Action on Smoking and Health
(ASH) has sent a communication which responds to a nasty letter written
by
an e-cigarette company. The nasty letter alleged that a news
article pointing out
some of the dangers of e-cigarettes reported by the Food and Drug
Administration [FDA] "could lead to the deaths of smokers and
electronic cigarette users."
ASH provided information about
potential dangers of e-cigarettes which were not included in the FDA's
report, including the fact that some e-cigarettes are now being sold to
admininter Cialis as well as nicotine, and a new report concluding that
e-cigarettes "are potentially lethal to children."
ASH's communication is set forth below.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), a non-profit tax-exempt scientific
organization, America's first antismoking organization, and one with
extensive involvement for more than twenty years with nicotine,
nicotine devices, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [FDA],
writes to provide you and your readers with additional information
about electronic cigarettes to supplement your article entitled "Saudi
Arabia to Curb E-Cigarettes" [Web posted at: 8/4/2009 2:28:44].
More specifically, we are aware of a so-called "open letter" written to
you by the managing director of an e-cigarette company which,
especially because it is written by an entity with an obvious financial
interest in the topic, and someone who apparently has no scientific or
medical training, may not reveal all relevant information.
http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=14878&catid=1088
However, as my organization pointed out at the time, the dangers which
the FDA noted in its report were apparently not the only potential
dangers associated with these new e-cigarettes, and that these devices
create many known and potential health risks to the users, to
bystanders, and to the economy.
These include possible contamination, smokers who otherwise would quit
instead remaining addicted to nicotine, the deadly danger nicotine
inhalation can pose for people with risk factors for heart attacks, the
propensity of inhaled nicotine to sustain or even trigger an addiction,
the worry that youngsters will use e-cigarettes as "training wheels" on
the way towards cigarette smoking, and the potential risks to those
around e-cigarette users -- including infants and young children, the
elderly, those with existing medical problems, etc. -- who will be
exposed to the exhaled vapors.
http://www.pr-inside.com/fda-ignores-major-dangers-of-e-cigarettes-r1406736.htm
In summary, in evaluating e-cigarettes, we respectfully suggest that
both your publication and your readers not rely upon the largely
unsubstantiated representations of sellers (who have an obvious bias
and usually no medical training or credibility), some allegedly
supported by studies which have not been published in reputable medical
journals and which may have been financed by the industry itself
(thereby creating a clear conflict of interest).
Instead, we would urge your publication and your readers to rely upon
the impartial governmental body charged by U.S. law with evaluating
such products [FDA], major U.S. national health organizations which are
impartial and have the necessary scientific authority and credibility
to address these issues, and decisions by impartial and unbiased
entities such as the Attorney General of Oregon, Facebook, etc.
In this regard you should find the links [URLs] set forth in this
communication, as well as the many URLs contained in the linked
documents, helpful. We urge you and your readers to consult them
for the truth. The simple truth is that no reputable scientific
study, much less one published in a major scientific or medical
journal, has ever shown that e-cigarettes are any less dangerous than
conventional tobacco cigarettes.
PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Professor of Public Interest Law and Executive Director
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
2013 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006, USA
(202) 659-4310 // ash.org/
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Action on Smoking and Health
(ASH)
701 4th St. NW / Washington, DC
20001 / (202) 659-4310
A national nonprofit, scientific and educational organization founded
in 1967.
All donations are fully tax deductible.
