Now this is not really Electronic Cigarette related, but I just ran across this while doing some research at the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and it caught my eye as another example of science potentially being used for fear mongering when it comes to smoking.

First off, let me say CO is bad. I grew up on a busy street. At any given time during rush hour traffic we would have 40-50 cars idling in my front yard. At one point the gas man came to hook up our heater and said he couldn't because CO levels inside the house were too much, there must be something wrong with the heater. So he went outside to clear his detector. He found the CO levels OUTSIDE were higher, almost twice as high, then they were inside. And I can say without a doubt, when I moved out of that house into a more residential area, my health greatly improved.

We complained to the city many times and were always told "nothing we can do sir."

So, I'm no fan of CO. But i found this article "Carbon Monoxide Levels Among Patrons of Hookah Cafes" at the AJoPM and found it interesting. Here's the scoop:

Tobacco corporations must have all their products evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration in the next 10 weeks. A law passed in 2009 gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco as a drug. The merchandise review is a provision required by that law. Tobacco products that have been altered or introduced since February 2007 must have their ingredients approved by the FDA to continue being sold. Otherwise they might be checking out installment loans in order to get their products accepted.

Regulation for tobacco funded by companies selling tobacco

In a move intended to rid the market of the most addictive tobacco products, tobacco companies must get FDA approval for products that have been launched or altered since Feb. 15, 2007. Tobacco companies have to prove to the Food and Drug Administration that all of the smokeless tobacco and cigarettes are, by March 22, "substantially equivalent to those marketed prior to that date." Tobacco companies must pay to fund the reviews and any resulting regulatory action. There is no need for smokers to have more health risks or encourage non-smokers to want to smoke even more. That means the FDA will ban the cigarettes that have tobacco product ingredient changes so much that they do this.