FDA proposes new rules for e-cigarettes

E-cigarettes hit the market with a bang and sales for 2013 were over $2 billion. Until now they have been totally unregulated. It's been a "buyer beware" marketplace. With over 250 different manufacturers it's been hard to separate companies who care about the quality of their product versus ones in it to make a quick buck and are careless with quality control. Some studies have shown that the ingredients can vary greatly manufacturer to manufacturer. The ingredients stated on the package isn't always what is true, even the amount of nicotine has been shown to vary by up to 20%.

The tobacco companies were slow to enter into the e-cigarette market, probably thinking they were a fad that would fade. But as the popularity of e-cigarettes has increased the tobacco companies can see them eating into their profits and are now producing their own e-cigarette products or acquiring existing companies.

The tobacco companies have lied to the public about their tobacco products for over half a century. Does anyone really think the tobacco companies won't lie about this product as well? 

The FDA has issued a proposal to regulate e-cigarettes under the Family Smoking and Prevention Act of 2010. 

The regulations are simple:
1. Don't sell to children
2. Don't lie about the health effects (the long term use of e-cigarettes is unknown at this time)
3. Don't mislabel what's in them (with so many different manufacturers, there are as many different ingredient combinations, some which do contain harmful substances).
4. Have a warning label that the product contains nicotine and that nicotine is addictive. 

The tobacco companies manipulated cigarettes to make them as addictive as possible so that smokers have a difficult time quitting. Does anyone think they won't do the same thing to e-cigs? 

I predict the next market the tobacco companies will be going after -- are the people who have already quit smoking cigarettes. They will lure former smokers back with the promise of the enjoyment of nicotine without the harm and while e-cigarettes are probably less harmful than smoking they are not as harmless as breathing fresh air.

Click here to read the entire FDA proposal.

Click here to read more about e-cigarette batteries blowing up.