Electronic Cigarettes & the FDA
Posted by Tatiana Rodriguez | Filed under E-Cigarette Safety
The FDA has been actively putting their beaks into the electronic cigarette industry. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, by any means. I am all for people trying to help promote the BEST possible e-cigarette product out there by incorporating a system of regulations and rules that govern all e-cig brands. So, when you hear the term “FDA and electronic cigarettes,” don’t always think that’s a bad thing. Although, I could see how you could take that as a bad thing because often times the news that comes forth after those words are muttered can be something that poses a threat to the electronic cigarette industry.
I’ll do my best to sum up all the stories where the FDA has made their presence felt with e-cigarettes. By all means, this list isn’t the end-all, be-all about when the FDA has done stuff in the e-cig industry – it’s more of what I could find online and sum up in my own words. Like always, your two cents and comments are appreciated at the end of my story. Just hit the comment button and leave your thoughts so we can all have a more comprehensive discussion and understand just what the future of e-cigarette smoking will hold in store for us.
September 10, 2010:
Story Headline: FDA Acts against 5 electronic cigarette distributors.
Summary of what went down….
A warning letter went out to five companies for for various violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) which pertained to unsubstantiated cliams and poor manufacturing practices. The FDA also noted in this release that they were going to attempt to regulate the e-cigarette products in a manner “consistent with its mission of protecting public health.” The companies on the receiving end of this letter were: E-Cigarette Direct LLC, Ruyan America, Inc, Gamucci America, E-Cig Technology Inc, and Johnson’s Creek Enterprises, LLC. Johnson’s Creek was sent the letter for “several deficiencies in its manufacturing processes, including failure to establish quality control and testing procedures required under the FDCA.”
Little else is known about this story – however it’s worth noting that to my knowledge, all companies named in this story as still operating business as usual. In fact, Johnson’s Creek’s juice is used in Blu Cigs products.
Story Headline: None. Just an update I found on FDA.gov.
On October 9, 2012, the FDA updated their page that talks about electronic cigarette devices. It’s not known what exactly was updated, but the page did get an official update on that date, which I thought was interesting. The page does lead off with “as the safety and efficacy of e-cigaretes have not been fully studied, consuemrs of e-cigaette products have no way of knowing:”
The page then talks about if they are “safe,” “how much nicotine or otehr potentially harmful chemicals” are being inhaled, and “if there are benefits.”
Well, I’m not the FDA, and I’m not an expert, but I can answer a few of those questions and have weighed in with my opinions of the benefits of e-cigarettes many moons over. On the contrary, look at the known carcinogens in tobacco products. How can e-cigs be worse when they don’t contain these?
I’m sure this page, maintained by the FDA, will continue to be updated. Just like this page, maintained by me, will also be updated with new FDA stories and reports.
Tags: fda
E Cigarettes Safety
Posted by Tatiana Rodriguez | Filed under E-Cigarette Safety
Safety first! I can remember my father saying that, my shop class teachers urging me to “be careful,” and every time I look up from my computer screen and people are suing each other, it just screams “be safe or be sorry.”
There are a number of reasons electronic cigarettes are “safer” than tobacco products. Some are quite obvious, others are less obvious. I think safety with e-cigarettes is something people are starting to really see as a secondary reason to start using them. Having younger siblings in my household growing up, I saw many reasons to keep any chance of setting things on a fire to a bare minimum. So, when you think of e-cigarette safety, the obvious stands out – there are no lighters necessary and there is no need to have fire of any sort involved in the smoking process. Think about how many times people set fires, and how many injuries occur and lives are affected by fires. It’s an incredible statistic that I felt compelled to look up. (This information was verified on July 12, 2012. Source: StatisticBrain)
The number of fires started by lighters and matches as a heat source: 9%
The number of fires by matches & lighters annually: 144,000
Number of people KILLED by matches, lighter fires: 321
Injured people in these same fires: 1,877
Total value of property loss (this one is huge): $470 MILLION. That’s an ANNUAL number.
Fires started out of this number between juveniles ages 10-17: 37%.
Wow. Those facts about fires started by matches & lighters are enough for me to never want to have any of them in my house! There are many more reasons to smoke electronic cigarettes, but if you have small children or share a household with someone who does, just think about those figures for a moment. They really are shocking and when you let them sink in, just think of the liability (there goes my legal brain again) obligations that surface. Yikes!
I’m not going to make health claims in regards to e-cigarettes being “safer” – although I have a strong feeling that they are safer, health claims have not been substantiated yet and e-cigarette brands shy away from saying that, so I will too. Today I just wanted to share those alarming stats with you about the aspect of fires caused by matches and lighters. When you smoke a cigarette, obviously you need to have some sort of fire starting those up, so a lighter or match is necessary.
Thanks for reading about e-cigarettes safety! Up next, some more e-cig brand reviews!
Tags: e-cigarette safety
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