Electronic Cigarettes: A Case Study

In 2003, the Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik invented the now highly demanded electronic cigarette, or e-cig, as an alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes. These battery-powered devices simulate the act of smoking a cigarette, but instead produce a water vapor as opposed to smoke. This tool was intended ideally to eradicate pungent and harmful substances that are emitted from the burning of tobacco. E-cigs enable tobacco smokers and non-tobacco smokers alike to avoid the damage from this combusted substance, and have assisted many breaking a smoking habit. Despite the high number of sales and popularity of the product, there is still considerable controversy surrounding the topic of e-cigs and how they should be managed. With support from …show more content…
Cigarette advertising commercials have been banned in the United States since 1971, while electronic cigarettes have gained popularity on a number of popular television channels within the past few years. With products that may seem so principally similar, this raises questions of regulatory procedures regarding e-cigs. The Food and Drug Administration initially did attempt to regulate these products, labeling them as “drug delivery devices” (Maron, pg. 2). An e-cig company called NJOY sued the FDA for this claim and the court ruled in the company’s favor in December of 2010. Regardless, the FDA has stated their intent to manage the device in the market and requested long-term studies be conducted (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Major concerns associated with the manufacture and distribution of electronic cigarettes are the accessibility to minors, the insufficiency of research obtained regarding health, and the advertisement of these products. From the year 2011 to 2012, the e-cig use in high schoolers jumped from 4.7% to 10%, 160,000 of whom had never smoked a conventional cigarette (Maron, pg. 3). E-cigs currently have no age limitations for buyers and are primarily regulated by individual sectors. The issue of accessibility was further questioned when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention releases a statement that “calls to poison centers involving e-cigarettes have surged in recent years as the products have gained in popularity” (Dennis, pg. 4). In addition, many cases involving children below the age of six have been reported as accidental ingestion of the nicotine liquid. As a result, many health groups along with the FDA have pushed for policy changes such as an age minimum, childproof packaging, banning commercials, and

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