Who opposes e-cigarettes and why - The Economist

[Vocalek]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/06/economist-explains-11

 

[Janusxvii]

Thanks for sharing. Though I have to say that there were so many points made there that made my blood pressure go up (glad to know I'm one of the "tin-foil hat types). What was even more upsetting was the comments section. Though I have to say a commenter named fizboz summed up the state of affairs quite nicely. On a side note, do you happen to know who that manufacturer was back in 2009? I didn't start vaping until about 18 months ago so it was "before my time". I seem to recall hearing that it was a very isolated sample from a no-name manufacturer, though I don't know how true that is.

 

[Vocalek]

Thanks for sharing. Though I have to say that there were so many points made there that made my blood pressure go up (glad to know I'm one of the "tin-foil hat types). What was even more upsetting was the comments section. Though I have to say a commenter named fizboz summed up the state of affairs quite nicely. On a side note, do you happen to know who that manufacturer was back in 2009? I didn't start vaping until about 18 months ago so it was "before my time". I seem to recall hearing that it was a very isolated sample from a no-name manufacturer, though I don't know how true that is.

The real issue was that the FDA wanted to get e-cigarettes off the market, and they were willing to create "evidence" to justify their attitude and actions.

Late in 2008, the FDA began ordering seizures of shipments of e-cigarettes coming in from China, claiming the products were an unapproved drug that had not undergone the necessary New Drug Approval Process (NDA). In March 2009 one of the largest e-cigarette companies at that time, Smoking Everywhere, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. SE asked the court for an injunction against product seizures, claiming that the products are not drugs. Shortly after that, another company, Soterra, Inc (the maker of njoy) joined in the suit.

A few months later, the FDA held their infamous press conference, announcing the results of testing of two brands. It's not a coincidence that, despite the fact that hundreds of vendors were selling e-cigarettes, the only two brands tested were the brands of the two plaintiffs in the law suit against the Agency.

The bottom line is that in reality, the FDA found nothing in their tests that would be harmful to a user. Had they found serious contaminations, they probably would have issued a recall for all products that were already "on the shelves" in the US.

The FDA did a "spin job" on their findings. The "carcinogens" mentioned are Tobacco-specific Nitrosamines (TSNAs), natural chemicals that occur in tobacco. TSNAs are thought to be linked to cancer, but there is no definitive proof of this.

The FDA quite purposely left out the fact that pharmaceutical grade nicotine, which is used to manufacture NRTs (nicotine patch, gum, lozenges, and inhalers), contains traces levels of TSNAs, and that FDA-approved NRTs contain approximately the same quantity of these "carcinogens" as the FDA measured in some of the cartridges. If 8 nanograms of TSNAs in a patch doesn't cause cancer, there isn't any reason to panic about 8 nanograms of TSNAs in a milliliter of liquid.

The 1% of Diethylene Glycol (DEG) found in one of the SE cartridges is a non-toxic quantity. Until shortly before this all happened, the maximum quantity of DEG allowed in pharmaceutical products was 1%, but the FDA had just lowered the maximum.

The spin put on the presence of DEG was that it is "an ingredient in anti-freeze" because the propagandist orchestrating this show knew that "anti-freeze" sounds scary to the public. And even though the plural, "toxins", was used in the press release, the only toxin cited in the lab report was the DEG. Another thing to keep in mind is that the DEG was found only in one of the liquid samples. It was not found in the vapor. Since DEG vaporizes at a higher temperature than the PG we use, it is doubtful that DEG would ever be found in vapor. DEG has many industrial uses, but it is no longer contained in the regular automobile antifreeze you use.

You can read the FDA press release here:
FDA and Public Health Experts Warn About Electronic Cigarettes

There was no link to the actual lab report on that page, but if you poked around you could find it: www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/ScienceResearch/UCM173250.pdf

So yes, the DEG was an isolated sample, but TSNAs may be more ubiquitous. It wasn't a no-name brand. It was one of the most popular brands at that time. Nobody was paying attention to the name of the factory and frankly the factory name and location had little to do with anything, since this was not about what the FDA found, but rather about how they presented the information to the public with the goal of generating fear and loathing.