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E-cigarettes take social scene by storm; pose headaches for regulators

TORONTO - You may not have known what an e-cigarette was at the start of 2013. But chances are, you do now.

Leo DiCaprio and Katherine Heigl puff on them. Talk show host Jenny McCarthy and actor Stephen Dorff hawk them. For that matter, so does Santa Claus (at least in one controversial billboard).

A telltale sign of the burgeoning popularity of e-cigarettes: Internet searches for the products have grown exponentially in recent years. A study by U.S. researchers showed a several hundred-fold increase in searches for the devices over other smoking alternatives such as nicotine patches between 2008 and 2010.

"It's far outpacing anything else in many parts of the world," says senior author Dr. John Brownstein, an associate professor at Harvard University.

Another U.S. study suggested that in 2012, eight per cent of people in the general population had tried an e-cigarette, an activity that's called vaping (it rhymes with taping). About a third of smokers reported having tried the devices.

With their glowing tips and exhaled mist, e-cigarettes are designed to simulate smoking. Depending on what kind of fluid cartridge — juice in e-cigarette jargon — they are loaded with, some deliver a hit of tobacco's addictive component, nicotine, while others use non-nicotine laced fluid in a raft of flavours including chocolate, mango and banana cream.

You might think anything that would entice or help smokers to quit would be wholeheartedly embraced by the public health field. But in this case, you would be wrong. Addiction treatment specialists, public health officials and tobacco control advocates are divided over whether e-cigarettes are useful smoking cessation aids or Big Tobacco's latest attempt to retain, regain and expand market share by getting a new generation of customers — teenagers — hooked on nicotine.

Should the devices, like cigarettes, be barred from restaurants, workplaces and other indoor settings? Or are they sufficiently different — and sufficiently safe for users and the people around them — to merit more lax regulatory treatment? Would less stringent rules for e-cigarettes "renormalize" smoking, undoing decades of anti-tobacco efforts by rendering the act of smoking — or simulated smoking — cool again? Will youth who start by vaping graduate to smoking cigarettes?

There are no immediate answers.

E-cigarettes are "hugely controversial," says Jessica Pepper, a doctoral candidate in health behaviour at the University of North Carolina. Pepper, who specializes in tobacco control policies, has been researching the devices.

"You have some parts of the scientific community saying 'E-cigarettes are bound to be safer than regular cigarettes so if e-cigarettes help smokers quit, we're going to be saving a ton of lives.' Then you have the other side of the debate where people are saying 'Well, what if smokers decide not to quit because e-cigarettes keep them addicted? What if smokers don't quit because they think it's OK to maybe just cut back a little on smoking and add e-cigarettes?'"

In the face of the uncertainty — and exploding sales — governments have been forced to respond. But the international regulatory approach to e-cigarettes resembles a patchwork quilt.

Last week New York City passed a bill that bans e-cigarette use in restaurants, bars and clubs. In the U.S., where this fall 40 state attorneys general called for tighter regulation of e-cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration plans to treat the devices like tobacco products.

In Britain, e-cigarettes will be regulated as a medicine, which will likely set a higher bar for manufacturers seeking approval for the products. But the European Union, which had intended to regulate them as medical devices, has steered away from that path. Last week the European commission announced it will set safety and quality standards for the devices and refills, impose stricter rules on advertising and require the products to be sold with safety warnings.

Health Canada would not give The Canadian Press an on-the-record interview about how e-cigarettes are regulated in this country. But two officials involved with the file did outline the legislative lay of the land, speaking on the proviso that their names not be used.

In Canada, e-cigarettes that are sold with nicotine and/or in packaging that makes a health claim fall under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drugs Act, they say. And under that act, a manufacturer must apply to Health Canada for authorization to bring a new product to market.

A health claim might be wording that asserts that the device can help a person quit smoking or is safer to use than tobacco cigarettes.

To date, Health Canada has not approved any e-cigarettes under the Food and Drug Act, say the officials, which means that it is not legal to sell e-cigarettes with juice that contains nicotine in Canada.

Some proponents of e-cigarettes contest that assertion, suggesting e-cigarette juice containing nicotine is governed by the Consumer Chemicals and Containers Regulations of 2001.

