Regulating Vaping

Sonora, CA — Labeling e-cigarettes as a “health threat,” California health officials want strict regulations put in place and a Mother Lode health officer agrees.

Today, the California Department of Public Health released a report that finds e-cigarettes emit cancer-causing chemicals and, like regular cigarettes, get users hooked on nicotine.  Tuolumne County Health Officer Dr. Todd Stolp agrees.  “I think the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) should step in and regulate these like they do any other nicotine delivery system,” he says.

The main concern is the younger generations getting hooked on the nicotine, according to state health officials.  E-cigarette makers argue that vaping, which is the heating of liquid nicotine from cartridges into inhaleable vapor, is less harmful than traditional cigarettes because it lacks the tar and other chemicals.  Dr. Stolp counters, “We know that poison control reports were about one every month in 2010. That number increased to almost 200 per month…some of that [number] was babies who accessed the cartridges and consumed an amount of nicotine that is in fact, toxic.”

As previously reported, a state law maker has called for a ban of e-cigarettes in public places.  Already, Oklahoma and Arkansas have put out advisories cautioning against vaping.