Christian Valete knows smoking is bad for his health. So instead, he vapes – inhaling vapour from an electronic device that heats up flavoured oil.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/30/2015 -- "You can actually get the same nicotine, but without all the harsh tar chemicals you can get," said Valete, who works at Vaping Apes.
Valete said the ingredients are clearly labelled and ultimately safer for consumers than smoking cigarettes.

PHOTOS
Vaping

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine found e-cigarettes produce high levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

But a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine found e-cigarettes produce high levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

And that those levels could be higher than what's found in cigarette smoke.

But despite the findings, some said they'd still rather vape.

"Whether it's bad or good, I think it's better than actually smoking smoke," said Jack Reves.

Murray Gibson, from the Manitoba Tobacco Reduction Alliance, understands why many people think the way Reves does.

"I don't think there's anybody out there saying there is absolutely no harm in e-cigarettes," said Gibson.

He said more studies are starting to show vaping is not much better than smoking.

Gibson said people should remember e-cigarettes are so new they're not regulated by Canada's health agency.

"If they are going to use this product, be aware of that fact (e-cigarettes) are not controlled and… there is no overall endorsement that's out there. Other than the companies that are producing them," said Gibson.

MANTRA says whether it's e-cigarettes or cigarettes, it's time to reduce the consumption of tobacco because there are no safe levels of smoking.

While e-cigarettes by the government yet, companies and agencies are starting to ban them in public spaces.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Imperial Tobacco Canada fully supports the introduction of a regulatory framework that will allow for the legal introduction of e-cigarettes into the Canadian marketplace.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/30/2015 -- We feel it is of utmost importance that this framework puts product quality and consumer safety as a priority, while reflecting the unique nature of the product — that they are not tobacco products and should thus not be regulated in the same way.

Currently, any nicotine-containing e-cigarettes must be approved by Health Canada before entering the market. At this time no such products have received regulatory approval, yet nevertheless products are being sold across the country due to a lack of enforcement. We encourage Health Canada to act quickly in implementing a regulatory framework that allows the commercialization of such products.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

E-cigarettes could be a big help to people looking to quit smoking, says Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette. (Torin Halsey/AP Photo/Wichita Falls Times Record News)

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/26/2015 -- Quebec Health Minister Gaetan Barrette is calling on Health Canada to speed up the regulation of e-cigarettes. (Jacques Boissinot/CP) Barrette said he believes e-cigarettes are a powerful tool that can potentially help people quit smoking.

"To tell you the truth, I never smoked one cigarette in my life. But what I see on the clinical side, if you let me put on my doctor's hat today, is that it really, really works. If you speak with doctors in that field, it's what we can call a breakthrough," Barrette told Daybreak.

He said the psychological aspect of smoking is a big barrier to overcome by those looking to butt out.

Barrette said e-cigarettes duplicate the feeling of smoking — a major factor in getting people to quit.

"Reproducing the habit -- the feel, the behaviour that goes with it — in a manner that you reduce your nicotine dosages over time — it works. And many, many people at the end of the process keep vaping with stuff that has no nicotine," Barrette said.

Health Canada maintains there is not enough evidence to prove e-cigarettes are an effective stop-smoking tool.

Quebec on e-cigarettes: No sale to minors, no 'vaping' in public

E-cigarette use slapped with growing provincial regulation

E-cigarettes could save hundreds of millions of lives, scientists tell WHO

He told CBC Daybreak host Mike Finnerty on Wednesday that the provincial government is currently working on a policy about "smoking" e-cigarettes — referred to as vaping — in public.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

The electronic cigarette business is booming, but this still largely unregulated industry remains a mystery to many Canadians who aren’t exactly sure what they are vaping.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/20/2015 -- E-cigarettes are often described as a less dangerous alternative for regular smokers who can't or don't want to kick the habit. The battery-powered devices use a liquid to produce vapour, which is then inhaled. Some of the vapours are infused with nicotine, some aren't.

In Canada, however, there are no e-cigarettes with nicotine that are legally approved for sale. Electronic cigarettes that do not contain nicotine are legal and readily available, in many places to minors as well, as long as they make no health claim.

Under-the-counter nicotine products for e-cigarettes are easy to purchase at vape shops, says Melodie Tilson, policy director at the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, who adds:

"We want to make sure these products don't undermine the success we've had in reducing smoking rates."

E-cigarettes split health community

The main argument made by e-cigarette proponents is that they have the potential to save lives.

As e-cigarettes don't contain tobacco and produce vapour instead of smoke, they can potentially help smokers quit, either by providing an alternative oral fixation or a substitute nicotine source.

Banning them would be "a really stupid idea," says e-cigarette supporter David Sweanor, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.

"If we look at Canada, for instance, we know that in the next 25 years, based on current trends and consumption, a million of our fellow Canadians are going to die as a direct result of cigarette smoking," he says.

With projections that e-cigarettes will outsell regular cigarettes within a decade, "people are saying that you need to allow an e-cigarette with nicotine in Canada, because smokers want to use them and they are trying not to die from smoking," says David Hammond, associate professor at the School of Public health at University of Waterloo.

"But," he cautions, "many consumers don't even know if the e-cigarettes they are smoking contain nicotine or not."

Health questions unanswered

E-cigarette skeptics and even Health Canada agree that e-cigarettes are safer than tobacco cigarettes.

"Are e-cigarettes less harmful than cigarettes? Yes, because the products contain no tobacco, nor tobacco smoke," the Canadian Cancer Society says. "At the same time, the long-term health effects are not yet known, and effects may vary depending on a particular e-cigarette."

It's the potential long-term effects — and lack of regulation — that have critics shouting the loudest.

Whether they contain nicotine or not, e-cigarettes may pose health risks when consumed in large doses or over long periods of time.

E-liquid contains propyleneglycol (PG), a common food additive and flavouring. While PG is considered safe for oral consumption, the health risks of inhaling PG deep into the lungs is unknown.

"We know e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than smoking. But we also know e-cigarettes aren't going to be safe for long-term use," says Hammond.

"Inhaling any chemical, nicotine or otherwise, deeply into lungs there is going to be some risk. We have very little information about what's in that liquid."

PG is the main ingredient in theatre fog, but that is only inhaled occasionally, not a dozen times a day over months or years as an e-smoker might.

"It is a major health question to which we won't have an answer for probably decades," says Tilson at the NSRA.

