an activity similar to smoking without the negative consequences of tar and second-hand smoke. Click here to sign the petition for efficient and appropriate regulation of this new industry!

Here's the relevant text of this petition:

Whereas, electronic cigarettes should not be sold to persons under 18 years of age, Now, therefore be it resolved that electronic cigarettes should not be sold to any person for individual consumption except in the physical presence of a clerk or sales representative tasked with checking a legal method of age verification using accepted form of identification such as a drivers’ license,

From their FACTS page:

FACT: ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES SHOULD NOT BE SOLD ON THE INTERNET.
In spite of the relatively low risk of electronic cigarettes compared to traditional cigarettes, the industry must work together to ban Internet sales of electronic cigarettes to keep them out of the hands of children. Without a face-to-face transaction no company can promise not to sell electronic cigarettes to kids.

They are based in Tallahassee, FL. Nowhere on their website (that I could find) is there a staff or member list. ("The Electronic Cigarette Industry Group, Inc. (ECIG), a non-profit association of consumers, manufacturers, importers and distributors of electronic cigarettes,...") So far I've seen ads on the site for Fin, South Beach Smoke, and Eversmoke, fyi.

What I see here is an ANTZ group whose name is ECIG. Contemptible... (EDIT: Nope. See my post below. What I now see is an ecig manufacturer using a non-profit org. to try to put the majority of online ecig vendors out of business. Even MORE contemptible...)

 

[AgentAnia]

Just did a little more digging. Eliot Maisel, of ECIG, is head of FIN ecigs, which are sold in 7-11s and drug stores. So no wonder ECIG wants to ban internet sales...

 

[BuGlen]

Just did a little more digging. Eliot Maisel, of ECIG, is head of FIN ecigs, which are sold in 7-11s and drug stores. So no wonder ECIG wants to ban internet sales...

Good research! I got the same gist (limit competition) when I was reviewing the web site, but I didn't connect the dots like you did.

 

[AgentAnia]

Also interesting to note that [the org. whose name really p*sses me off so I won't name it] was incorporated at roughly the same time that Maisel took over FIN, in 2011.

 

[_sidekick_]

Back when I was 16, I purchased "cigar wraps" on the internet... I believe there are laws against selling tobacco products to minors via the internet. I doubt we will ever see a true "ban" on internet sales, it's too hard to enforce.

 

[FlamingoTutu]

I don't get it, you can buy booze online. Random Google search found this, "The global online wine market is worth around $5 billion and continues to grow by more than 30 percent each year." How are PVs more dangerous? All boils down to greed, eh? Nice detective work guys!

 

[Bill Godshall]

After I sent an e-mail to the Electronic Cigarette Industry Group (inquiring why they were advocating FDA regs for e-cigs), I received the following:

----- The delivery status notification errors -----

<info@electroniccigarettegroup.org>: Host or domain name not found. Name
service error for name=electroniccigarettegroup.org type=A: Host not found


Back in April, Rebecca Maisel, who is Eliot's daughter and an attorney, was on a Food and Drug Law Instititute conference panel along with me discussing FDA regulation of e-cigs, where she said FIN supported reasonable FDA regulations for e-cigs.

During my presentation, I pointed out how Section 905(J) and Section 910 of the TCA would ban all e-cigs not on the market before 2007, how Section 911 would prohibit e-cig companies from truthfully claiming their products "emit no smoke", and how the remaining deeming regs (and other likely FDA e-cig regs) would decimate the e-cig industry and basically give it to Big Tobacco.

In contrast, Maisel appeared to know very little about the FSPTCA, the FDA or the legal ramifications of the FDA "deeming" regulation on e-cigs, and instead she was trying to be politically correct and friendly with the FDA lawyers in the room as she promoted FIN e-cigs.

 

[AgentAnia]

From a directory of Florida companies:

Business Type: Domestic Non Profit
Company Status: Active
Incorporation date: 11/16/2011

Officer detail:

Chairman MAISEL ELLIOT
MOBILE AL

Director CRISS RALPH
TALLAHASSEE FL

Director MAISEL REBECCA
NEW ORLEANS LA

Key Financials: Key Financials are not available as ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE INDUSTRY GROUP, INC. has not filed accounts. Accounts are required to be filed on or before 20/09/2013.

 

[UncleChimney]

Wow, good reserach Agent!

 

[AgentAnia]

Steve K in his blog has something to say about this: This Can't Be Real - Former ALA CEO Joins Unknown eCig Industry Group

 

[cdsaint66]

Groups like this fall into the category of useful idiots. Doing their best to hamstring any competition, not realizing that when they are no longer needed or desired, it will be their turn to be eliminated.

 

[AgentAnia]

Groups like this fall into the category of useful idiots. Doing their best to hamstring any competition, not realizing that when they are no longer needed or desired, it will be their turn to be eliminated.

Delete the word useful, and I completely agree!

 

[cdsaint66]

Delete the word useful, and I completely agree!

Note that "useful" in the phrase useful idiots actually means that they are useful to the forces trying to destroy them. They certainly aren't useful in any other sense of the word!

 

[Uma]

They have an FB page.
Is it okay to say what I feel in a comment in response to their "about us" post at the bottom of the page? https://www.facebook.com/pages/Electronic-Cigarette-Industry-Group/268462056561437
Their post says:

Electronic Cigarette Industry Group
The Electronic Cigarette Industry Group, Inc. is a non-profit 501c6 association of consumers, manufacturers, importers and distributors of electronic cigarettes.
Page: 19

Can I say Something like this?

THIS IS BULLPUCKY'!!!!! How many vendors? Yours and yours alone and yours again? How many consumers? You, your daughter, your partner, your neighbor? You certainly do NOT represent the industry as a whole, nor the consumers as a whole. You should be ashamed of yourselves for trying to ban your competition. Shame shame shame on you!!!

 

[williebb123]

Groups like this fall into the category of useful idiots. Doing their best to hamstring any competition, not realizing that when they are no longer needed or desired, it will be their turn to be eliminated.

my momma always said "Greedy Greedy Gets You Eatie Eatie "

 

[Orb Skewer]

FIN E-cigs ?, never heard of them-probably a scam.

 

[AgentAnia]

FIN E-cigs ?, never heard of them-probably a scam.

It's a low-end cigalike. I've seen them at Walmart and Walgreens. They're your basic overpriced crap...

 

[Uma]

It's a low-end cigalike. I've seen them at Walmart and Walgreens. They're your basic overpriced crap...

Hmmm, I wonder if they also distribute the up in arms Hookah Pens....