Health Canada disagrees. "That is wrong," one of the officials declares. "Definitely nicotine is regulated under the Food and Drugs Act."

The other Health Canada official said the department has taken "hundreds" of actions related to sales of e-cigarettes and nicotine, seizing some products, writing letters to inform merchants they must stop selling the combined products and working with Canada Border Services to stop importations of products. But vapers boast online that e-cigarettes with nicotine are easy to obtain here.

Experts acknowledge that e-cigarettes may well help smokers quit. But in order to be able to claim that in marketing materials, a manufacturer would have to provide evidence generated by well-done clinical trials. And to date there isn't much in the way of data.

A study published in September suggested e-cigarettes may be slightly more effective than nicotine patches or a placebo e-cigarette (without nicotine); 7.3, 5.8 and 4.1 per cent of subjects stayed off cigarettes for six months by using those alternatives respectively. But so few people actually quit smoking that the authors could not conclude if any one method was more effective than the others.

E-cigarettes that aren't sold with nicotine or which don't make health claims can be sold legally in Canada, the Health Canada officials say. These devices are regulated under the Canada Consumer Products Safety Act, one of the officials says.

The two-pronged treatment of e-cigarettes creates the odd scenario where an e-cigarette delivering nicotine could not be advertised in Canada, but one without nicotine could be. In the United States, both kinds can be advertised, a reality the attorneys general complained about in their letter to the FDA.

"We haven't had smoking advertising ... at least in the U.S., for so long. ... It's jarring to see the commercials on TV," Pepper says.

Dr. Richard Hurt, who runs the nicotine dependence center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., suggests the expansion of the e-cigarette industry and market is turning back the clock on tobacco control.

"In the absence of any regulation, they're going to push the envelope as far as they can," says Hurt, who says his program won't use the devices until they've been proven to work in randomized controlled trials.

"That's the way the cigarette manufacturers did in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s until someone said 'Enough already.' And they're going to push the envelope because if they push the envelope, they're going to make more money."

But Kirsten Bell believes e-cigarettes ought to be given a chance.

A professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Bell has researched the public health responses to the devices. She feels e-cigarettes aren't being given a fair shot.

"They were sort of being condemned without trial by the majority of people in mainstream tobacco control in public health," Bell says.

"You have this sort of unquestioning extension of smoke-free legislation to cover e-cigarettes when of course an e-cigarette isn't a cigarette. It's not a combustible product."

She thinks there's a sort of moralistic agenda at play, one that equates nicotine use with smoking, even though the dangers of cigarettes relate to how they deliver nicotine, not the compound itself.

"I'm not sure that I buy this idea that because you see people vaping e-cigarettes it's going to make you go out and try cigarettes," Bell says.

"I don't think that they will renormalize smoking. But if they do normalize vaping, that would only be a problem really if vaping itself is something that is harmful. And at the moment, we don't have the answer to that question."

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E-cigarettes take social scene by storm; pose headaches for regulators

TORONTO - You may not have known what an e-cigarette was at the start of 2013. But chances are, you do now.

Leo DiCaprio and Katherine Heigl puff on them. Talk show host Jenny McCarthy and actor Stephen Dorff hawk them. For that matter, so does Santa Claus (at least in one controversial billboard).

A telltale sign of the burgeoning popularity of e-cigarettes: Internet searches for the products have grown exponentially in recent years. A study by U.S. researchers showed a several hundred-fold increase in searches for the devices over other smoking alternatives such as nicotine patches between 2008 and 2010.

"It's far outpacing anything else in many parts of the world," says senior author Dr. John Brownstein, an associate professor at Harvard University.

Another U.S. study suggested that in 2012, eight per cent of people in the general population had tried an e-cigarette, an activity that's called vaping (it rhymes with taping). About a third of smokers reported having tried the devices.

With their glowing tips and exhaled mist, e-cigarettes are designed to simulate smoking. Depending on what kind of fluid cartridge — juice in e-cigarette jargon — they are loaded with, some deliver a hit of tobacco's addictive component, nicotine, while others use non-nicotine laced fluid in a raft of flavours including chocolate, mango and banana cream.

