Health advocates tell Appeals Court e-cigarettes should be regulated as tobacco

The following is reproduced from an email by Bill Godshall of  Smokefree Pennsylvania:

Smokefree Pennsylvania, The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), Consumer Advocates for Smokefree Alternatives Association (CASAA), National Vapers Club, Midwest Vapers Group and Drs. Michael Siegel and Joel Nitzkin filed an Amicus Brief with the DC Court of Appeals yesterday in support of litigation filed by electronic cigarette marketers Smoking Everywhere and NJOY against the US FDA.

The brief encourages the Appeals Court to uphold District Court Judge Richard Leon’s ruling in January that denied FDA authority to ban the import of electronic cigarettes by classifying them as unapproved drug devices (unless a company markets its products using therapeutic claims), and to prompt the FDA to promulgate reasonable and responsible regulations for e-cigarettes as tobacco products in accordance with the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act enacted by US Congress last year.

Attached are our Unopposed Motion to Participate, and Brief of Amici Curiae, as well as a similarly supportive Brief of Amicus Curiae filed yesterday by the Washington Legal Foundation.

Per the two Citizens Petitions below, please urge the FDA to reasonably regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products (instead of drugs or devices), and to truthfully inform smokers and the public that e-cigarettes (and other smokefree tobacc/nicotine products) are far less hazardous alternatives to cigarettes.

Bill Godshall
smokefree@compuserve.com

The Citizens Petition by the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) urging the FDA to reclassify and regulate electronic cigarettes (nicotine vaporizers) as tobacco products (instead of trying to ban the products by classifying them as drugs or devices) is at http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#docketDetail?R=FDA-2010-P-0095

To submit a comment urging supportive action by the FDA, go to http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480aa84a7

Suggested talking points:
- since e-cigarettes (nicotine vaporizers) are derived from tobacco, the FDA can legally reclassify and regulate them as “tobacco products”,
- by choosing to classify e-cigarettes as “drugs” or “devices”, the FDA was/is attempting to ban the products,
- hundreds of thousands of smokers already have significantly reduced their health risks by switching to e-cigarettes,
- if the FDA reasonably and responsibly regulated e-cigarettes as tobacco products, sales to minors would be prohibited, cigarette consumption/morbidity/mortality would decline more rapidly, and fewer taxpayers dollars would be spent by FDA protecting cigarette markets,
- in SE vs FDA, federal Judge Richard Leon has ruled that the FDA can regulate e-cigarettes as “tobacco products”, but not as “drugs” or “devices”,
- sales and use of e-cigarettes have continued to sharply increase despite the FDA’s ongoing attempt to ban the products,
- banning e-cigarettes would protect cigarette markets at the expense of consumer and public health,
- if applicable, describe your personal experience using e-cigarettes.

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The Citizens Petition by the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) urging the FDA to clarify/correct inaccurate and misleading claims about electronic cigarettes (nicotine vaporizers) made at the FDA’s July 22, 2009 press conference, and to truthfully inform the public of existing evidence about the products is now available at http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#docketDetail?R=FDA-2010-P-0093

To submit a comment urging supportive action by the FDA, go to http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480aa7cac

Suggested talking points:
- the FDA http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm172906.htm grossly mispresented its own laboratory test findings on two brands of e-cigarettes http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/ScienceResearch/UCM173250.pdf
- in contrast to claims made at the FDA’s press conference, there is no evidence that e-cigarettes have ever harmed any user or nonuser, and there is no evidence that e-cigarettes are marketed to youth,
- the FDA failed to acknowledge any evidence (sent to the agency) that e-cigarettes are far less hazardous alternatives to tobacco cigarettes, and that thousands of e-cigarette users informed the agency they had quit smoking by switching to the products,
- cigarette smokers have a human right to truthful information about, and legal access to, less hazardous alternatives,
- FDA officials have an ethical duty to protect consumer health and to provide truthful health risk information,
- if applicable, describe your personal experience using e-cigarettes.

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