In a 32 page ruling released today for the Smoking Everywhere vs FDA lawsuit, US Federal Judge Richard Leon has said the FDA has no jurisdiction over electronic cigarettes, at least in so far as regulating them as drug delivery devices. The FDA's efforts to regulate ecigarettes as a drug has taken a severe blow and ecig makers, sellers and users around the globe are rejoicing.

In his ruling Judge Leon had scathing words for the FDA:

This case appears to be yet another example of FDA's aggressive efforts to regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs or devices, Unfortunately it's tenacious drive to maximize its regulatory power has resulted in its advocacy of an interpretation of the relevant law that I find, at first blush, to be unreasonable and unacceptable."

Ray Story, CEO of Smoking Everywhere said ""big big big victory for us." and ecigarette forums around the Internet lit up tonight with rejoicing and celebration at the good news.

What effect with this ruling have as the electronic cigarette industry faces challenges from attorney generals from California and other states as well as stiff opposition from anti smoking groups has yet to be seen.

Njoy announced today they will no longer carry flavors in the US market, save for tobacco and menthol. Why? Because that's what the law requires for regular cigarettes and they are trying to cut the feet out from under the insane argument that "Electronic Cigarettes are marketed to kids".

While I understand their reasoning, it infuriates me to see Njoy and the others forced to cave. Politically it's probably a good move. Anti smoking activists have convinced people that if something tastes good, it must be for kids. But I disagree and I grow tired of seeing this argument not only repeated but successful time and time again.

Chalk up another victory for drug company funded activist anti smoking groups. They are proving the old adage "if you just keep repeating it, it becomes the truth."

Why is this agrument making sense to people? An ecigarette that costs $100 is for kids because it comes in flavors?

Njoy said:

Though electronic cigarettes have a price point generally considered beyond the reach of most youth and there is not widespread evidence of the products being used by underage smokers, a number of pertinent issues have been raised regarding underage persons, such as the appeal of various flavors.

Read more

Today Njoy, a leading electronic cigarette manufacturer announced they will be discontinuing the sale of any flavored nicotine cartridges except tobacco and menthol in the US market to bring their offerings in line with the requirements of traditional cigarettes by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. They anticipate the new flavor policy to be in full force by spring 2010. 

Jack Leadbeater, CEO of Njoy said "Electronic cigarettes represent a smoking alternative for adult committed smokers. We have no interest in marketing or selling our products to underage smokers and have taken numerous steps over the years to prevent youth access to our products. We hope other members of our industry will act responsibly and either follow our lead or innovate even better methods to ensure proper product use.”

The company further outlined the steps they have already taken to discourage the underage use of Electronic Cigarettes, including:

A few weeks ago I reported on an undercover sting operation conducted by KSHB-TV in Kansas City, (an NBC affiliate) where they caught a couple of e-cig retailers letting kids try them at the mall. Now there is a new story in Arizona, from TV ABC15.

And guess what? It's the same guy from Kansas. Same quotes, same everything. It's the same exact story almost down to the letter.

From the original story in Kansas:

NBC Action News, KSHB-TV in Kansas City recently got a call from a parent concerned that his 17 year old teen had seen ECigarettes at the mall. Many malls across the country now have e-cig kiosks and the Oak Park Mall and Independence Center are no different. The station decided to do an undercover investigation to see what this was all about and sent an under aged intern into these two malls to test what e-cig vendors might do if approached by a teen.

What they reported clearly demonstrates some of the controversy and problems with marketing surrounding ecigarettes and the way they are treated in the media, so I thought I should do a little commentary about my opinions on this report.

Kids are Safe in the Mall

The article says this parent was very concerned his child was exposed to such things at the Mall. He contacted the management of Independence Center, where his child was, and demanded action. Then he called the TV station to urge them to expose this.

It's still a concern to parents who thought their teens were safe at the mall.

Read more

Breaking news on the vaccine front!! If I were John Banzhaf I'd be sending out press releases saying "in response to my recent blog posts regarding vaccines, the National Institute of Health announced they are giving a $10 million dollar grant to the developers of NicVAX, the anti smoking vaccine, to fund phase III testing." But I won't.

What is NicVAX? An anti-smoking vaccine?

NicVAX is a new injectable vaccine developed by Nabi biopharmaceuticals of Rockville Md which the FDA has already granted "fast track status" to that researchers claim will help people quit smoking and prevent them from relapsing.

NicVAX has already passed initial regulatory hurdles to show the idea is sound and now move to clinical trials where patients are given six monthly shots. Early results show that smokers using the vaccine had a higher rate of success at abstinence from tobacco than those given the placebo.

I was browsing around and saw a question about using the electronic cigarette to quit smoking that i just had to answer. I went on a bit, I know, so much so the site wouldn't let me even finish my answer!! But I thought I'd post it here in it's entirety, not just because I didn't want to waste the time it took to write it, but because this is my honest advice to anyone thinking of using the electronic cigarette to quit smoking