For thousands of Americans, electronic cigarettes (or e-cigs as they are sometimes called) have been a “miracle” that has helped them quit smoking, or, at the very least, drastically reduced it. But not everyone is a fan of electronic cigarettes and lawmakers in New York are hurriedly attempting to ban the sale of them in the state. Hearing the anti-electronic cigarette news from state lawmakers across the country, retail giant Walmart has backed away from the sale of the controversial items.
“They offered a smokeless solutions kit but now it’s gone,” says Rachel Johnson. Rachel has using electronic cigarettes for two years and she claims she has never felt better. “I don’t know what the problem is, it’s harmless and there have been no studies showing otherwise. I think the congress in New York just don’t understand it. If it’s new, it’s bad according to them.”
Walmart was rumored to carry electronic cigarettes and store them in the smoking section behind one of the checkout aisles. It’s the same place traditional smokes are kept and sale of the devices would be to those over the age of 18.
“I was excited over it. I thought, ‘Man, if Walmart is behind it, then there’s no stopping it. Millions will be saved.’” says Johnson. “But they’re cowards. I guess they’ll go back to selling NASCAR pants and huge bags of cheese snacks.”
If legislation is passed in New York, the state would be the first to ban electronic cigarettes until the FDA can study the device to make sure it’s not a health risk. Pundits expect the bill to be passed in the state house. It will go to the Republican-controlled Senate afterward. New York GOP members have been mum on the issue.
“If I can quit without e-cigarettes, then anybody can do it,” says New York Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Democrat.
E-cigs are battery-operated and contain trace amounts of nicotine, giving the user “flavor smoking.” The smoke is actually water vapor.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
What a shame – The REAL reason behind the ban in my opinion is the loss of tobacco tax revenue for the state. This guise that it’s to “protect” people is ridiculous. Walmart should hold it’s ground at least until NY actually bans them -
Governments all over the world are loosing their legitimacy. I have smoked an e-fag for about 1.5 years and have not had to pay any tobacco taxes to our insane overlords. My breathing is normal and i can smoke anywhere. Will I ever go back to smoking regular cigarettes? No. I will seek out a black market before I go back because e-fags are just that good.
That comment by Linda Rosenthal is stupid. Just because she quit her way doesn’t mean everybody else can. I really hate stupid people and I don’t see how a dog like her got in public office.
I actually sell e-cigarette devices. Its a shame. If the Senate passes this as well, I will lose my business. What is worse is that in NY they will continue to sell tobacco cigarettes that they know cause disease. I am ashamed of NY lawmakers.
The critics cite “they contain antifreeze”
That is actually kind of true. They containe Propylen Glycol, the new NON-TOXIC replacement for the toxic Ethylen Glycol that was once used in antifreeze.
Propylene Glycol is indeed in modern antifreeze. It is also in your lipstick, mouthwash, toothpaste, soap, baby wipes, cough syrup, medications, just about all cosmetics, asthsma inhalers, and FOOD. Propylene Glycol has been in just about everything we use and ingest in our bodies everyday for the past 50 years and is on the FDA’s own Recognized as Safe list. It is basically a tasteless, oderless, harmless alternative to WATER that is used in basically any application that needs a lower freezing point and higher evaporating point than water. Hence it is in Antifreeze too.
Propylene Glycol is readily converted by the body into lactic acid and naturally expelled in the same process as your muscles expel lactic acid everyday. It has no known side effects and is in-fact SAFER than water, because no one has ever drowned in Propylene Glycol.
The “Antifreeze” thing is total BS. Antifreeze also contains Yellow Dye #5, but I don’t hear anyone calling for a ban on Mountain Dew.
Also, they are “marketed to kids” because they have flavors like chocolate and mint? Since when are chocolate and mint only for children anyway? I started smoking cigarettes when I was 13 and never once thought “hey, I wish these tasted like bubblegum”
I quit smoking 14 months ago the day I started the e-cig. I will never go back because once you get used to it (a few days) real cigarettes just smell bad, can’t be used anywhere, are too damn expensive, and could even one day kill you.
E-cigs are not a “gateway” to smoking, because they are BETTER. No one would use these and then choose to smoke instead.
It’s like outlawing foam insulation because people might use it as a gateway to using asbestos.
Yeah, nicotine is addictive, so what. Nicotine is awesome just like caffiene. If coffee had carcinogens it should be banned, but since it is harmess other than elevating your heart rate a bit, people leave caffiene alone. If cigarettes were harmeless, didn’t bother anyone, and didn’t kill, why would we still ban them? That is the question to ask the NYS Assembley right now.
These SHOULD be studied by a private, respectable, and fair lab, because they would be completely vindicated and in Walmart and every streetcorner in America and save countless lives.
If they are “banned until approved by the FDA” that will never happen, because guess what? The FDA would have no jurisdiction over thise as a tobacco product, only as a quit smoking aid, which they are NOT.
