This man is not smoking a cigarette - he's using an e-cigarette
A new electronic smoking device that provides nicotine without the unhealthy cigarette byproducts has sold out in a western Minnesota test run and could reach businesses in Northeastern Minnesota later this month.
This man is not smoking a cigarette - he's using an <i>e-cigarette</i> | Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota
By: Andy Greder, Duluth News Tribune
E-cigarette
Electronic cigarettes use high-frequency patented technology to atomize nicotine and produce only a smokeless vapor, which as seen above, looks like real smoke. The vapor, however, dissipates quickly and has no odor. (Celeste Beam / Alexandria (Minn.) Echo Press)
A new electronic smoking device that provides nicotine without the unhealthy cigarette byproducts has sold out in a western Minnesota test run and could reach businesses in Northeastern Minnesota later this month.
Though they have raised concerns among some health officials, the electronic cigarettes were flying off the shelves Feb. 13 at eight retailers in Alexandria. The test run held by Henrys Foods, an Alexandria-based distributor, was so successful that the e-cigarette could be on shelves in an estimated250 convenience stores or bars from Cloquet to Grand Rapids by mid-March, said Terry Loeffler, the director of sales and marketing at Henrys Foods.
It has exceeded our expectations, Loeffler said. Every business that Ive been in has said yes [to sell the product]. That is not an exaggeration 100 percent.
Henrys Foods, which will control the majority of the market for Fifty-One brand e-cigarettes in Minnesota and North and South Dakota, intends to establish a partnership with another distributor for the e-cigs in Duluth within three months, Loeffler said.
Fifty-One promotes itself as a healthier alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes while maintaining the actions of the smoking habit. It looks similar to a real cigarette with its brown filter and white body, but lacks a traditional cigarettes flame, ash, carcinogens and carbon monoxide. The e-cigarette, which is manufactured in China, uses patented technology to atomize nicotine and produce a smokeless vapor that looks like smoke.
The vapor, according to the Fifty-One Web site, contains mostly water and trace elements of nicotine and propylene glycol, which is typically found in food coloring, flavoring and mouthwash. Propylene glycol is on the Food and Drug Administrations list of safe elements.
Pat McKone, an official with the American Lung Association of Minnesota, has requested an opinion on e-cigarettes from Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson.
We are concerned about the product because they are new to the market and there is little to no research on them, McKone said. We look at them as a gimmick.
The World Health Organization issued a statement in September warning there was no evidence to back up contentions that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute for smoking or a way to help smokers quit.
It also said companies should stop marketing them that way, especially since the product may undermine smoking prevention efforts because they look like the real thing and may lure nonsmokers, including children.
There is not sufficient evidence that [they] are safe products for human consumption, Timothy OLeary, a communications officer at the WHOs tobacco Free Initiative in Geneva, said last month.
Questions of legality
In the U.S., the FDA has detained and refused several brands of electronic cigarettes because they were considered unapproved new drugs and could not be legally marketed in the country, said press officer Christopher Kelly.
He did not give more details, but said the determination of whether an e-cig is a drug is made on a case-by-case basis after the agency considers its intended use, labeling and advertising.
Some international experts back claims that e-cigarettes are safe.
David Sweanor, an adjunct law professor at Ottawa University and former legal counsel of the Non Smokers Rights Association in Canada, said e-cigs have the potential to save lives.
With smoking, its the delivery system thats killing people, Sweanor said. Anytime you suck smoke into your lungs youre going to do yourself a great deal of damage. Nicotine has some slight risks, but they are minor compared to the risk of smoke in cigarettes.
McKone said the product doesnt violate Minnesotas Clean Indoor Air Act, which prohibits smoking in nearly all indoor places, but it does present the potential for confusion in workplaces and for patrons of bars and restaurants. People could be led to believe its OK to light up a cigarette or that the Fifty-One smokers are in violation of the law.
The cost
The e-cigarette is similar to the already-available and FDA-approved Nicotrol Inhaler, which is prescribed by doctors for people who want to quit smoking. The inhaler comes with a mouthpiece and about 150 cartridges of nicotine at a cost from $160 to $200.
The two-part e-cigarette starter kit costs $95 and includes two nicotine cartridges, one lithium ion battery pack and a charging system.
One nicotine cartridge is the equivalent of about two packs of cigarettes, Loeffler said. Replacement cartridges will retail at $15.95 for a pack of five. Businesses selling the e-cigarettes will be instructed to sell only to customers who present identification that they are 18 years of age and older, Loeffler said.
This is a huge savings in the long run, said Loeffler, who also has marketed the product as an option to quit smoking. Its between $1.75 to $2 equivalent per pack as compared to $4.50 or $5 per pack of regular cigarettes.
The smoking alternative is arriving on the scene just as a federal tax on tobacco cigarettes is set boost a packs price by 62 cents in April.
Sitting across from a pregnant public health official recently in Alexandria, Loeffler didnt think twice about puffing several times on his e-cigarette during a demonstration.
Jessica Peterson, a Douglas County (Minn.) Public Health educator who worked to get a smoking ban in place in the county before the statewide ban was enacted in 2007, said the e-cigarette has the same effects of a tobacco cigarette without the negative components.
Nicotine is no worse than caffeine, Peterson said. Its not cancer causing.
