FDA To Begin Banning E-Cigarettes?

VapeAtron · 02-03-2009, 12:33 AM

A report by CBS3 in Philadelphia on E-cigarettes with a vendor in the local area who sells them has been released on their website: cbs3.com - The Safe Cig: A Stop-Smoking Solution?.

In it they mention how the ingredients haven't been tested, quote how it is being advertised as a smoking cessation product; and how that puts it under FDA regulation. They mention in the article that because of this, the FDA are seizing shipments of the product at customs for being unapproved for sale in the US.

The owner of the company interviewed, The SafeCig, Jonathan Deak, has posted on ecigforum.com, stating "I am the owner of The Safe Cig and The CBS News report was false and biased." You can see his full back and forth with various information from his end, including saying the doctor from cbs3 didn't even actually interview him - here: Ecigforum Discussion.

On top of all this, The SafeCig owners state they are putting up a billboard in Philadelphia soon with a challenge to President Obama to quit smoking with the SafeCig.

Could this be the event that triggers the eventual outlawing of our beloved e-cigs in the US? Or is it the first step in the fight to make them full on legal? Only time will tell.

Click here to read more and make your thoughts and feelings heard!

Thanks to lintz69 and Vangelus of the Vapeatron Forums for submitting the news!

lintz69 · 02-03-2009, 12:33 AM

cbs3.com - The Safe Cig: A Stop-Smoking Solution?

Safecig.com claims it helps you quit smoking. That makes it a smoking cessation device. Smoking Cessation devices fall under the FDA. FDA then needs to approve it. Thus they are all unapproved. Thus they are going to be banned. All thanks to companies like Safecig for claiming something that is not true.

Vangelus · 02-03-2009, 02:11 AM

The guy who owns Safecig.com just posted:

I am the owner of The Safe Cig and The CBS News report was false and biased

Notably:

Quote:

I cant believe how quickly this spread through the internet !! I saw everyone’s concern so I signed up to talk to you guys.

My name is Jon and I am the owner of The Safe Cig. I own 2 stores In Philadelphia and they have done extremely well. CBS came to me and asked to do a story on the safe cig and I agreed to it because i have done news interviews in the past and they went really well. Even the past president of the national cancer society said that "the product has promise". The women you saw in the report Stephanie Stall didn’t even interview me, she had a root canal and was late to the studio so her very young producer did the interview. I am extremely upset to see that CBS allowed such a poor report to air and it was extremely rushed and included zero facts and was biased. I want everyone to relax for 2 reasons. 1- I just received my order of 2200 starter kits and ups or dhl seized nothing !!!! So they lied !!!! 2- I have a secret weapon and His name his President Obama. I took out a 40 foot billboard in the heart of center city near the stadium that reads" President Obama "yes you can" quit smoking with the safe cig. then it has my website. and the words "Obama challenge 2009" on the bottom. My billboard rep sent out a press release to over 150 news stations !!!! This has got to get Obama’s attention and if it does were golden !!. The billboard goes up tomorrow. Now heres what you guys can do to help. Find me articles, fda, c.e., rohs...any official articles that i could send to CBS and have them do a retraction. I’m even thinking about getting a lawyer but then again maybe I should let it go? Either way i will fight for the electronic cigarette. i will do my best to keep you guys posted.

all the best
Jon

Bolded the parts that stood out the most to me.

I definitely agree that the companies selling e-cigs need to be really bloody careful with their wording, regardless.

PureSmoker Rep · 02-03-2009, 03:13 AM

where did you get this response?

Vangelus · 02-03-2009, 03:43 AM

If you mean me- click that link on the second line of my post.

The "I am the owner" thing that goes to ecigforum.

PureSmoker Rep · 02-03-2009, 04:19 AM

yeah I just started looking there after. It's getting really frisky over there now.

Vangelus · 02-03-2009, 04:32 AM

*goes to check*

Gyahhh, damn. o_o I want to crack a joke about that thread getting hotter than a cleaning cycling atomizer, but when I think about it that joke would probably suck.

