Although the FDA's new lab report found no hazardous levels of anything in the e-cigarette samples they tested (its most important finding), the authors chose to NOT acknowledge that critically important fact in the article or in the abstract (just as Westenberger failed to acknowledge that same finding in his 2009 lab test).
Please remember that Westenberger has not yet corrected or clarified the inaccurate and grossly misleading fearmongering propaganda that Josh Sharfstein and others at FDA made about Westenberger's 2009 lab report (which FDA continues to post on its website even after they claimed they'd comply with Judge Leon's ruling, which has has been repeated hundreds of times in the news media even to this day, and which has been cited by virtually everyone who has introduced and advocated local and state legislation/regulations to ban the sale of e-cigs and to ban the use of e-cigs in workplaces).
When reading the full text, I also noted (as Yolanda pointed out) that the FDA authors confused mg/ml with mg/cartridge when claiming that SE and
njoy products inaccurately listed the amount of nicotine. About a year ago, I encouraged/convinced
njoy to switch its nicotine labeling from mg/ml to % of nicotine. So it appears that the FDA tested NJOY cartridges that were marketed at least a year ago. The FDA authors didn't cite the dates these products were purchased, and its possible that the FDA tested SE and NJOY products that it had bought way back in 2009 (when FDA did its first lab test on SE and NJOY products to retaliate against those companies for suing the agency).
My biggest concerns are that the FDA authors of this new report falsely and repeatedly refer to smokefree e-cigarette vapor as "smoke", which is likely to prompt other e-cigarette prohibtionists to begin referring to vapor as "smoke" in their ongoing attempts to redefine the term "smoking" in smokefree workplace laws to also include the use of e-cigarettes.
Over the decades I've read hundreds of published scientific studies on/about nicotine, but I've never (until this report) seen/heard cotinine, myosmine, anatabine or B-nicotyrine referred to as "impurities", which implies that the nicotine in e-cigarettes is contaminated.
I suspect the FDA authors used the term "impurities" repeatedly in this report (and in the abstract) to confuse the public to believe that the nicotine in e-cigarettes isn't as "pure" as nicotine in cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or NRT products.
Finally, another huge problem with this new lab report and its abstract (which was the same problem in the 2009 FDA lab report) is that the FDA authors feign concern for the health and wallets of e-cigarette consumers (e.g. the three findings in the abstract -
1. the nictoine content labeling was not accurate with some manufacturers, 2. nicotine is present in the "smoke" from electronic cigarettes, and 3. nicotine related impurities contents in cartridges and refills were found to vary by electronic cigarette manufacturer.) and only report negative findings (which are relatively insignficant) while remaining silent on the positive findings (which are extremely important).
If Westenberger (who authored the 2009 FDA lab report) and/or other authors of this FDA report and misleading abstract were even slightly concerned about the health or wallets of e-cigarette consumers, they would never have participated in FDA's e-cigarette propaganda and prohibition campaign, as black market e-cigarettes are costlier (than legal e-cigarettes) and are more difficult to achieve quality control.
The only new piece of information that FDA's new lab report found was that consumers should avoid CIXI products (and instead should by e-cigs from other companies). But of course, the FDA authors never mentioned that in their report or abstract.