"E-cigarettes are expected to be dramatically safer, but that doesn't mean they are safe, or as safe as they should be."

Consumer standards

Electronic cigarettes are evolving in terms of their product design. Some are disposable, some are refillable, and some are rechargeable.

But due to an inability to ensure quality controls, e-cigarettes and e-liquid cartridges are not manufactured to approved consumer safety standards.

"If the battery is too high, you can get combustion. And as soon as you get combustion then you get a different set of chemicals, which starts to look closer to what's in actual smoke," says Hammond.

Some health advocates warn that the flavoured liquid solutions could contain harmful chemicals.

"We are not quite sure what the long-term impact of inhaling e-cigarette liquid is," said Lesley James, a senior health policy analyst for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

"To date there is not sufficient evidence that the potential benefits of e-cigarettes in helping Canadians to quit smoking outweigh the potential risks," said Health Canada spokesman Gary Holub.

Anti-smoking campaigns gone bust?

Public health advocates say they're concerned that e-cigarette use is "normalizing" cigarette smoking for minors, giving a dangerous habit that's widely restricted a whole new image, and acting as a gateway to nicotine addiction or to smoking.

"Until we have the evidence on electronic cigarettes, all we're saying is 'Let's not get our kids started on this,'" said Dipika Damerla, Ontario associate minister of health and long-term care.

"We're re-normalizing the act of smoking," said Andre Beaulieu, spokesman for the Canadian Cancer Society. "We want to avoid a new generation of smokers."

Some health advocates also worry that e-cigarettes will just be used to supplement smoking in places where smokers aren't allowed to light up.

E-cigarette industry 'like the wild West'

In Canada there has been a significant rise in the use of e-cigarettes by young people, and a recent survey found e-cigarettes have surpassed regular smoking by U.S. teens.

In the 2012-2013 school year, a third of secondary school students reported already having used e-cigarettes, according to research commissioned by the Canadian Cancer Society in Quebec.

It also found that for the 2012-13 school year, nine per cent of students in Grade 6 had tried e-cigarettes. And among Grade 11 students, 41 per cent had tried e-cigarettes.

"The electronic cigarette industry has really succeeded in positioning its product as something attractive for children. That's far from being a quit-smoking aid. It's reprehensible," says Melanie Champagne, director of public issues at the Canadian Cancer Society in Quebec. "Vaping is not a game for schoolyards."

Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of School Councils president Peter Whittle says, "Right now, the sale to minors is a grey area. That needs to change."

Lack of federal or provincial regulations around the sale and use of e-cigarettes makes policing the issue "like the wild West," he said.

Though now provinces are increasingly legislating non-nicotine e-cigarettes, banning their sale to kids, banning the promotion of flavours popular with kids and banning their use where cigarette smoking is not allowed.

A range of jurisdictions, from provinces like Ontario and Nova Scotia to cities and school boards, have banned or are proposing to ban or limit the use and sale of e-cigarettes.

"I think we'll see a lot more activity on this front next year," said Tilson. "We're just beginning to see action.

"The provinces and territories have been pushing for collaborative action across the country. They don't want to see a patchwork quilt of different approaches."

Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

By now you are probably know the things that you should be doing with your ecigarette.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/16/2015 -- Vaping, charging and refilling are pretty much the basics. However, there are some of you who are unsure or who try to Macgyver your product into either working again or putting out more power. For that reason we thought it necessary to give you the lowdown on the things you absolutely should not be doing.

1.Avoid leaving your ecigarette loosely in your pocket. This goes for both traditional ecigarettes and eGo/eVod models.

We know it might be tempting to leave your ecigarette in your pocket. If you are using a case, by all means, leave it. However if are like some who find it more convenient to carry it close to you at all times, we would highly advise you don't. For one reason being; if you are using the ego style models your tank can leak when left on its side which means nicotine soaked pants and nicotine on your skin! Also, if you forget to turn your eGo battery off you can accidentally press the trigger button which means your battery can be over heating!

With the traditional model ecigarette, lint and bacteria can get into your mouth piece which then can be passed to your mouth. If you are using eliquid to refill your cartridges, leaving it in your pants can cause it to leak on you. Also, if you forget your ecigarette is in your pocket you can accidentally wash it!

2. Don't try to dismantle your ecigarette battery. There can be times where you think its easier for you to find the solution to why your battery is not working (which we are not saying it's not true) however, its best you let us know first before you start pulling out wires and voiding your warranty. (For more information on warranty and returns click here)

3.Do not refill your ecigarette in your pocket, tank or atomizer with eliquid while still screwed into your battery. Yes, we know it might be more convenient to leave the two together while refilling, but trust us, its more of a headache then not. Leaving the two together while refilling with eliquid is a messy process and can cause the juice to get into your battery threading and connection. Over time, or instantly, eliquid will corrode, short your battery and void your warranty.

4. Avoid over charging or dropping your ecigarette battery. This is really a no-brainer. Leaving any lithium ion based battery on the charger for too long will cause it to short, or in some rare cases, can start a fire. That goes the same for dropping it, (minus the fire part).

5. Do not try to use other companies charging (USB) products with any products sold on ecigcanadazone.com. We know there are many of you out there who like to experiment with different brands, that's ok, however try to keep your ducks in a row when it comes down to what goes where. Charging devices are the one thing that cannot be interchanged with one another even when an adapter is used. The charger simply will not work which means your battery will not get charged.

Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

For anyone who is under the age of 30, you may not remember the time when condom advertising barely existed, let alone cheeky commercials playing over and over on late-night television. The understanding we have today of safe sex practices were actually quite controversial even in an age when HIV/AIDS was at the height of public fear.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/24/2014 -- The debate: Back in the 1980's, it was the left-leaning progressives (then called "liberals") who led the charge for "harm reduction" practices. Supported by Democrat lawmakers, academics and scientists, the public health groups at the time argued that the public needed to be educated about using condoms to significantly reduce the risk of HIV and other STDs. They encouraged Sex Ed teachers to tell high school students that, if they decided not to remain abstinent, to at least use a condom.

However, they were vehemently opposed by the "religious right," conservative groups and lawmakers, who argued that public health and educators should be teaching abstinence only. It had taken 30 years to start turning back sexual morals to those of the idealistic (and supposedly virginal) 1950's, they argued. Promoting the use of condoms, especially television commercials featuring celebrities, would only "renormalize" promiscuous behavior and set back all of the advances that had been made with their chastity campaigns. Besides, they argued, the term "safe sex" was very misleading. Condoms frequently failed, they said, and with more young people having sex because they think it is safer with condoms, more young people would actually be at risk.