You might think anything that would entice or help smokers to quit would be wholeheartedly embraced by the public health field. But in this case, you would be wrong. Addiction treatment specialists, public health officials and tobacco control advocates are divided over whether e-cigarettes are useful smoking cessation aids or Big Tobacco's latest attempt to retain, regain and expand market share by getting a new generation of customers — teenagers — hooked on nicotine.

Should the devices, like cigarettes, be barred from restaurants, workplaces and other indoor settings? Or are they sufficiently different — and sufficiently safe for users and the people around them — to merit more lax regulatory treatment? Would less stringent rules for e-cigarettes "renormalize" smoking, undoing decades of anti-tobacco efforts by rendering the act of smoking — or simulated smoking — cool again? Will youth who start by vaping graduate to smoking cigarettes?

There are no immediate answers.

E-cigarettes are "hugely controversial," says Jessica Pepper, a doctoral candidate in health behaviour at the University of North Carolina. Pepper, who specializes in tobacco control policies, has been researching the devices.

"You have some parts of the scientific community saying 'E-cigarettes are bound to be safer than regular cigarettes so if e-cigarettes help smokers quit, we're going to be saving a ton of lives.' Then you have the other side of the debate where people are saying 'Well, what if smokers decide not to quit because e-cigarettes keep them addicted? What if smokers don't quit because they think it's OK to maybe just cut back a little on smoking and add e-cigarettes?'"

In the face of the uncertainty — and exploding sales — governments have been forced to respond. But the international regulatory approach to e-cigarettes resembles a patchwork quilt.

Last week New York City passed a bill that bans e-cigarette use in restaurants, bars and clubs. In the U.S., where this fall 40 state attorneys general called for tighter regulation of e-cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration plans to treat the devices like tobacco products.

In Britain, e-cigarettes will be regulated as a medicine, which will likely set a higher bar for manufacturers seeking approval for the products. But the European Union, which had intended to regulate them as medical devices, has steered away from that path. Last week the European commission announced it will set safety and quality standards for the devices and refills, impose stricter rules on advertising and require the products to be sold with safety warnings.

Health Canada would not give The Canadian Press an on-the-record interview about how e-cigarettes are regulated in this country. But two officials involved with the file did outline the legislative lay of the land, speaking on the proviso that their names not be used.

In Canada, e-cigarettes that are sold with nicotine and/or in packaging that makes a health claim fall under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drugs Act, they say. And under that act, a manufacturer must apply to Health Canada for authorization to bring a new product to market.

A health claim might be wording that asserts that the device can help a person quit smoking or is safer to use than tobacco cigarettes.

To date, Health Canada has not approved any e-cigarettes under the Food and Drug Act, say the officials, which means that it is not legal to sell e-cigarettes with juice that contains nicotine in Canada.

Some proponents of e-cigarettes contest that assertion, suggesting e-cigarette juice containing nicotine is governed by the Consumer Chemicals and Containers Regulations of 2001.

Health Canada disagrees. "That is wrong," one of the officials declares. "Definitely nicotine is regulated under the Food and Drugs Act."

The other Health Canada official said the department has taken "hundreds" of actions related to sales of e-cigarettes and nicotine, seizing some products, writing letters to inform merchants they must stop selling the combined products and working with Canada Border Services to stop importations of products. But vapers boast online that e-cigarettes with nicotine are easy to obtain here.

Experts acknowledge that e-cigarettes may well help smokers quit. But in order to be able to claim that in marketing materials, a manufacturer would have to provide evidence generated by well-done clinical trials. And to date there isn't much in the way of data.

A study published in September suggested e-cigarettes may be slightly more effective than nicotine patches or a placebo e-cigarette (without nicotine); 7.3, 5.8 and 4.1 per cent of subjects stayed off cigarettes for six months by using those alternatives respectively. But so few people actually quit smoking that the authors could not conclude if any one method was more effective than the others.

E-cigarettes that aren't sold with nicotine or which don't make health claims can be sold legally in Canada, the Health Canada officials say. These devices are regulated under the Canada Consumer Products Safety Act, one of the officials says.

The two-pronged treatment of e-cigarettes creates the odd scenario where an e-cigarette delivering nicotine could not be advertised in Canada, but one without nicotine could be. In the United States, both kinds can be advertised, a reality the attorneys general complained about in their letter to the FDA.

"We haven't had smoking advertising ... at least in the U.S., for so long. ... It's jarring to see the commercials on TV," Pepper says.