Well main thing is, I don't think it's quite the crackdown a lot of folks are worried about yet. But it probably is worth keeping an eye on the story to see if it goes farther or just ends up as some flash in the pan. Just y'know, level heads will win the day, kinda thing.

PureSmoker Rep · 02-03-2009, 04:55 AM

We all knew that this product is great for everyone that smokes, but on a national level there is alot of things we as suppliers and buyers need and want to know before this goes completely mainstream. There is many tests going on right now within the manufacturers and doctors reviewing it but to the e-cig device itself will never be banned it will be the liquid if anything. It's just people like this guy who has only been opened for about 3-4 months and trying to make a name for himself to crush our hope of this ever being mainstream and legit right now. I try and keep this as closely guarded as possible until the final tests and manufacturering here in the U.S. is finalized. It has done wonders for me and most my family but i'm not going to go up to the president and say hey you should vape on this thing from china it will help you stop smoking. Just not a great approach to take this.

Vangelus · 02-03-2009, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PureSmoker Rep

We all knew that this product is great for everyone that smokes, but on a national level there is alot of things we as suppliers and buyers need and want to know before this goes completely mainstream. There is many tests going on right now within the manufacturers and doctors reviewing it but to the e-cig device itself will never be banned it will be the liquid if anything. It's just people like this guy who has only been opened for about 3-4 months and trying to make a name for himself to crush our hope of this ever being mainstream and legit right now. I try and keep this as closely guarded as possible until the final tests and manufacturering here in the U.S. is finalized. It has done wonders for me and most my family but i'm not going to go up to the president and say hey you should vape on this thing from china it will help you stop smoking. Just not a great approach to take this.

Yeah, that part had me putting some palm to face, hehe. Throwing the e-cig at the national media is something that's kinda dangerous right now IMO. There's just no solid evidence I'm aware of that a group responsible for national health safety would take seriously, yet. If the tests I've been reading about go well, then awesome, there's some evidence. And I definitely agree that getting rid of the reliance on China for hardware production is important (not saying they should be utterly cut out, just domestic options need to be more common).

But as it is, it's incredibly key that sellers keep up the transparency that a lot of the better sellers do: Making it clear that this stuff is not in any way approved by those in power as an anti-smoking aid.

Hopefully this fellow will take to heart at least the less-angry responses he's gotten. Admittedly speaking from a vantage no better than your average internet onlooker, one would hope that anyone who does their research would see an entity like SmokingEverywhere as an example of what -not- to do in terms of practices, honesty, and transparency.

bfarneth · 02-03-2009, 08:03 AM

Bad marketing on his part. Don't make e-cigs out to be a "stop smoking" solution and none of this would happen.

Granted, it can help - it's helped me, but I certainly wouldn't say this will allow you to quit. I know several people who are using these to smoke indoors and still have real cigarettes.

I feel for the guy, but at the same time he brought this on himself by making such a claim. Now he has to deal with the fallout - and an Obama billboard is probably just going to lead to more troubles.

VapeAtron · 02-03-2009, 08:46 AM

Thats the guy I got my first unit from, he is in the mall around my way. Go figure!

parallx · 02-03-2009, 09:19 AM

/facepalm is exactly what I thought when I read his response...

Despite the fact that I agree that vaping is an extremely effective tool to help you stop smoking, it should be understood that it *cannot* be marketed that way without FDA oversight.

I personally have smoked for over 10 years and quit, without a problem, completely due to this device. A friend whom smoked for 25 years will also credit this device. Most impressively, another coworker who smoked for 40 years is 100% smoke free since getting his e-cig. All of us had quit before, and we had all tried many different methods. While I'd love to start a business and claim to have found the holy grail of quitting smoking, it's NOT RESPONSIBLE to claim these things, since noone knows what long term inhalation of vaporized PG, or what worries me, the flavorings, are going to do to our lungs. Noone. There is no long term study because there is no long term.

Big Tobacco maintained their products as harmless for decades in an attempt to make profits and get people hooked, and they used questionable and deceiving marketing tactics to influence public opinion. We cannot become guilty of the same evils and failures, lest we be perceived no better than they.

