Electronic Cigarettes versus Big Tobacco - You Don’t Want to Miss This!
Saturday, June 6th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
As electronic cigarettes storm the U.S. Market and sales continue to climb Big Tobacco throws it’s weight behind legislation that could not only send the e-cigarette packing, but also put small tobacco cigarette producing companies out of business for good.
Electronic Cigarettes, or e-cigarettes have stormed the U.S. market in the last few months and have generated a tremendous amount of excitement and confusion. Smokers and loved ones of smokers are equally charged about the idea of a potentially healthier, safer and even cheaper alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes while many are also puzzled as to their legal status with regards to U.S. customs and the FDA.
E-Cigarettes have actually been in existence for about 5 years, having been developed by the Runyan Corp. in China in 2004. They were designed to take the place of smoking tobacco cigarettes and cigars because, despite global smoking bans, many smokers are just unable to quit altogether. There are other nicotine replacement products on the market, such as gum and patches, but they don’t replicate the smoking experience which has been found to be a part of the addictive ritual of smoking. The electronic cigarette is a revolutionary device that aims to both deliver nicotine to the user and to simulate the act of smoking a tobacco cigarette.
The basic idea is simple. Electronic cigarettes look like a cigarettes, deliver nicotine to the user like a cigarette, and even function, ie- “puff”, like a cigarette. The genius is in the details however. Electronic cigarettes do NOT have any of the tobacco or other chemical additives of regular cigarettes, there is no flame or smoke, and thus no secondhand smoke. The just contain battery charged cartridges and put out a water propylene glycol based vapor that is both harmless and odorless. Since these are “smokeless” cigarettes, users are not subject to the many smoking bans and are able to smoke electronic cigarettes in places such as airports, bars, restaurants, workplaces, etc. Add to this the tremendous cost savings over tobacco cigarettes and it looks like we have a real winner here.
So what about those legality issues? Electronic cigarettes fall into a legal grey area as they have not been officially approved or banned by the FDA but they are still being commonly sold in the U.S. There’s plenty of debate as to whether or not the FDA has any say over electronic cigarettes and there’s a bill currently sitting in Congress that is sure to further complicate matters. The Family Smoking Prevention And Tobacco Control Act, passed by the House on 04/02/09, and now in the Senate would permit the FDA “to review and consider the evidence for additional indications for nicotine replacement products.”it wouldn’t take much to arrive at an interpretation of this that puts e-cigarettes under the FDA’s control.
It will be interesting to watch how this plays out, particularly in light of the special interests involved in the electronic cigarettes’ success or failure. Another unique aspect of electronic cigarettes is that, unlike big tobacco, which is dominated by a few large companies, some smaller firms have been able to successfully produce and sell these devices. It should not come as a shock to hear that Phillip Morris firmly supports the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which would essentially make manufacturing tobacco products more costly, thus getting rid of smaller competitors, and possibly also eliminating the e-cigarette competition as well.
One thing is for certain, those who have already discovered electronic cigarettes are watching closely because this is truly a product that has already changed the lives of many smokers who now have no desire to go near a tobacco cigarette or to hand over their hard earned cash to big tobacco. If history is any indication, generally the best products with the most loyal customers are going to win out in the end anyway. E-cigarettes are converting thousands of smokers on a daily basis because news of a good thing travels fast.
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