President of American Council on Science and Health says FDA Misled the Public

In a Washington Post article published Thursday, Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan, the president of the American Council on Science and Health calls the recent FDA press conference on electronic cigarettes "distorted, incomplete and misleading." She further states the FDA "was violating its long-cherished tradition of sticking to sound science as the basis for its policies. And in doing so, it is putting the lives and health of millions of Americans at risk."

Strong words against the government agency charged with protecting the public from unsafe consumer products from a woman notorious for attacking industries who make unscientific or overstated health claims. One might think she would side with the FDA against e-cigarette manufacturers and retailers claiming they are a smoking cessation product or a "healthier alternative" that contains "no carcinogens" without FDA approved studies to back them up.

Instead, Dr. Whelan has the FDA squarely in her sights and says they "should be sponsoring studies to evaluate its safety and efficacy -- leaving it on the market in the interim." Among the points she feels the FDA left out are the facts that cigarettes are lethal because of their users inhalation of massive amounts of smoke. "It is the inhaled smoke that kills in so many ways -- from cancers, cardiovascular and lung disease, and more" says Whelan.

She goes on to point out the "abysmal failures" of currently FDA approved smoking cessation aids like the patch and nicotine gum, pointing out their success rates are less than 15% after one year "condemning millions of addicted smokers to a lingering death." She says the public desperately needs new alternatives, but anti smoking groups like the American Lung Association, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and now even the FDA seem to be of the same mindset against new alternatives and "whose collective motto seems to be 'quit or die'."

Unexpected support for e-cigs from a woman whose organization has come under fire in the past for accepting funding from pharmaceutical companies. In 1982 the Center for Science in the Public Interest said of the ACSH "Through voodoo or alchemy, bodies of scientific knowledge are transmogrified into industry-oriented position statements." But it seems this time she's not siding with any drug company benefactors, the makers of the very products she says are ineffective and who stand to lose millions if smokers turn to e-cigarettes rather than their products.

Instead she says the FDA should be looking for new alternatives and thinks the electronic cigarette might just be what the doctor ordered. She points out that e-cigs have over a million users yet "the FDA, lacking data that e-cigarettes pose a health hazard, was so desperate, it called on consumers to phone in adverse side effects of e-cigarettes so they could begin to build a case against them and proceed with their intended ban. They neglected, however, to request smokers who successfully quit using the e-cigarette to also call in."

So what is Dr. Whelans final opinion on electronic cigarettes? "Any alternative acceptable to addicted smokers should be taken seriously. Instead of condemning the e-cigarette, the FDA should be sponsoring studies to evaluate its safety and efficacy -- leaving it on the market in the interim."

Read the Washington times article "FDA smoke screen on e-cigarettes" here