Nonsense, argued the pro-condom side. The risk of failure was tiny. Condoms were up to 99% effective in preventing HIV transmission. The benefits of protecting sexually active adults (and youth) from the high risk of unprotected sex far outweighed the small risk from a few more young people having sex using a condom because they (correctly) believed it to be safer than unprotected sex. Those on the religious right, they countered, should stop trying to force their ideology of 100% abstinence on people and start accepting the fact that people will take risks; and it's the job of public health to reduce those risks, not to cling to an unrealistic belief that they can stop all people from having premarital sex.

My, how times change

Fast forward 30 years and the concept of harm reduction is pretty much accepted as scientifically sound public health practice. It has been extended to drug use in the form of clean needle programs, drunk driving in the form of designated drivers, cycling with helmets and even in the form of car seats for small children. None of these harm reduction practices reduce the risk of disease or injury by 100% (and some even have their own small risks,) but nearly all have been universally recognized as having benefits of reducing greater risks that far outweigh their minor drawbacks.

Safe sex public service announcements are done by celebrities and condom companies even sponsor sporting events and teams. The CDC reports that studies found that harm reduction (also called "prevention") programs had significant impact on reducing sexual risk behaviors and notably, the HIV prevention programs were not shown to hasten initiation of sexual intercourse among adolescents, even when those curricula encouraged sexually active young people to use condoms.

New kid on the block
So, when a new product came on the market, around 2003, that could significantly reduce the risks of smoking, it seemed a no-brainer that they'd be embraced by the same folks who promoted condoms. While e-cigarettes may have some low risks to users and little to no risks to bystanders, clearly the health benefits of millions of smokers using a safer product far outweighed those tiny risks. Tobacco harm reduction (THR) experts estimated the risks to the smoker would be reduced by 99% and to bystanders by nearly 100%. Now those are numbers a safe sex promoter would obviously understand!

Today, after a decade on the market, there are numerous studies showing smokers are taking to the product better than they ever did to pharmaceutical nicotine products and quitting (or significantly reducing) their smoking. Nearly 100 studies world-wide have found only tiny levels of only a few of the potentially harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke, which significantly reduces the health risks of smokers who cannot or will not quit nicotine to nearly that of non-smokers. One comprehensive review of existing e-cigarette studies, done in 2013 by Dr. Igor Burstyn, Drexel University School of Public Health, confirmed that chemicals in e-cigarettes pose no health concern for users or bystanders. Are they 100% safe because they still contain "addictive" nicotine? Not for everyone, but like condoms, e-cigarettes are meant to reduce the risks of a potentially dangerous behavior, not eliminate the behavior altogether. Again, a concept that safe sex and condom proponents should be able to easily relate to.

Of course, it makes perfect sense that it's the Democrat lawmakers, progressive public health groups and left-leaning academics (all of the same people who fought for condom use and safe sex campaigns) who are now opposing e-cigarettes as promising, new, harm reduction products.

Wait, what?

Yep, you read that correctly. Using nearly all of the same arguments the conservatives used against condoms and safe sex education, the folks who advocate all kinds of other harm reduction practices are now doing everything they can to stop people from using a safer alternative to smoking.

Do these points sound familiar?

They argue that e-cigarettes shouldn't be used because they still have some risks and "safer doesn't make it safe" (see poster below.)

They fear that promotion of a safer alternative and permitting use in public places (a huge incentive for smokers to switch) will "renormalize" smoking and set back all of their efforts promoting 100% abstinence for the past 30 years.

They ignore that the benefits of millions of smokers quitting far outweigh the miniscule risks of bystander exposure to a little vapor in public.

They complain that celebrity endorsements and pleasant, non-tobacco flavors (an important feature that helps smokers move away from the taste of conventional cigarettes) will entice youth use. They argue that young people will try them because they (correctly) believe them to be safer than smoking.

They point to scientifically tiny risks compared to smoking as reason to "err on the side of caution."

On the other hand, conservative groups and lawmakers have taken a surprisingly libertarian view of e-cigarettes, argue for light-touch regulation and call for lawmakers to avoid knee-jerk legislation that could have unintended consequences.

When propaganda takes over science
The facts are on the side of e-cigarettes as being a viable harm reduction product for smokers. While the anti e-cigarette crowd are pointing out the tiny, trace chemicals detected in some e-cigarettes, they downplay how low those traces are. This graph shows just how low:

They also wring their hands over youth use, worrying loudly that kids will try e-cigarettes and then move on to the more risky behavior of smoking. (Like anti-safe sex folks argued kids learning about safe sex would lead to more un-safe sex, leaving many people scratching their heads with that logic.) However, after 10 years on the market and increased use by (mostly smoking) youth being widely reported, CDC statistics show that youth smoking continues to decline significantly:

Worrying over increased youth use of e-cigarettes while smoking rates are declining is akin to worrying about more teens having sex using condoms while STD and unwanted pregnancy rates are declining.

It's a mad, mad world
For those of us who lived through the endless debates on changing attitudes about safe sex education and promoting condom use, we are now living in a bizzaro world that has flipped everything on it's head. The very people we thought would "get it" have become our greatest opposition.

By "we" I mean supporters of tobacco harm reduction policies. THR proponents believe existing tobacc o control policies - such as public smoking bans, high taxes and public education - have mostly reached their limit for preventing and reducing smoking any further. In spite of all of their efforts, there will always be a small (yet very significant) portion of the public who will choose to use tobacco and nicotine products, as long as they remain available for purchase legally or on the black market. THR policies aim to reduce the health risks of those inveterate smokers by offering them safer alternatives:

Low risk alternatives significantly reduce the risks of the nearly 14 million U.S. smokers who aren't part of the 70% who say they want to quit.

Low risk alternatives significantly reduce the risks of the 42 million U.S. smokers who say they want to quit, but are still smoking because they are between quit attempts or have given up trying to quit after too many failed attempts.

Low risk alternatives could also significantly reduce the risks of the nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. who become new, daily smokers every year - should they choose e-cigarettes before trying traditional cigarettes.