A new electronic smoking device that provides nicotine without the unhealthy cigarette byproducts has sold out in a western Minnesota test run and could reach businesses in Northeastern Minnesota later this month.
This man is not smoking a cigarette - he's using an <i>e-cigarette</i> | Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota
By: Andy Greder, Duluth News Tribune
E-cigarette
Electronic cigarettes use high-frequency patented technology to atomize nicotine and produce only a smokeless vapor, which as seen above, looks like real smoke. The vapor, however, dissipates quickly and has no odor. (Celeste Beam / Alexandria (Minn.) Echo Press)
A new electronic smoking device that provides nicotine without the unhealthy cigarette byproducts has sold out in a western Minnesota test run and could reach businesses in Northeastern Minnesota later this month.
Though they have raised concerns among some health officials, the electronic cigarettes were flying off the shelves Feb. 13 at eight retailers in Alexandria. The test run held by Henrys Foods, an Alexandria-based distributor, was so successful that the e-cigarette could be on shelves in an estimated250 convenience stores or bars from Cloquet to Grand Rapids by mid-March, said Terry Loeffler, the director of sales and marketing at Henrys Foods.
It has exceeded our expectations, Loeffler said. Every business that Ive been in has said yes [to sell the product]. That is not an exaggeration 100 percent.
Henrys Foods, which will control the majority of the market for Fifty-One brand e-cigarettes in Minnesota and North and South Dakota, intends to establish a partnership with another distributor for the e-cigs in Duluth within three months, Loeffler said.
Fifty-One promotes itself as a healthier alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes while maintaining the actions of the smoking habit. It looks similar to a real cigarette with its brown filter and white body, but lacks a traditional cigarettes flame, ash, carcinogens and carbon monoxide. The e-cigarette, which is manufactured in China, uses patented technology to atomize nicotine and produce a smokeless vapor that looks like smoke.
The vapor, according to the Fifty-One Web site, contains mostly water and trace elements of nicotine and propylene glycol, which is typically found in food coloring, flavoring and mouthwash. Propylene glycol is on the Food and Drug Administrations list of safe elements.
Pat McKone, an official with the American Lung Association of Minnesota, has requested an opinion on e-cigarettes from Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson.
We are concerned about the product because they are new to the market and there is little to no research on them, McKone said. We look at them as a gimmick.
The World Health Organization issued a statement in September warning there was no evidence to back up contentions that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute for smoking or a way to help smokers quit.
It also said companies should stop marketing them that way, especially since the product may undermine smoking prevention efforts because they look like the real thing and may lure nonsmokers, including children.
There is not sufficient evidence that [they] are safe products for human consumption, Timothy OLeary, a communications officer at the WHOs tobacco Free Initiative in Geneva, said last month.
Questions of legality
In the U.S., the FDA has detained and refused several brands of electronic cigarettes because they were considered unapproved new drugs and could not be legally marketed in the country, said press officer Christopher Kelly.
He did not give more details, but said the determination of whether an e-cig is a drug is made on a case-by-case basis after the agency considers its intended use, labeling and advertising.
Some international experts back claims that e-cigarettes are safe.
David Sweanor, an adjunct law professor at Ottawa University and former legal counsel of the Non Smokers Rights Association in Canada, said e-cigs have the potential to save lives.
With smoking, its the delivery system thats killing people, Sweanor said. Anytime you suck smoke into your lungs youre going to do yourself a great deal of damage. Nicotine has some slight risks, but they are minor compared to the risk of smoke in cigarettes.
McKone said the product doesnt violate Minnesotas Clean Indoor Air Act, which prohibits smoking in nearly all indoor places, but it does present the potential for confusion in workplaces and for patrons of bars and restaurants. People could be led to believe its OK to light up a cigarette or that the Fifty-One smokers are in violation of the law.
The cost
The e-cigarette is similar to the already-available and FDA-approved Nicotrol Inhaler, which is prescribed by doctors for people who want to quit smoking. The inhaler comes with a mouthpiece and about 150 cartridges of nicotine at a cost from $160 to $200.
The two-part e-cigarette starter kit costs $95 and includes two nicotine cartridges, one lithium ion battery pack and a charging system.
One nicotine cartridge is the equivalent of about two packs of cigarettes, Loeffler said. Replacement cartridges will retail at $15.95 for a pack of five. Businesses selling the e-cigarettes will be instructed to sell only to customers who present identification that they are 18 years of age and older, Loeffler said.
This is a huge savings in the long run, said Loeffler, who also has marketed the product as an option to quit smoking. Its between $1.75 to $2 equivalent per pack as compared to $4.50 or $5 per pack of regular cigarettes.
The smoking alternative is arriving on the scene just as a federal tax on tobacco cigarettes is set boost a packs price by 62 cents in April.
Sitting across from a pregnant public health official recently in Alexandria, Loeffler didnt think twice about puffing several times on his e-cigarette during a demonstration.
Jessica Peterson, a Douglas County (Minn.) Public Health educator who worked to get a smoking ban in place in the county before the statewide ban was enacted in 2007, said the e-cigarette has the same effects of a tobacco cigarette without the negative components.
Nicotine is no worse than caffeine, Peterson said. Its not cancer causing.
