Promote harm reduction for smokers and prevent dead bodies [Maguire, Pharmaceutical Journal]

[Tom09]

News and views article in the official journal of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (UK):
Promote harm reduction for smokers and let

 

[Vocalek]

I was with him, up until the last paragraph:

Will e-cigarettes become the first fit-for-purpose harm reduction nicotine product? Perhaps. They are certainly popular with the smoking public. But proper regulation will be required to assure that these devices deliver nicotine in a reliable and consistent way. With product quality and safety assured these, and other innovative products that might be in the pipeline, may go on to save the many lives that will be otherwise lost to burning tobacco.

I would definitely trust what the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association (ECITA - Welcome to ECITA - The Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association) has set in place in the UK. They discovered that every law or regulation required to assure product safety and quality is already in place somewhere in the UK's system. Their method is to assist members in learning what the laws and requirements are and how best to comply with them. They also require members to demonstrate a commitment to ethical business practices.

I would love to be able to point to a similar organization here in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.

Given the behavior I have witnessed on the part of the FDA, I don't trust government to do the regulating without pulling politics into the picture. We need practical common sense regulation, not regulation aimed at weakening the effectiveness of the products with the end goal of protecting the profits of pharmaceutical companies rather than public health.