Electronic Cigarettes (Essay Sample)

Electronic Cigarettes
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Food and Drug Administration have proposed new regulations on electronic cigarettes thus heightening debate over smoking, which is undeniably one of the most contentious issues. Smokers are increasingly turning to e-cigarettes to get their nicotine fix but the proposed rules may trigger huge implications for the fast growing and largely unregulated industry.
Questions whether the new technology will help getting rid of cigarettes by offering safe smoking and aiding smokers quit smoking remains in the public’s head and other public health groups. Safety concerns associated with e-cigarettes may be killed if the regulations are too strict even though the real safety of the products is still in doubt. Regulators have been asked by various safety bodies and politicians especially their marketing techniques and the health concerns even though it is believed that the e-cigarettes do not contain thousands of chemicals tar or odor like other regular cigarettes that have raised issues over the last decades.
E-cigarette industry has experienced tremendous expansion over the last few years because the rocketing number of users who have more than 200 brands to choose from. The industry makes huge revenues because of the ability to eat into traditional cigarettes even though it is still unclear how safe they are. Unfortunately, proposed restrictions are likely to mirror those on regular cigarettes such as to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to people under 18 as it is done by two dozen states.
Moreover, regulators intend to set product standards and intend to compel e-cigarette companies to disclose their ingredients and include health warning labels on their commercials. It is however interesting to see how Federal agency will handle many flavors available for e-cigarettes where some limit offering to tobacco and menthol flavors while some other companies sell candy like flavors. There is a notion that flavored tobacco target minors and that others use sealed cartridges that hold nicotine and so ingesting the liquid or absorbing it through the skin may lead to nicotine poisoning. Although the restrictions and ban on e-cigarettes have been heightened, it provides the lesser of the real evil and lightly regulating electronic cigarettes might help the public health.
INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
Federal and other state governments intend to ban sales of electronic cigarettes to minors and further propose approval for new products and inclusion of health warning labels as a way of taming the fast growing e-cigarette industry. Even though some state government have already imposed restrictions, there are other significant concerns such as whether the e-cigarette can make smokers quit smoking and the clarity of the side effects of the products as claimed by various public health group bodies, the Federal and State governments and the public (Popova & Ling, 2013). Electronic cigarette industry has thrived in the last few years and its success is based on many factors including the fact that it has successfully replaced the traditional cigarettes that is believed to be more harmful for consumption because of the high content of chemicals, odor, and tar. Increased growing body of knowledge and understanding about the use of electronic cigarettes have made members of Congress and public health groups to raise concern over the products and even questioned the marketing tactics employed by the manufacturers (Levy et al., 2011). Main objectives of the regulations and bans are intended to boost public health via reduction of sales to minors, correcting consumer misconceptions, deterring deceptive health claims and further extend the authority of regulating cigars, hookah, nicotine gels, pipe tobacco, and dissolvable tobacco products.
The proposed regulations are regarded as a critical step in reining in marketing of the electronic cigarettes although public health advocates think that the proposals have come after an inexcusably long delay to act. In this case, a greater damaged has been done to the public including serious public health consequences and failure to regulate tobacco products that have been misleadingly marketed (Choi et al., 2012). E-cigarette landscape have continue to evolve and grow thus spurring a consolidation of companies in the market; something that has imposed great danger to minors who are attracted to the flavored nature and the commercial campaigns supporting the use of electronic cigarettes. This article attempts to analyze the effects of electronic cigarette in the public domain as well as the effects of proposed regulations on the e-cigarettes industry.
ASSEMBLE EVIDENCE
Many since their invention and introduction into the market where negative campaigns have marred traditional cigarettes have hailed electronic cigarettes. The product was seen as a tool that would help smokers quit and as the best product that would mitigate the hazardous effects of traditional tobacco thereby acting as an emerging triumph of public health. The e-cigarettes are designed in a way that they mimic the actual cigarettes and that they are inhaled with less chemicals. The devices that are made in such a way that they vaporize a liquid nicotine solution are powered by battery and controlled with microchip that may control the quantity of nicotine inhaled. According to Levy et al. (2011), electronic cigarettes are generally recognized as safer alternative compared to the tobacco products even though the extent to which it guarantees safety is in question. Proponents argue that the value proposition of e-cigarette is evident because it offers the dubious pleasure of nicotine without hazardous chemicals that may cause cancer and other tobacco related conditions. However, the original goal of the e-cigarette faded when public health advocates were worried about the adverse effects the products may have on the human health and the fact that it influences even minors to start smoking (Ripton, 2014).
Interestingly, even the fact that a user may control the quantity of nicotine taken in triggered an argument that smokers may be tempted to ingest excessive nicotine (Choi et al., 2012). There are also arguments that e-cigarettes may lure ex-smokers back to the act with the belief that it is not as serious as the traditional smoking and influence new smokers who would think that it is much safer than tobacco. All these issues have led to dilemma among the health regulators thus leading to questions whether regulation is intended to reduce the number of young people who may start smoking or increase the number of smokers who would want to quit the habit. The health regulators seem to have a lot to do in order to fulfill their agenda that tries to push for the regulation of e-cigarettes (Alemanno, 2012).
Quite understandably, it is obvious that the tension that exists in the issue of e-cigarettes is between regulators and commercial players, which are essential in almost every sector of the economy, especially the healthcare sector (Popova & Ling, 2013). Although electronic cigarettes have played an important role in reducing smoking because millions of people convert to e-cigarettes, millions of non-smokers also convert to electronic smokes. Full understanding of the public health impact of the products needs proper market research and in depth analysis because currently, the uncertainty over health issues does not seem to have hurt the product’s popularity (Levy et al., 2011). Sales of e-cigarettes have gone very high in the recent past and the overall value of the tobacco retail market has hugely increased.
A larger percentage of high school students have actually tried and an increase of the middle school students are increasing the number of electronic cigarette smokers making the product one of the disruptive technologies. Many brands that have been enabled by the introduction of electronic cigarette have increasingly threatened sales of tobacco products. Sales of traditional cigarettes have been cannibalized and the popularity of the e-cigarettes has gone extremely high; this caught the attention of regulators.
Choi et al. (2012) assert that regulators felt that the e-cigarettes sale and product was completely unregulated because they could be advertised and sold to any consumer regardless of their age on the internet. However, the action that was taken by major tobacco brands of acquiring e-cigarette manufacturers and displaying them alongside the traditional tobacco raised eyebrows among the legislatures because it was a worrying trend seeing businesses selling the so called safety products with the real tobacco (Ripton, 2014). This prompted a strong action to be taken by the Federal and local governments in taming the negative effects and the consumer manipulation that was brought by the e-cigarette emergence.
CONSTRUCT ALTERNATIVE POLICY RESPONSE
Popova and Ling (2013) argue that there is a lot of unconfirmed information regarding electronic cigarette that makes regulators, the public and the local governments doubt its significance. The influence the e-cigarette has on the young people is serious especially the rising number of high school students as well as colleges who are flocking in it (Pokhrel et al., 2013). The other unconfirmed information regarding e-cigarette is the fact that it is safer than the traditional tobacco because it has low nicotine and other chemical content as compared to tobacco smoking.
Electronic cigarette is actually in the middle of an image war and the $1.5 billion industry asserts that the nicotine vaporizers are not as harmful as smoking traditional tobacco even though rules that are more restrictive are required. Public health officials are convinced that "vaping" may allow more kids to start smoking tobacco even though the truth be...