$10 a pack for tobacco cigarettes and about 2/3 of that goes to taxes. Think about it. Lobbies of the American Lung Association. Drug companies. Big Tobacco.
These could be the closest thing to an all-out cure to lung cancer and emphysema, and our lawmakers want to ban them because of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
If they ban e-cigs, big tobacco can continue to sell real cigarettes that are killing millions of smokers, hospitals, labs, pharmacies, and doctors will continue to collect income for the medical care of smokers who are dying or sick with diseases caused from smoking, less SS benefits, Medicare payments, etc. will have to be paid out because smokers don’t live as long, cigarette tax and sales tax can continue to be collected by the government from smokers who won’t have the chance to quit smoking using e-cigs, and the list goes on and on.
Of course they’re all gonna try to ban e-cigs. Is this really a free country? This is proof that the government doesn’t give a fatratsass about the people and their freedom.
I have been on e-cigs for 3 weeks now and it has been great! I have tried everything else from gum to the patch and even the pill, this is the only thing that has stuck. Thank god I will be leaving new york state in a few weeks. With insane taxes and now this, who wants to live in NY? Good job lawmakers.
I don’t give a stuff how Linda Rosenthal gave up smoking. Everyone is different and not everyone is able to quit cold turkey. Why should they when there is a less painful alternative? If she wants to act like a demiGod, let her do it in the privacy of her own theatrical-fog-free bubble and let everyone else get on with leading a normal life where INDIVIDUAL CHOICE is an option.
The electronic cigarette was invented to allow current smokers a safer alternative. And that is exactly what it does. Over the past year Linda Rosenthal has been provided with substantial amounts of information from a number of sources that clarify what the FDA found, including Dr. Michael Siegel’s findings from a study published in December. She has been provided with information regarding the contents of the liquid that is used. Yet she continues to say the ingredients are a mystery. This is an outright lie. I started smoking at 13 and smoked for 36 years. When I discovered this product I was skeptical, but I have been using it EXCLUSIVELY since August 7, 2010. The liquid that I purchase from a New York vendor contains nicotine, PG, VG, and flavoring, all of which are FDA approved. I may not live in the state of New York, but this action would directly negatively impact me.
The bill she is sponsoring could potentially harm thousands of current smokers, who will not be able to turn to a healthier alternative. Tobacco SMOKE causes cancer. I congratulate her on quitting cigarettes, but I resent her inability to grasp the fact that as an adult, I have the right to make my own decision to quit smoking tobacco but not nicotine.
It has been suggested that, since 80% of folks who take up regular use of e-cigarettes stop smoking tobacco cigarettes, that the underlying motive of Ms. Rosenthal and other sponsors of this bill is to preserve the megabucks taken in on New York cigarette taxes. If this is true, it’s unconscionable. Perhaps the New York Assembly needs to do a deeper study of the financial effects of allowing thousands of smokers to switch to a safer alternative. Within a short time after I stopped inhaling smoke, the wheezing that had kept me awake at night disappeared, as did the productive morning cough. As a result I have not had a single doctor visit during the past 19 months for management of asthma, nor have I needed an appointment for chronic bronchitis. I’m not an anomoly. Over 90% of users report such health improvements, breathing easier, lower blood pressure, and more stamina and energy.
So the loss in tax dollars is offset by lower medical costs and improved work productivity. Even if the offset isn’t 100%, it is reprehensible to condemn human beings to debilitating diseases and an early death, just to save a few bucks.
Brilliant encapsulation, Mike B.
I can’t say with any certainty what is motivating these ridiculous political games (tax revenues? I wouldn’t be surprised). But I can say that all the anti-e-smoking rhetoric is almost universally either (a) so painfully misinformed as to be idiotic or (b) completely disingenuous. Coming from politicians, I suppose it could be a combination of the two.
Ms. Rosenthal’s motivation for banning e-cigarettes is inherently flawed. She assumes that smokers who chose to switch to e-cigarettes are trying to cure their nicotine addiction. This is not the case. E-cigarette users simply want a low-risk source for nicotine and to still be able to feel like they are smoking. No other product currently on the market does this and that is why 93% of smokers using gums and patches end up returning to tobacco cigarettes. Now there is a low-risk alternative that tens of thousands of smokers have successfully switched to and Ms. Rosenthal wants to ban them, while leaving tobacco cigarettes readily available to smokers.
She has also been quoted as saying, “If people want the easy way to just get addicted to another nicotine delivery system, I hope soon they’ll have to look elsewhere.”
Where exactly, Ms. Rosenthal? E-cigarette users are former smokers already addicted to nicotine and have tried using patches and gums and everything else to get off of tobacco cigarettes. NOTHING has worked for them except e-cigarettes. Is this about the danger of smoking or about addiction for her? A comment like this shows she has no understanding of reduced harm alternatives. If an addictive product like nicotine e-cigarettes or caffeine carry low health risks, what is the point of opposing them simply because they are addicting?