VapeAtron · 02-03-2009, 09:26 AM

Personally, that story sounded like someone who doesn't want these things out there gave them a call and said "hey, these guys are doing this this and this, do me a favor and write something up that nails them".

No way to prove that, not saying it happened, just has that tone.

Primus · 02-03-2009, 10:43 AM

Regardless, in the short term this dude is going to make a lot of money. If this is what it takes for a larger company in the States to do what it takes to test this out and make it mainstream then I'm all for it. Of course, the downside is that it could totally disrupt our shipments if the wrong people get involved which is probably the more likely scenario.

lintz69 · 02-03-2009, 11:29 AM

What really Pi**es me off is that he is offering his Ecig to the president. His Ecigs suck...why doesn't he offer a PureSmoker 901 or Pilot to the president? At least the president could try a GOOD Ecig before banning it...

Come on Daniel...get on the ball, and make sure Obama's first Ecig is a GOOD one...

Primus · 02-03-2009, 11:32 AM

lol

VapeAtron · 02-03-2009, 12:46 PM

BTW, he is a young guy, younger than us Primus, and has 2 mall kiosks. Not necessarily a big company there. If the lawyers get on him, I dunno if he'll be able to go head up with the big boys. We shall see.

Primus · 02-03-2009, 01:15 PM

Yeah, I wasn't referring to this guy as the larger company. I'm sure he will get shut down eventually. For the simple reason that he marketed them incorrectly. I just meant that it will bring attention to the demand for this and someone else might jump onboard.

I just read that Pilot gas stations are testing selling the Welcome to Ruyan America - Home of the Ruyan E-Cigarette Ruyan Jazz in some of their Tennessee locations.

Halopunker · 02-03-2009, 01:42 PM

Did you guys read this:

Quote:

I just received my order of 2200 starter kits and ups or dhl seized nothing !!!! So they lied !!!! 2- I have a secret weapon and His name his President Obama. I took out a 40 foot billboard in the heart of center city near the stadium that reads" President Obama "yes you can" quit smoking with the safe cig. then it has my website. and the words "Obama challenge 2009" on the bottom. My billboard rep sent out a press release to over 150 news stations !!!! This has got to get Obama’s attention and if it does were golden !!. The billboard goes up tomorrow. Now heres what you guys can do to help. Find me articles, fda, c.e., rohs...any official articles that i could send to CBS and have them do a retraction. I’m even thinking about getting a lawyer but then again maybe I should let it go? Either way i will fight for the electronic cigarette. i will do my best to keep you guys posted.

Primus · 02-03-2009, 01:51 PM

Yeah. VapeAtron needs to get some pictures of that if it is up. I think that's in his area. The old saying, "Mess with the bull, and you get the horns" comes to mind.

VapeAtron · 02-03-2009, 01:51 PM

I did, nuts. Back on Dec 18th when i got my first piece from him he mentioned doing that, I thought he was talking out his ass tho

Its an ICY snow over here right now, and thats the opposite side of the city from me. Not driving down today, maybe tomorrow.

parallx · 02-03-2009, 01:56 PM

This is a perfect example of why this community gets to know it's suppliers by name, by philosophy, and by reputation.

Halopunker · 02-03-2009, 02:32 PM

I'm sure there will be this picture floating around. /facepalm

PUFFDADDY · 02-03-2009, 05:56 PM

I just dont get why in the hell this guy would keep on pushing for this to get to OBAMA, like the guy isnt busy enough. He does'nt have time for this....SAFECIG is going to ruin it for EVERYBODY!!! He needs to chill out on the smoking cessastion thing too, this is exactly why the FDA would crack down, because of NEW people like him trying to make a quick buck and market his Crap as a "QUIT SMOKING" aid. This is just ridiculous!!!

VapeAtron · 02-03-2009, 06:50 PM

Yeah, not a smart move. But I tell you, he's been moving RN4081 starter kits at 100 a pop plus carts and cases and all that crap. He made an absolute killing this winter, so I guess he's sticking with his angle that works.

and lol at your name, good stuff.