The point is, tobacco harm reduction and low-risk products like e-cigarettes are not intended for those who are trying to quit smoking now or for those who never intend to start. They are for those who cannot or will not quit - maybe not this year, maybe not ever - and as an alternative for someone who would otherwise become a new smoker today. However, the risks of these products are so low that for every smoker who switches it would take hundreds, if not hundreds of thousands, of non-smokers to start using them or bystanders to be heavily exposed to vapor to offset the health gains of just that one smoker quitting smoking. And the head-in-the-sand idea of telling people to "just quit or never start" obviously isn't working.

This is something the people who fought for harm reduction policies, safe sex education and promoting the use of condoms should easily understand. Unfortunately, their apparent hatred of everything tobacco related seems to blind them from seeing the irony and the unintended consequences of their actions. Actions that are guaranteed to keep way too many smokers still smoking.

Maybe they should take the advice they gave to the religious right 30 years ago (and still even today) and stop trying to force their ideology of 100% abstinence on people and start accepting the fact that people will take risks; and it's the job of public health to reduce those risks, not to cling to an unrealistic belief that they can stop all people from having premarital sex using tobacco and nicotine.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Electronic cigarettes are as effective as nicotine patches in helping smokers to quit the habit, according to international research.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/19/2014 -- The study, carried out by the internationally regarded Cochrane Library, found a third of long-term smokers were able to cut their cigarette consumption in half by using e-cigarettes.

The review investigated the findings of randomised trials, where some smokers were given e-cigarettes containing nicotine while others were given ones which did not contain nicotine.

A worker at Joyetech e-cigarette company tests charged e-cigarettes just off the production line in Shenzhen, China, early in 2014. P

hotograph: Sim Chi Yin/New York TimesSome 134,000 e-cigarette users in Ireland, says cancer charity

E-cigarettes are Paul Nevin's livelihood. He is the director of E-Smoke Ireland, which he started online a few years ago before opening a shop selling e-cigaretes in Palmerstown, Dublin this year. Photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times Tobacco addiction 'completely transferred' to e-cigarettes

Those who consumed nicotine were twice as likely to stay off tobacco, the study found.

"There is absolutely no doubt that if you give people nicotine it helps them to quit smoking. The question is how big the effect is," said Prof Peter Hayek of Queen Mary University, London.

The review said that while some users complained of mouth and throat irritation, e-cigarettes are certainly safe for "short- to mid-term use" – though longer-lasting studies will need to be undertaken in years to come.

Disruptive technology.

E-cigarettes have attracted controversy, Prof Hayek said, "because they are a disruptive technology", seen "to threaten" established public health policies.

"So there is opposition to them from a number of quarters," he told a London press conference.

The devices, which arrived on the market a decade ago, release a nicotine-containing vapour without burning tobacco.

Today, the habit – which now generates €3 billion of sales annually – is known as "vaping".

Their popularity is growing rapidly. Just one in 12 smokers said they had tried them four years ago, but this jumped to more than half this year. One-fifth of tobacco smokers in the UK are now using e-cigarettes regularly.

Recent estimates suggest 2.1 million people now use them in the UK, compared with 700,000 two years ago.

Curiously, two-thirds of British users continue to smoke tobacco, if less frequently. Just one-third classify themselves as ex-smokers.

Nearly one in 10 of the smokers who took up e-cigarettes and who were monitored by the study were still off tobacco a year later, compared with just 4 per cent of those who had been given e-cigarettes that did not contain nicotine.

Health risks

None of the studies, according to Jamie Hartmann-Boyce of the University of Oxford, found increased health risks for e-cigarette users, though she qualified her judgment saying the number of trials was small.

Illustrating the difficulties faced by those trying to quit tobacco, she said more than half of smokers failed to stay off cigarettes for more than a week, while fewer than 5 per cent managed to do so for a year unless they were given support.

A European Union directive due to come into force in May 2016 will regulate the size, quality and safety of e-cigarettes containing up to 20mg/ml of nicotine, along with the advertising and consumer warning rules that should govern them.

Questioned about their safety, Prof Hayek said some e-cigarette products had been shown to contain a low level of toxins, but not at dangerous levels. "We are comparing them to something that ultimately kills one in two users," he told The Irish Times.

The jury is still out on whether e-cigarettes act as a gateway for non-smokers to take up tobacco.

British statistics report that the number of "never-smokers" who had tried them rose from 0.5 per cent in 2012 to 1.1 per cent this year, though the number of those smoking regularly thereafter is still very small.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

We’ve news from the government that the use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, is on the rise among schoolchildren and teenagers. We might think that this is a health story and it is, but behind it is an interesting little economic point and a guide to public policy. The question really revolves around whether vaping is a substitute for smoking or a complement (yes, complement, not compliment).

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/17/2014 -- "Despite the positive developments this year, we are concerned about the levels of e-cigarette use among teens that we are seeing," said Lloyd D. Johnston, Ph.D., principal investigator, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. "It would be a tragedy if this product undid some of the great progress made to date in reducing cigarette smoking by teens."

The worry in that second paragraph seems to be that greater e-cigarette usage will lead to greater cigarette usage at some future point. But as the NY Times emphasises from the same report that information in the first paragraph:

E-cigarettes have split the public health world, with some experts arguing that they are the best hope in generations for the 18 percent of Americans who still smoke to quit. Others say that people are using them not to quit but to keep smoking, and that they could become a gateway for young people to take up real cigarettes.

But that does not seem to be happening, at least so far. Daily cigarette use among teenagers continued to decline in 2014, the survey found, dropping across all grades by nearly half over the past five years. Among high school seniors, for example, 6.7 percent reported smoking cigarettes daily in 2014, compared with 11 percent five years ago.

That halving of teen smoking rates coincides with the invention and introduction of vaping (overlaps at least, the first devices really came in 2007). And other studies show very much the same thing. People use vaping equipment instead of smoking, not as a gateway to it nor does vaping increase smoking prevalence. It is thus a substitute, not a complement. As such of course it is to be greatly welcomed. Sure, everyone (adult at least) should be free to chart their own course to the grave and if that includes coughing up their lungs after decades of smoking so be it. And similarly there's a public health interest in minimising the number of people who do. So tax tobacco until the eyes water (along with the general interest in taxing things with highly inelastic demand) and do discourage the practice.