Dr. Richard Hurt, who runs the nicotine dependence center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., suggests the expansion of the e-cigarette industry and market is turning back the clock on tobacco control.

"In the absence of any regulation, they're going to push the envelope as far as they can," says Hurt, who says his program won't use the devices until they've been proven to work in randomized controlled trials.

"That's the way the cigarette manufacturers did in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s until someone said 'Enough already.' And they're going to push the envelope because if they push the envelope, they're going to make more money."

But Kirsten Bell believes e-cigarettes ought to be given a chance.

A professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Bell has researched the public health responses to the devices. She feels e-cigarettes aren't being given a fair shot.

"They were sort of being condemned without trial by the majority of people in mainstream tobacco control in public health," Bell says.

"You have this sort of unquestioning extension of smoke-free legislation to cover e-cigarettes when of course an e-cigarette isn't a cigarette. It's not a combustible product."

She thinks there's a sort of moralistic agenda at play, one that equates nicotine use with smoking, even though the dangers of cigarettes relate to how they deliver nicotine, not the compound itself.

"I'm not sure that I buy this idea that because you see people vaping e-cigarettes it's going to make you go out and try cigarettes," Bell says.

"I don't think that they will renormalize smoking. But if they do normalize vaping, that would only be a problem really if vaping itself is something that is harmful. And at the moment, we don't have the answer to that question."

'Vaping' Santa Billboard Causes Backlash

E-cigarette company draws controversy after using "vaping" Santa in billboard. (VaporShark/Facebook)

This might put Santa on the naughty list.

The e-cigarette company Vapor-Shark is facing backlash after putting up a billboard of a "vaping" Santa Claus in Florida. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kidscomplained the ad was similar to old cigarette ads aimed at children and called it " a new low."

Even e-cigarettes fans said the ad was inappropriate.

"Showing Santa vaping, globally recognized as a children's icon, is irresponsible and is and will be seen as a ploy to appeal to under age customers," said Aaron Frazier, a self-described "vapor," on the company's Facebook Page. 

"We disagree … it's a difference of opinion" said Vapor Shark CEO Brandon Liedel of their dissenters. "The only type of kid that would be persuaded by Santa Claus is a 5-year-old. I think a gorgeous woman would be more persuasive for a teenager."

Q&A: Justin Time of Vape'n'Shine | VAPE News Magazine

Remember back to your first big mod purchase. You opened the box and carefully laid it upon a flat palm to observe every engraving, bend and twist. Then a few weeks go by and it hasn't even left the house because you are too afraid it may experience the same fate as your previous PV's—dinged up, scratched and ware marks from where you had fondled it. No longer does this fear have to haunt you when you pick up your next unicorn. Feel free to take it out on display and evendrop it once in a while! There is a new company in our vaping community that relieves us of all of these anxieties and they are known as Vape'n'Shine.

I first heard about Vape'n'Shine though a Facebook group. I thumbed through a few of their pictures and was surprised to see how much attention to detail Justin Time, CEO and Founder of Vape'n'Shine, had put into his work. From changing mods' overall finishes to completely redoing custom finishes this guy really has done his homework and can tackle any request you may come up with for your mod. From brushing to media blasting, polishing and refinishing, to complete refurbishing, he can turn your beat-up treasures into better-than-new collection pieces. I met with Time to find out more about his story and the origin of Vape'n'Shine.

Vape News: Justin when and why did you start vaping?

JT: I made the switch in April of 2011; I desperately wanted to quit smoking. I couldn't stand to smoke anymore, but I just couldn't quit. I ran into a friend who was using a BLU, and decided I would give it a try. Needless to say it wasn't cutting it, so I set out to do some of my own research and stumbled upon the vaping community.

Vape News: Which would you say are your top three favorite mods?

JT: My three favorite mods, currently, are my BBM TI 18500, BaGua 22mm TI 18500 and my Caravela in 18500 of course.

Vape News: When did you first start refinishing and refurbishing mods?

