Recently, the Food and Drug Administration has regulated electronic cigarettes, making it illegal to sell e-cigarettes to anyone under 18. Similarly, California recently enacted legislation requiring a minimum purchase age of 21 for e-cigarettes.
Tobacco critic Stanton Glantz argued in favor of the minimum purchase age, stating that "There's no question that e-cigarettes aren't as dangerous as cigarettes are," he says, "but they're still dangerous." Federal regulations have also prohibited e-cigarette retailers from providing free samples to customers and state regulations have required retailers to register and obtain a license.
E-cigarettes contain nicotine, flavoring, and a propylene glycol (a food additive classified as “generally recognized as safe” by the FDA). However, e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco, the main carcinogen in traditional cigarettes.
Is Vaping a Safe Way to Quit?
In contrast to the American approach, in the United Kingdom, “British health officials released what was billed as a ‘landmark review’ of electronic cigarettes. In it, e-cigarettes were described as “‘around 95 percent safer than smoking’” and “the study encouraged e-cigs to be labeled as an effective means of helping smokers curb and kick the deadly habit.”
A cutting-edge study funded by Cancer Research UK has demonstrated that if smokers completely quit smoking tobacco and switch to vaping, they will substantially reduce their intake of toxic chemicals and carcinogens. According to lead research Lion Shahab, a senior lecturer at University College London, the “study shows that bodily level exposure to established and important smoking-related carcinogens and toxicants is reduced by between 56 percent to 97 percent in long-term e-cigarette users who have stopped smoking completely, compared with tobacco cigarette smokers.”
According to Dr. Ed Stephens, senior research fellow at the University of St. Andrews, “This paper confirms the potential benefits of e-cigarettes and contributes to the growing body of evidence that the risk from chemicals in vapour is far lower than in cigarette smoke when an e-cigarette is used as the manufacturer intended.”
Make Vaping Great Again?
Although there is now scientific evidence that vaping represents a significantly safer alternative to smoking, regulators and anti-smoking advocates are continuing their efforts to regulate electronic cigarettes.
Given the lack of scientific consensus on the issue of the risks involved with e-cigarettes and the potential to save the lives of cigarette smokers, regulators should be encouraged not to enact any additional regulations that could decrease access to e-cigarettes and should consider reevaluating or repealing existing regulations. American regulators should adopt the “light touch” approach advocated by Cancer Research UK.
Meanwhile, some trade groups have expressed cautious optimism that the FDA will delay implementation of e-cigarette regulation in the Trump administration.
The issue continues to be hotly debated, leaving e-cigarette manufacturers, retailers, and their insurers to educate themselves regarding the applicable laws and regulations and put effective policies in place to guard against regulatory violations and lawsuits.