However, we do have rather a Baptists and bootleggers situation going on here. There are those who, as with the Baptists and booze, think that any drug use, even the inhalation of nicotine, is simply wrong, perhaps even evil. It should thus be entirely expunged from our society. And there's also those over in Big Pharma who have invested very large sums (it really does cost up to $1 billion to bring a new drug to market) in various pharmaceutical smoking cessation aids. And they would be very interested in being able to market those without having to face the competition of a $3 piece of electronics assembled in a shed in China. It's this that gives us the background to the discussions about whether the FDA should be regulating e-cigarettes. Should the technology have to support the costs faced by the drugs industry or not? Given that it's not a drug probably not but that's the way the debate is being run.

If e-cigarettes were a complement to smoking then the answer would run the other way: sure, their use should be discouraged and so on. Given that all the evidence we have is that they're a substitute then it runs this way. That vaping, at least so far as we know, is the most successful smoking cessation product any one has as yet invented (and do note that nothing else at all has halved teen smoking rates in only 5 years) means that we really shouldn't be putting roadblocks in front of further adoption of the technology. A slightly closer look at the details might be appropriate but why one earth would we want to derail what works? Unless we were against the very idea of nicotine on either moral or business competition grounds?

Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Is Nicotine Safe? The health effects of nicotine on its own are "very similar to drinking coffee" Professor Peter Hayek. ( BBC News 28 April 2014. )

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/09/2014 -- It is very difficult to inhale dangerous amounts of e-cigarettes - both smokers and vapers will feel nausea long before they were harming their bodies. They decide how much nicotine they inhale with the depth of each breath. Breathing in nicotine is a very fast way to get the drug into your bloodstream when you want. That's one reason a lot of smokers struggle with 'medicinal' sources of nicotine. With gum the nicotine peaks in the blood long after they put the patch on. So it's not just that the gum fails to produce instant satisfaction, it can create nausea when too much nicotine has been absorbed.*

Nicotine is not a carcinogen. It is a chemical naturally produced from shade plants.

Tobacco Cigarettes Vs. Vaping
Smokeless cigarettes are used to replace traditional tobacco cigarettes. Since e cigarettes isolate nicotine, there are fewer chemical risks evident. Tobacco cigarettes carry around 5,000 chemicals and a few more thousand unknown elements. This fact alone seemingly justifies electronic cigarettes as being a more risk free choice.

Electronic cigarette are not approved by the FDA as a quit smoking aid (nicotine cessation device). However, recent studies have shown that using smokeless cigarettes is not harmful to the heart. More studies are still coming out regarding how healthy ecigs are to the lungs, teeth & throat.

Is Eliquid Harmful?

Risks of ingesting eliqud
The potential risks from accidentally drinking nicotine liquid were highlighted by the New York Times. In a front page story the paper said there had been 1,300 reports of accidental poisoning in the United States over the previous year. Yet none of these accidents produced fatalities. The paper failed to mention that there had been 12,000 reports of toothpaste 'poisoning' and 70,000 cases of suspected vitamin overdoses. So if any politician wants to ban e-liquid then they have got to answer the toothpaste question first. And definitely ban vitamins.*

In the vast majority of cases of ingestion there is no lasting harm as the human body metabolizes the nicotine quickly - half of its is gone within 2 hours. To date the only fatalities have been reported are of an Israeli toddler who was said to have swallowed an e-liquid capsule and an American adult who committed suicide by injecting nicotine liquid. Tragedies - but absolutely no justification for taking away e-cigarettes from millions of smokers who are using to help them switch. Society should ban household bleach and plastic bags long before e-cigarettes. Child proof locks and commonsense are the answer not bans.*

What About Propylene Glycol?
The ingredient propylene glycol is a clear and odorless solution derived from the petroleum family and used in ecigarettes as a carrier humectant to bind and dilute nicotine. It acts as a stabilizer to vaporize the e liquid solution when heated by the electronic cigarette atomizer. Propylene glycol is recognized as safe by the FDA and is found in many common household ingredients such as: medical inhalers, cake frosting, toothpaste, energy drinks, medical inhalers, mouth wash and acts as a solvent in food coloring and flavoring.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Electronic cigarettes, often called e-cigarettes, are battery-operated devices designed to look like regular tobacco cigarettes. Here's how e-cigarettes work: An atomizer heats a liquid containing nicotine, turning it into a vapor that can be inhaled and creating a vapor cloud that resembles cigarette smoke.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/01/2014 -- Manufacturers claim that electronic cigarettes are a safe alternative to conventional cigarettes. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has questioned the safety of these products.

When the FDA analyzed samples of two popular brands, it found variable amounts of nicotine and traces of toxic chemicals, including known cancer-causing substances (carcinogens). This prompted the FDA to issue a warning about potential health risks associated with electronic cigarettes.

Until more is known about the potential risks, the safe play is to say yes to electronic cigarettes. If you're looking for help to stop smoking, there are many FDA-approved medications that have been shown to be safe and effective for this purpose.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

"They are electronic, alternative smoking devices that simulate the sensation of smoking. They do not expose the user, or others close by, to harmful levels of cancer-causing agents and other dangerous chemicals normally associated with traditional tobacco products."

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/01/2014 -- "They are nicotine delivery devices intended to be used like a cigarette. What happens to someone who stops inhaling the tars of cigarettes and inhales only nicotine? We don't know. There is at least the potential for harm."

-- Norman Edelman, MD, chief medical officer, American Lung Association

"We are concerned about the potential for addiction and abuse of these products. We don't want the public to perceive them as a safer alternative to cigarettes."

-- Rita Chapelle, FDA spokeswoman.

E-cigarettes don't make real smoke, yet they've ignited a firestorm of controversy.

You may have already seen e-cigarettes -- electronic cigarettes -- for sale on the Internet or at one of at least 62 kiosks at malls across the U.S.

E-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes, their makers say or imply. But until e-cigarettes are proven safe, the FDA is refusing to let them into the country and may soon ban their sale, as major U.S. medical associations have asked.

"We have an open investigation into this issue," FDA spokeswoman Rita Chappelle tells WebMD. "What is happening right now is FDA has reviewed several e-cigarettes, e-cigars, and e-pipes, and have refused entry of these products into the country. We acted because these products appear to require FDA approval for marketing, and have not been reviewed by the agency."

An informal FDA review of some of these products "indicated that these products are not currently approved," Chappelle says.

If the FDA bans e-cigarettes, an action many observers believe imminent, it won't be the first North American agency to do so. Last month, Canada's health agency banned the importation or sale of e-cigarette products.

