F.D.A. Will Propose New Regulations for E-Cigarettes
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration will propose sweeping new rules on Thursday that for the first time would extend its regulatory authority from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes, popular nicotine delivery devices that have grown into a multibillion-dollar business with virtually no federal oversight or protections for American consumers.
The regulatory blueprint, with broad implications for public health, the tobacco industry and the nation’s 42 million smokers, would also cover pipe tobacco and cigars, tobacco products that have long slid under the regulatory radar and whose use has risen sharply in recent years. The new regulations would ban the sale of e-cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco to Americans under 18, and would require that people buying them show photo identification to prove their age, measures already mandated in a number of states.
Once finalized, the regulations will establish oversight of what has been a market free-for-all of products, including vials of liquid nicotine of varying quality and unknown provenance. It has taken the agency four years since Congress passed a major tobacco-control law in 2009 to get to this stage, and federal officials and advocates say it will take at least another year for the rules to take effect — and possibly significantly longer if affected companies sue to block them.
“If it takes more than a year to finalize this rule, the F.D.A. isn’t doing its job,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an advocacy group.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/health/fda-will-propose-new-regulations-for-e-cigarettes.html
And the gold rush for the 'next frontier' of big tobacco, who have been buying up or developing their own e-cigs, will come to an end.
Many communities, (For instance, Philadelphia is waiting for the mayor to sign the law) are simply rolling them into existing smoking restrictions. This is what makes the most sense.
= new reply since forum marked as read
the patches, the gum, all that other snake oil toward an effort to substitute tobacco cigarettes for something demonstrably less harmful, vaping pipes, and with a little support we would come out far ahead of where we are.
Equip the former phone operators with vaping pipes and rolling carts, or shoulder bags and portable tables, or whatever. (That should be several hundred people, so we will need about 5 million cheapo pipe setups to start with, another 5 million ready soon after). Probably could get a coop to get their own vegetable glycerin, pg, nicotine syrup, perfumes flavors, etc, make the stuff for not much $. (A whole new kind of WPA). Less than $20 each, maybe 2 kinds per person). So $40-50 million for pipes, another $30 for e-liquid, parts, lab setups, etc. Say $100 million. They will need a salary and health care.
Anytime they see a smoker they offer a free pipe, assortment of flavors, and a couple of drs numbers and maybe a support group.
Put them in groups in the largest concentration of smokers - and set them in motion.
Let them be friendly evangelists every time they see a new smoker. Approach them respectfully, offer clean demo pipes like they have in the store, give them a hi-nicotine substitute for their cigs and a way to stay in contact, couple drs names, and some support. And a list of stores that meet some standard.
I mentioned the cost of this around $100 million. Some estimates put the cost of treating smoking-related disease over $200 billion a year in the U.S. If an effort to move people to substitutes was effective, that 100 million (plus something for salary and benefits, so add 5 x that) could save $10 or $20 billion of the above fairly easily, maybe a lot more. And prevent thousands of early deaths as well.
(Could hand them voting registration cards too.)
And while we still don't know that all the harmful effect of the vaping pipes (different from an e-cig) we do know that the early evidence sure looks like it is a far safer substitute for the addict, for the world around them, and far less costly to everyone. And we are dealing with addicts.
just doodling though 
You know I'm a fan of e-cigs, which is obvious from the Spinner currently parked in my mouth. 
The regs, however, seem to be sensitive to this argument. So far, nobody's found anything but:
1) Banning sales to under-18 year olds. I approve, most people would.
2) ID required to purchase. This may potentially impact the online sales industry, but so far those wiser than I don't see a problem and this seems to apply to Brick and Mortar.
3) No regulation of flavors.
4) Standard approval process. This is a potentially sticky wicket given the known delays, but we'll have to see how it plays out.
5) Questionable regulation of delivery devices. It's not very clear in the document as far as anybody's gotten yet, but batteries, toppers, and metal tubes aren't under the FDA's banner anyway and would leave them wide open to a lawsuit.
If there's a bomb here, we haven't found it yet.
That stuff always made me slightly nervous. Sticky on my hair, sticky on my lungs. And the words "vinyl acetate" don't seem particularly welcoming.
Unregulated, too. Sprayed directly near my face. I'm probably dying of vinyl poisoning.
Strangely, my e-cig's contents are all regulated. Personally, I DIY, and like vendors, I only use pharmaceutical grade components. The FDA has even seen fit to approve them in combination with the nicotine inhalers (which include everything I use and 8 other things besides).
