New FDA Regulation brings Motivation for the Vaping Industry
In a recent development the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of USA changed its stance favorably on e-cigarettes and vaping products. The agency wants to bring down the smoking rates in the country and aim to make the traditional combustible cigarettes less addictive. It also changed its policies for the vaping industry and delayed regulations that would have brought an end to e-cigs. How does the FDA Rules impact you? To make the combustible cigarettes less addictive, the agency wants to bring down the amount of nicotine that is permissible. In its statement the administration wrote that nicotine while being highly addictive is delivered through means which are associated with a range of risks. Out of them the combustible cigarettes using smoke particles is the most harmful. Scott Gottlieb, FDA Commissioner stated that cigarettes were the only legal product which kills more than half of its long term users when used as intended. The news was obviously not taken positively by the cigarette industry and the price of the shares went crashing down. But the news brought relief and hope for the e-cig industry which got more time to align to the regulations of the FDA. Last year the administration extended its authority over the vaping industry and stated a new rule. All vaping products in the market have to go through the costly and lengthy approval procedure like traditional cigarettes. This would have cost most of the products to vanish from the market as they are manufactured by small companies and not big tobacco giants. They have now till 2022 to submit their review and the FDA confirms of relaxing and making the process easy. The move by FDA comes in the wake of many studies that have established e-cigs and vaping as a safe alternative to smoking. Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University and the Rutgers School of Public Health conducted a research on daily e-cig users and found 52% of them had been able to quit cigarettes in the last 5 years. Compared to that, only 28% of daily cigarette smokers who never tried vapin were able to kick their bad habit. The researchers said that it was one of the leading studies to track the pattern of quitting cigarettes among national e-cig users. Daniel Giovenco, assistant professor at Sociomedical Services at Columbia and the lead author of the study said that regular use of vaping products can contribute towards quitting cigarettes or preventing the relapse. The study published in journal of Addictive Behaviors also finds that e-cigs have gradually transformed into an alternative for traditional tobacco products with advancement in vaporizing technology. Dr. John Spangler, professor at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Family and Community Medicine says that with more evidence from trial studies like this, they would be safely able to recommend e-cigs to help patients quit smoking effectively and safely. Another research done by Royal College of Physicians established that vaporizers and e-cigs are 95% less harmful that combustible cigarettes. And this is the same institution that delivered the cancer warnings of cigarettes for the first time in the landmark 1964 study. The USA administration itself found the positive aspects of e-cigs in a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention back in April. It concluded that 33% smokers effectively used e-cigs as a substitute for traditional cigarettes than 25.4% who relied on nicotine patch or gum. While releasing the new regulations, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that they wanted to create a world where cigarettes would not be able to generate addiction and adults who want their dose of nicotine would have safer and less harmful sources to derive it. That is the closest FDA comes to talk in vapor of e-cig and vaping products. It gets support from another comment from FDA which states that they were adjusting their regulations to encourage the development of innovative and less harmful tobacco products to replace traditional cigarettes. The adoption of e-cig and vaping solutions has been increasing all over the world. Many smokers are using the products for cessation of their smoking habits. The smoking and tobacco use in USA is already at its historic lows and only 15% of adults smoke. On the other hand, the use of e-cigs has gone up considerably. In 2014, around 9 million adults used vaping products which amounted to 3.7% of the population, according to a report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The situation is also on the same line elsewhere in the world. In UK, only 17.2% are traditional cigarette smokers compared to the growing 4% e-cig users. The 2.3 million UK residents who use e-cigs regularly do it for its less harmful effects or to quit smoking. The awareness about the real health effects of vaping products are being highlighted by the various studies and people are beginning to realize the effectiveness of e-cigs in quitting the butt. But the big tobacco groups, policy makers and politicians have started a war on vaping making false claims about its danger. But truth cannot be hidden for long as more research is being conducted on vaping and its effects. In some years there will be a strong foundation to safely recommend vaping products for quitting smoking and as a safe alternative of traditional cigarette nicotine. This has been recognized by the FDA which prompted the change in rules and relaxation for the e-cig industry. The agency also has plans to engage in an open public dialogue for discussing the proposal of lowering nicotine content in traditional cigarettes. The lowering of nicotine will definitely cause financial loss to the tobacco companies as the numbers of smokers is expected to reduce. Those who continue smoking will also do it less frequently as they may not get the desired satisfaction, commented Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at London’s ETX Capital. What comes as a negative for the traditional cigarette industry is turning to be a boon for its vaping counterpart. After all, smokers will want to enjoy their nicotine if they can do it without getting cancer!