What's all the fuss about? At the heart of the issue is a debate over what the e-cigarette really is.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

The Ontario government will move to restrict the use of electronic cigarettes and treat them much the same as regular cigarettes.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/26/2014 -- Associate Health Minister Dipika Damerla made the announcement at a new conference on Monday morning.

The law, which will be introduced on Monday, will effectively ban e-cigarettes wherever smoking is already prohibited. They will also be banned for anyone under 19 from buying, just as cigarettes are currently treated.

The law is also expected to ban flavoured tobacco products, which are especially popular with young people. As well, menthol cigarettes will be eventually phased out.

'Vape shop' owners defend e-cigs as a stop-smoking aid
Are e-cigarettes safe to puff?

"Every day, I see people in my office who are seriously ill or who are dying because of smoking," said Dr. Scott Wooder, past president of the Ontario Medical Association. "Flavoured tobacco products are aimed squarely at children and teenagers. Ontario's doctors welcome this legislation."

About one-quarter of Ontario high school students said they'd smoked a menthol cigarette in the past 30 days, according to a recent government survey.

"This legislation will protect our children and youth from the deadly effects of tobacco use," said Mark Holland, executive director of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

Smoking to be banned on all patios

The government will also step up penalties for anyone caught selling e-cigarettes to anyone underage. And smoking tobacco of any kind will be banned on all outdoor patios — currently, it's only forbidden on covered patios.

E-Cigarette Regulations
Ontario will soon ban the use of e-cigarettes to much the way they do regular ones, limiting the devices only to certain areas, and requiring an age restriction. (Anna Reed/The Star Tribune/Associated Press)

If the bill passes, the ban on sale to minors would take effect on Jan. 1, 2016. The ban on using e-cigarettes in public places would come into effect a year later on New Year's Day.

E-cigarettes don't contain tobacco and produce vapour instead of smoke, which proponents say helps smokers kick their habit.

Some public health advocates say they're concerned that it's also "normalizing" cigarette smoking for minors, giving a dangerous habit that's widely restricted a whole new image.

E-cigarettes could save hundreds of millions of lives, WHO says In August, Premier Kathleen Wynne said her government would look into the issue but that she wouldn't rush into a decision on whether to ban them entirely.

The government estimates that about 13,000 Ontarians die every year due to tobacco products. That's about 36 every single day.

A separate part of the legislation will force restaurants, bars and grocery stores to disclose the number of calories in alcoholic drinks.

The rule would only apply to large chains with multiple locations — 60 per cent of which, the government says, are already doing that.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Electronic cigarette use is skyrocketing, revenue has reached the billions of dollars, legislators are talking about — and enacting — regulations, and more and more research is published every month.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/10/2014 -- But the jury is still out on their safety, and whether they are a gateway to smoking.

Earlier this week, the New York Times highlighted a growing concern that the tobacco industry is taking over the business and targeting kids with flavours that sound like candy as well as advertisements featuring cartoon characters or celebrities.

Meanwhile, the less reliable Daily Mirror in Britain focussed on the danger of explosions when e-cigarettes are plugged into the wrong charger, citing half a dozen examples to back up its worries.

For those not up on this newest trend, an e-cigarette includes a battery, heating coil and a cartridge containing e-juice. That's the liquid that may or may not contain nicotine and which gets vaporized when the battery powers the coil to heat up the liquid.

The vapor gets drawn up by the wick when someone inhales, and there is no smoke, so it's called vaping.

The pros and cons of vaping are hotly debated by scientists, and there is a wide range of experience among those who have tried it.

Vaping may increase smoking

For some, like Anna Camara, it may even lead to increased smoking.

Last year, an acquaintance she would see at the off-leash area for dogs in a Toronto park persuaded Camara, an eight-cigarette-a-day smoker, to follow her example and abandon smoking for vaping.

Camara invested $80 in the technology and the e-juice, with nicotine, but felt that vaping wasn't delivering enough nicotine to satisfy her need. So she would also smoke a cigarette.

She calculated that vaping would be cheaper than smoking, but it didn't help her to quit, and it also irritated her throat. (She had tried to quit before by using a nicotine patch, but found it too strong.)

In the end, she blames the vaping experience for doubling the number of cigarettes she smokes to about 16 a day.

On the other hand

E-cigarette proponents claim that because the physical act of vaping more closely resembles smoking, and because the nicotine intake can be adjusted, it should be a better tool to help a smoker quit the habit.

That's what Winnipegger Matt Clinch found. He says e-cigarettes are "fantastic."

In 20 years of puffing, he was up to a pack a day. But then he tried e-cigarettes and hasn't had a smoke in seven weeks.

He says he feels better, he isn't out of breath as much as he was and food is starting to taste better.

"It's as close to smoking as you can get without lighting up and smelling like an ashtray."

He says the battery charge lasts him until dinner time and then he has to charge the unit for four hours, which he calls "a good thing, because it keeps me from over-using it."

Cheaper than cigarettes

Clinch also likes the fact that the juice comes in a variety of flavours and levels of nicotine, because "it makes cutting back your nicotine intake easier, without really realizing that you're cutting back."

He estimates the start-up costs of vaping as equivalent to a carton of cigarettes. But now he's down from spending $17 a day on cigarettes to 75-80 per cent less buying e-juice.

Nick Cooke, a Canadian living in Nicaragua, is discovering the same thing.

He has been using a vaporizer for a little more than a year and says vaping is "way less worse for me than the 30 to 40 cigarettes I used to smoke each day.

"It's odourless and smokeless for the people around me, so it's no problem to have a puff in a restaurant or bar or airport boarding lounge."

Cooke also can have just one or two drags on the e-cigarette and then set it aside.

He says that even in Nicaragua, where cigarettes are cheap ($1.75 for a pack of 20), he's saving money by vaping.

"The only disadvantage is not always having a lighter in my pocket, which comes in handy during power outages."

Doubts about safety

In Canada, selling e-cigarettes with nicotine or those with a health claim is not authorized, though selling e-cigarettes or e-juice without nicotine is legal.

In an email to CBC News, Health Canada said, "To date there is not sufficient evidence that the potential benefits of e-cigarettes in helping Canadians quit smoking outweigh the potential risks."

