WHERE THERE'S SMOKE
The government shutdown is expected to delay a much anticipated Food and Drug Administration ruling likely to curb TV advertisements of e-cigarettes, deemed a "booming industry" by Advertising Age. Almost half of the federal agency's staff has been furloughed, including those working on
tobacco issues. There's drama overseas, meanwhile. On Tuesday, the European Parliament rejected health officials' proposals to tightly regulate e-cigarettes, a decision not lost on observers on these shores.
"The European Parliament's decision not to treat e-cigarettes like medical
devices is a huge win for smokers trying to quit, and thus great news for public health," says
Jeff Stier, a policy analyst at the Heartland Institute, a free market think
tank. Such a move would have made e-cigarettes "prohibitively expensive," he says.
"Switching from burning tobacco to combustion-free e-cigarettes would yield significant health benefits both in the short and long terms. Banning e-cigarette sales to minors, but keeping them accessible to adults, strikes the right balance," Mr. Stier continues.
"But as usual, activists on the nanny-state side want the government to get in the way of free-market approaches that work. That they didn't succeed in Europe is a big win for actual public health, but a loss for ideologically driven activist groups," he adds. "Now, attention shifts to the U.S., where FDA has promised a decision very soon. We can only hope that the FDA takes note of Europe's rational approach."
