Electronic Cigarette Starter Kit

Potpourri of Other Legal and Quasi-Legal Considerations

For the e-cigarette community, legal issues other than those encountered by the cigarette, and to some extent the tobacco industry as a whole, may be relevant to the e-cigarette’s continuing legal encounters.

E-cigarettes and the Aviation Industry

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For the e-cigarette community, the prohibited use of the e-cigarette on commercial airline flights, including non-American airlines, is growing worldwide, especially given the announcement by the FAA that in the spring 2012, e-cigarette use on airlines under its authority will be prohibited.  Even if the e-cigarette community could provide with no exceptions that the vapor produced by the c-cigarette contained nothing other than that which was originally in the atmosphere of a plane before the e-cigarette

For the e-cigarette community, recent legislation may possibly include the e-cigarette.

In the two prior acts, the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965, and the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act passed in 1979, were direct specifically at cigarettes, the e-cigarette industry, and e-cigarettes in particular, and were not included.  The obvious reason this lack of inclusion was that e-cigarettes did not exist, at least for the general public, at those times.

After the 2000 U. S. Supreme Court decision in FDA v. Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp.,  when the Court ruled that the FDA had “overreached” its authority to regulate tobacco products as customarily marketed, stakeholders lobbied for additional tobacco control legislation.

In an attempt to protect the public health, in 2009 Congress passed and President Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act (Tobacco Control Act [TCA]).

However, this most recent legislation,

While Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) can neither pass nor enforce laws, they can, and have, greatly influenced them.

Using federal grant monies, these entities have done, and published, research which reflected negatively on the effects of cigarettes. While e-cigarettes are technically not cigarettes, to these groups a “cigarette,” including the e-cigarette is bad, immaterial of the actuality. Not only have these organizations provided information to their members, they have publicized their works and advertised their opinions. For the e-cigarette to avoid the fate of the cigarette industry, the e-cigarette manufacturers need to exploit the differences between the e-cigarette and the cigarette.

Another way in which these groups influence the legal system is through extensive lobbying. The e-cigarette industry, while doing lobbying of its own, cannot compete on the same playing field as these groups.  One of the reasons is the proliferation of them.

For the e-cigarette community, knowing the governmental stakeholders, along with the missions of each stakeholder, can provide a basic insight into the complexities of governmental intervention.

By getting an understanding about some of these stakeholders, the e-cigarette community can better understand not only the obstacles which the e-cigarette industry must overcome but also identify allies to help overcome or mitigate those obstacles.

Federal Governmental Agencies

Before going into each individual agency, the e-cigarette community can depend that, on the whole, these agencies fall into the obstacle category.

For the e-cigarette industry, the governmental stakeholders theoretically have unique missions, but, as with governmental entities, the actuality where one entity begins and another ends is so unclear that distinguishing which entity the e-cigarette falls under is, at best, described as convoluted.

Just as it began the attack on cigarettes, the Office of the Surgeon General will expand its anti-tobacco commitment

What the e cigarette Industry Tries to Convey to the Public May Become a Legal Boomerang

What message does the e cigarette community want to project to expand, yet avoid or minimize legal complications?

The keyword is community, as it includes not only the business elements of e cigarettes —e cigarette manufacturers, e cigarette distributors, e cigarette suppliers, e cigarette sellers— but also the e cigarette consumers and future consumers.

As the theory behind the e cigarette expands to include e-cigars and e-pipes, the initial messages about the e cigarette should be consistent.  Once one member of the e cigarette community says one thing, while another says something contradictory, the governmental legislative and enforcement communities are provided different evidentiary elements to pursue.

Any inconsistency in the messages sent by any responsible member of the e cigarette community to the general public generates avenues that government

How Did the E Cigarette and the Current Status of the Federal Law Evolve?

The definitive interpretation of a law, statute, or regulation is the judiciary.  Whether it be a court of original jurisdiction (a court designated to be the first court that hears the case), or a court of appeals (a court that reviews the record and makes a determination to approve, overturn, or remand —send the case in whole or in part to the previous lower court).  In the US, when the Supreme Court makes a ruling, only new legislation or an amendment to the constitution can change the decision.

Currently, the legal status of the e cigarette as it pertains to governmental oversight occurred in the spring of 2011 when a three-judge panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that the FDA had overstepped its authority

Since the e-cigarette is relatively new in the tobacco users’ choices, many of the already enacted laws are not applicable.

Since the e cigarette is covered neither in the scope nor in the definitions in the law. Again, this can easily change by a court decision, which as yet has not occurred.

Another element of law which helps the e cigarette manufacturer is the tobacco industry’s successfully prevention of several types of tobacco use not being legislated against.  Specifically, the FDA has exercised minimal control of pipe tobacco, cigars (other than small cigars), chewing tobacco, snuff, and the liquid form tobacco used in the hookah.

One may speculate on the reasons for such an apparent oversight. Cigarette smoking has received much negative notoriety. The proportion of the population that uses cigarettes significantly outnumbers the other forms of tobacco usage. With limited budgets, the government

First In A Series Of Legal Battles About The E Cigarette

Before delving into the on-going conflict between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States and e cigarette manufacturers, one should have an understanding of the different elements of a law. Although most people think of a law as what can or cannot be done, there are several other parts of a law that are often overlooked, but essential to its understanding.

The first part of a law, even before it is enacted by any legislative body, is the intent or scope, why the law was passed and what it covers.  For the e cigarette, intent is often what eliminates it from being covered by the law.  Since the earliest laws passed relating to smoking specifically addressed cigarette advertising and labeling, in response to the reports from