In order to get a vaping product authorized, Health Canada requires a company "to provide evidence of safety, quality and effectiveness" - a regulatory hurdle that is "among the most restrictive in the world," according to an editorial last year in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. (It wants e-cigarettes to be regulated as pharmaceutical rather than tobacco products.)

Winnipeg-based Theravape Inc. is one of about a dozen established juice-makers in Canada.

It is just Eden Sorrell and two friends working there and they manufacture and sell wholesale at least 13 different flavours of e-juice.

Their best sellers include lychee, menthol and tobacco. Sorrel describes the tobacco flavor as "transitional."

All their flavours can come with or without nicotine, and the nicotine can come in different strengths. Theravape e-juice sells for about $1 a millilitre.

Asked about Health Canada's policy, Sorrel explains that e-cigarettes with nicotine are "not authorized for sale but not prohibited. It's a grey market item."

He says his company doesn't get hassled by Health Canada "because it's actually marketed as a chemical consumer product, not as a health-care product."

Sorrel, who also works as a nurse, and is a non-smoker, explains that "it takes longer for nicotine to hit your bloodstream from a vape than it does from a cigarette, because it's being absorbed through the mucous membranes in the mouth, not within the lungs."

Tobacco industry dominates

One of the issues under debate among scientists is whether vaping could serve as a so-called gateway to smoking.

Sorrel says Theravape is "not here to start new habits" and he is unaware of any non-smokers trying their product.

Nevertheless a concern in the medical community is that e-cigarettes will be "a Trojan horse that will allow the tobacco industry to reverse decades of global progress in reducing smoking prevalence," says the CMAJ editorial.

"The tobacco industry sees a future where e-cigarettes accompany and perpetuate, rather than supplant tobacco use," the editorial adds.

The tobacco industry dominates the e-cigarette industry. In the U.S., a company called Blu eCigs accounts for almost half of all e-cigarettes sold, and it is in the process of being acquired by Imperial Tobacco.

The tobacco industry also dominates the e-cigarette industry in Europe, where vaping is more popular.

In the British documentary, "The Rise of the E-cigarette," Kingsley Wheaton, a director at British American Tobacco (which sells Vype e-cigarettes), says e-cigarettes "provide a substantially safer alternative to smoking a traditional cigarette."

Although that may sound like a good reason to stop smoking, there is intense debate among scientists around the world about whether vaping will lead to smoking cessation.

In May, 53 public health specialists wrote to the World Health Organization, arguing that e-cigarettes could provide what they called tobacco harm reduction because, in vaping, nicotine is consumed in a low-risk, non-combustible form and doesn't draw tar and toxic gases into the lungs the way smoking tobacco does.

That started a vigorous scientific exchange, starting with a rebuttal from 129 other public health and medical authorities, then a reply from the first group.

Reading those three letters gives an understanding of the debate, and its intensity.

The points in contention include the safety of the liquid, the safety of the second-hand vapor, and whether e-cigarettes are just another way of perpetuating smoking.

They don't debate the harms of the nicotine. By now that's pretty well understood.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

If you’ve stopped into a corner store or gas station recently, you may have noticed that there on the shelves, alongside the familiar red-and-white packs of Marlboros, the yellow Camels, the turquoise Newports, are futuristic-looking boxes of electronic cigarettes

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/03/2014 -- These small, battery-powered devices heat a nicotine-containing liquid, producing an inhalable vapor that provides smokers with the nicotine buzz they crave. Because they do not produce the tar, arsenic and other carcinogens that come from burning tobacco, they have been heralded as a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes, and even as a smoking cessation method.

But it turns out the two kinds of cigarettes aren't so different from each other at all—particularly when it comes to who is selling them.

Over the last year, Big Tobacco has made major inroads into the $3 billion e-cigarette market with major companies like Altria and Reynolds American releasing their own e-cig brands. At the same time, they have taken on an unlikely role as champions for public health. Industry leaders have been lobbying hard for any negative health effects of e-cigarettes to be publicized and for people to switch over to this purportedly less-harmful smoking alternative. This week, the CEOs of Reynolds and Lorillard, two of the country's largest tobacco companies, urged the FDA to move faster to regulate the burgeoning industry, citing concerns that e-cig users were relying on cheap, low-quality products purchased online and imported from China.

That's right: the leaders of an industry that sells a product that kills some 480,000 Americans every year are now in a panic to warn consumers about the health risks of smoking. It is a remarkable about-face. So what's in it for them?

A recent New York Times article helped shed some light on their motives. In what they claim is a grand gesture of corporate responsibility, major tobacco companies are slapping their e-cigarette packages with lengthy health warnings that are much stronger than anything found on their other tobacco products. One such warning, from Altria, maker of Marlboros and MarkTen electronic cigarettes, runs more than 100 words and reads in part: "Nicotine is addictive and habit-forming, and is very toxic by inhalation, in contact with the skin, or if swallowed." The warnings advise the dangers of smoking for children, women who are pregnant, those who take medications for depression or asthma, or who have high blood pressure or diabetes. They explicitly say that e-cigarettes are not a means of quitting smoking. It seems, then, that Big Tobacco is trying to play the e-cig game both ways. They want to capitalize on this growing market by pushing for stringent FDA regulations that would drive their smaller competitors out of business, but they also want to avoid cutting too deeply into their profits from traditional cigarettes by telling people there is no real benefit to going electronic.

Because they are so new, there has been no long-term, conclusive research on the health effects of electronic cigarettes. Some studies have found that e-cigs can help people quit; others say the exact opposite. Many individual e-cigarette users have come forward with success stories about using the product to quit traditional cigarettes, but all of this evidence is anecdotal. More worryingly, researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York found that some e-cigs contain low levels of carcinogens. According to Allan M. Brandt, a Harvard professor of the history of medicine who is quoted in the Times piece, these warning labels fit into a long tobacco industry tradition of misleading consumers. "It's an incredibly effective and duplicitous practice in inventing additional new uncertainties and, at the same time, appearing to be cooperative."

What makes these warning labels so striking is that Big Tobacco spent decades fighting against stricter regulations and public health advertising. Though the harmful health effects of smoking have been known since the 1950s, only two decades ago, in 1994, the CEOs of the seven largest American tobacco companies testified before Congress that they didn't believe cigarettes were addictive or caused cancer. In 1998, four of these companies finally gave up the charade, agreeing to pay more than $200 billion to settle lawsuits filed by 46 attorneys-general over Medicaid costs used to treat smoking-related illnesses. Tobacco companies have proven equally reluctant to divulge health information in more recent years, successfully defeating a 2009 law to require larger, graphic warnings on cigarette packaging. But now, an industry that's never cared much about the health of its consumers is falling over itself to warn people about the dangers of smoking.