JT: It was in February of 2013 that I made the decision to start repairing, refurbishing and refinishing mods. I was still buying second- and third-hand mods, hybrids and atties off of the ECF classifieds. It was when I purchased an iHybrid that was in not so good condition. I found an old electric motor, a polishing wheel and some compound and just went to town on it. Turns out I had a knack for it. It was then when someone on one of the Facebook groups was asking if he knew someone who could polish his Zen Standard. I jumped in, did the job,and before I knew it, he recommended me to his friends, and then those people to their friends. It snowballed! People were requesting satin finishes, brushed finishes, and so I started buying the equipment needed to do such work.

Vape News: Who could you list as your greatest mentor in the process?

JT: My greatest mentor ... well I would have to say my father. While working with metal is not his trade (nor mine), he is very knowledgeable in many fields, a do-it-yourself-er so to say, and good one at that. Most of my knowledge came from reading and researching; but he was always there since the beginning to offer his advice and to brainstorm with.

Vape News: Aside from personal orders from the vaping community, have you been sought out by any of the big name modders for your trade?

JT: Yes I have worked with some of the big name modders. Doc Dave for instance, we will be working together on many projects here in the future. To name just one specifically, Bliss special LE's. I have also been talking to various other modders as well. Stay tuned to find out who they are!

Vape News: What would you say has been the most rewarding part of your personal vaping experience as well as the experience you have with Vape'n'Shine?

JT: The most rewarding part of my vaping experience is seeing my friends and family follow suit and kick tobacco for good. Specifically both of my parents, smokers for more than 40 years, and have both made it to more than a year of no tobacco since switching to vaping. In-so-far-as Vape'n'Shine and the community, just helping people restore new life to damaged mods and atties as well as having a chance to put my own personal touch on some of the most sought after gear out there.

Vape News: What plans do you have for the future of Vape'n'Shine?

JT: Designing mods and atties are just some of the future plans for Vape'n'Shine, as well as engraving and plating.

Vape News: If you were stuck on a deserted island with only one outlet, and could only have one mod with you, which would you have by your side?

JT: There's a electrical outlet on a deserted island? I guess if I had to be stuck with one setup; it would be my BaGua 22mm TI with Bliss TI V3 Special atty. But ask me again in a month from now and I'm sure it will be something else.

Vape News: Do you have any comments for the vaping community?

JT: It has been quite a journey so far. Vape'n'Shine is only my part-time business. I work a full-time career in the geomatic engineering field, and it has been quite a challenge to keep up with the demand of mod repairs and customization. I would like to personally thank all the members of the vaping community for their support and patronage. 

Poison control centers see spike in e-cigarette calls

Poison control centers nationally have seen a 161 percent increase in calls from people with concerns over e-cigarettes.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, e-cigarettes are drug-device products designed to deliver nicotine to a user in the form of a vapor.

The process of smoking an e-cigarette, often known as vaping, is typically done by using a battery-operated heating element, a replaceable cartridge containing nicotine and an atomizer that uses heat to convert the contents of the cartridge into a vapor -- which is then inhaled by the user.

For smokers trying to kick the habit, e-cigarettes often appear to provide a way to wean off cigarettes while avoiding health risks like cancer.

"More than half of the calls we have received were concerning children," said Ashley Webb, board-certified toxicologist and director of the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center of Kosair Children's Hospital.

"Kids are picking up the liquid cartridge when cartridges are left accessible or when an adult is changing the cartridge," Webb told kyforward.com. "They're also getting a hold of the e-cigarette and taking it apart to expose the liquid. They then either ingest the liquid or get it onto their skin. Even on the skin, the nicotine is absorbed and can create adverse side effects."

Researchers found that three in 10 e-cigarettes contain levels of formaldehyde and acrolein -- known carcinogens -- that are nearly equal to levels found in standard cigarettes.

Scientists with the FDA and American Cancer Society say there is currently no scientific evidence about the safety of e-cigarettes.

In initial lab tests, the FDA found detectable levels of carcinogens and toxic chemicals, including an ingredient used in anti-freeze.

The American Cancer Society says e-cigarettes have not been approved by the FDA for use to quit smoking. Experts add that no evidence exists to show they even help people quit smoking.

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RE: EU draft Tobacco Products Directive: who to write to and what to say

RE: EU draft Tobacco Products Directive: who to write to and what to say 

Clive bates was recently talking to Dave on VTTV well worth a watch.

http://www.vapourtrails.tv/?p=4940