If Ms. Rosenthal succeeds with her bill, the only “elsewhere” e-cigarette users in New York will have is tobacco cigarettes – the most dangerous source of nicotine there is.
I have been smoking the electronic cigarette for over a year now and it works great. It all comes down to the DOLLAR!!!
Linda Rosenthal, What a JOKE. WOW!!!!!!!!!!! cigarettes are proven to KILL you and it still legal???????? Oh ya our Government makes money of it.
As a 30 year smoker who tried every possible way to quit, I applaud Mrs. Rosenthal on her ability to quit cold turkey. Maybe I’m just weak-willed, but that didn’t work for me. It also didn’t work for anyone within hearing distance of me when I tried it.
So what did work? My “e-cigarette”. After 30 years of smoking I tried one. After my first puff from an e-cigarette, I lit three regular ones. The last one I couldn’t finish, it was just too nasty. My personal vaporizer (it looks nothing like a cigarette) has allowed me to sleep better at night, wake without coughing, avoid my annual case of bronchitis, improve my lung function, lower my blood pressure, and lower my triglyceride level. It has measurably – and almost immediately – reduce my likelihood of a heart attack.
So you go ahead and pat yourself on the back, Mrs. Rosenthal. Quitting smoking is hard – trust me, I know it is. Congratulations that you did. Now please allow me to do the same.
The facts have been covered pretty much in the previous comments. A 43 year ex-smoker of 2-3 packs a day, helped by E Cigs after years of listening to the establishment on what to do and what to use to quit. None of it worked until this product came along, On Feb 15th I will have gone a year without a puff on a cigarette. It took the previous seven months of using E cigs and about a half dozen cigarettes, but I got off them.
I’d time to stop the lies of legislators such as Ms. Rosenthal who should lose her job the next time elections take place. It’s time that the ?non-profit?”health” organizations such as the ALA, ACS, Legacy Foundation and CTFK work for people’s health instead of the massive cash flow from tobacco settlements, taxes and contributions from the Pharma industry, stand up and tell the truth. Once you eliminate inhaling combustible material you eliminate 98-99% of the risk of tobacco.
It’s time for some honesty which tobacco control has given up for a very lucrative campaign for all but the smoker.
Many of electronic cigarette companies do not state that it will help you quit. Nor do they say that electronic cigarettes are healthier for you. They simply provide an alternative to traditional cigarettes.
It’s truly hard to believe that so many lawmakers could be so decieved to believe that e-cigs “May” be dangerous, and that we the public should be protected from them. When at the same time “Chantix” has been PROVEN to be deadly, and is still readily available, and encouraged by TV commercials, doctors, “health” organizations, and the FDA.
The FDA has over 10,000 adverse effects reports listed in their database for Chantix (since 2006), and 0 reports for e-cigs (since 2004). Yet no push to ban it!!!
Chantix’s 1 year quit rate (if you live through it) is approx. 22% electronic cigarettes quit rate is somewere between 63 – 85% (depending on the poll).
They don’t want to “protect” us, they just need the tax money from big tobacco and big pharmacutical products and are giving in to the pressure from these places and the anti-smoking groups, who recieve BIG money from the pharm. companies.
It all comes down to the “BUCKS” – I just wish they would “ManUp” and admit it!
Man that’s bad news. With this and the new york bans that are occuring I am worried about the future of electronic cigarette vaping in the USA. I hope it doesn’t get to that point here in Australia, but there are already laws preventing the sale of nicotine cartridges and juice for ecigs. No sites can sell them legally here, and I buy from http://www.ivaporize.com.au for the non nicotine cartridges, but have to get nicotine cartridges from an overseas supplier.
Let’s hope the same thing doesn’t happen to you guys over there anytime soon!
I am not a smoker myself, but have seen the devastating effects of passive smoking. I have no doubt that eventually the e cigarette will be tested and tested and if not the e cig itself, then some other alternative will become legal around the world and ultimately commonplace.
My suggestion is that if Ms Rosenthall’s bill is passed, a large percentage of the taxes collected from tobacco sales in New York be used to pay for the funerals of all future lung cancer victims.
Ms Rosenthall, there is a thing called karma, and it will come to you. That’s what happens to people who intentionally inflict misery and suffering on others. Shame, shame, shame on you. America, the land of the free? What a joke!!
WALMART YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED ! your so called for the people then you should stand up for this product!!!!! dont sell your soul to the goverment!!! sell it to god and help people like you say you do!!!!!!!
Walmart is crazy, dont they want to make money? Besides the FDA wants to regulate e cigs like tobacco products now. I quit smoking using the eonsmoke electronic cigarette… I used 3 other brands but eonsmoke has the best warrantry program. check it out at http://www.eonsmoke.com
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