History is not the only reason to be cynical about Big Tobacco's motives. As the Times piece points out, these strong warning labels are a relatively risk-free way for the companies to conjure up some positive PR without actually stopping people from smoking. The reason? No one actually reads them. A 2007 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study cited in the Wall Street Journal found that smokers are particularly unlikely to read warning labels, and a report from the same year by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids says that their effectiveness has steadily declined since they were first mandated in 1984, to the point that they are "virtually meaningless." In Canada and Europe, cigarette packs are papered with gory images of blackened lungs and rotten teeth, but in America, all we have is a few lines of easily ignored text.

Tobacco companies are also spending phenomenal sums to advertise these oh-so-deadly products as they aggressively move into the e-cigarette market. Because e-cigs are relatively new and not yet subject to federal regulation, Big Tobacco is free to market them in ways that have long been prohibited in the marketing of traditional cigarettes. They can also sell flavorings and use bright, colorful packaging as a means to attract younger customers (there are currently no federal laws limiting sales of e-cigarettes to minors). As Businessweek put it in a recent article, "For tobacco companies that have been barred from the airwaves for years, e-cigarettes are a way back in."

This year alone, Altria and Reynolds are each spending more than $150 million promoting their MarkTen and Vuse e-cigarettes. Basically, Big Tobacco is dropping major bucks to attract a new generation of smokers and lure customers away from smaller competitors, all while burnishing their corporate reputations. This fusion of cynical marketing ploy and cheap PR gambit would be impressive if it wasn't so transparent.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Two of Saskatoon’s largest concert venues are asking electronic cigarette users to step outside.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/03/2014 -- Despite the fact Saskatoon's smoking bylaw has zero mention of electronic cigarettes, both TCU Place in Saskatoon's downtown and SaskTel Centre have banned the devices from indoor use.

Tammy Watt, director of operations at TCU Place said there were a number of factors behind the ban, which has been in place for roughly a month.

"There's nothing conclusive coming out of Health Canada stating they're healthy or not," she told Metro. "The jury is still out in terms of what Health Canada has subscribed for them and that was the basis of our decision."

Watt explained the fact children can be present at TCU Place was also a factor in electronic cigarettes being included in its no smoking policy.

"We felt that it promoted the wrong look because we have some youth and we have all kinds of ages within our building," she said. "I think it would be more hassle than it's worth. There would be a lot of confusion for patrons seeing that, not understanding completely what it is."

Watt said from an operational standpoint it was also easier to manage the devices under TCU's no smoking policy, but said they've never had any issues with vaping to date.

Ban at SaskTel Centre already in place

The devices, which are technically illegal in Canada, have also been banned at Saskatoon's SaskTel Centre for more than a year.

Scott Ford, SaskTel Centre executive director, said patrons have been respectful of the rules.

"We don't get any backlash," he said.

"There's never been anybody saying, 'oh, it's an e-cigarette, why can't I smoke it?'" he said. "We have had no problems with it from the consumers."

"We explain to them why we don't allow them in the building and they fully understand and comply with our rules," he said. "It's never been an issue for us."

CEO and president of the Lung Association of Saskatchewan, Brian Graham, said the organization supports the ban, as it feels e-cigs contribute to the renormalization of smoking.

"This is a positive move," Graham said.

"When people, especially young people … see people using e-cigarettes, they don't really distinguish that from using regular cigarettes."

"One of the really important parts of preventing young people from starting smoking is seeing that the norm is not smoking," Graham stressed.

"Whether you're smoking a real cigarette or an e-cigarette, in their eyes it's smoking and I think that's a concern."

A no smoking sign can be seen outside of TCU Place in downtown Saskatoon. Saskatoon's SaskTel Centre and TCU Place, two of Saskatoon's largest event centres have banned the use of electronic cigarettes in their facility.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Tobacco giant British American has been lobbying the Therapeutic Goods Administration to introduce an electronic cigarette into Australia, describing it as a "medicine".

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/27/2014 -- The information emerged in documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws by the ABC.

Health advocates are worried that allowing big tobacco companies into the e-cigarette market could unleash a wave of seductive advertising that would lure young people into taking up the habit.

Electronic cigarettes are a multi-billion-dollar business overseas, but in Australia they remain largely unregulated and legally contentious.

Long-time tobacco opponent Professor Simon Chapman, from Sydney University, said describing e-cigarettes as medicine was "Orwellian" and destructive to society.

"That's the only word I can think [of] that's apposite here," he said.

"Down the corridor in BAT [British American Tobacco] you have a division who are spending all their days trying to work out how to gut, thwart, and ruin any policy like plain packaging."

BAT offshoot Nicoventures first sought a meeting with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in November 2013 "to fully explain our medicines-based approach to these agencies".

The name of the Nicoventures representative was suppressed by the TGA, which also edited large parts of the company's pitch.

When a meeting was confirmed for December 20, 2013, Nicoventures (wholly owned by BAT) wrote again, claiming it was motivated by wanting to help make smokers healthier.

"Thanks again for making time to see us, this is an area of much focus globally and we are committed to bringing these products to market and so reducing the harm caused by smoking in the population," the letter said.

But Professor Chapman said the letter was deceptive.

Big Tobacco's 'new errand boy'

Senator David Leyonhjelm is acting like an errand boy in Parliament for "big tobacco", writes Simon Chapman in The Drum.

"This is duplicity," he said.

"It's hypocrisy, forked tongue talk, it's everything that we've come to expect from the tobacco industry over the last 40 or 50 years."

For decades big tobacco companies denied smoking killed people or was even addictive. But in a brief it prepared for the TGA, Nicoventures spelt out the dangers of its parent company's products.

"Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and early death in England and most of the Western world," it said.

"If smoking cessation products can achieve a greater acceptance among smokers by offering craving relief, coupled with rapid absorption and mimicking many aspects of a cigarette ... they will enable a greater proportion of the smoking population to begin their journey towards quitting or substitution of cigarettes with medicinal nicotine products."

Royal Australasian College of Physicians president Professor Nicholas Talley has reviewed the evidence on electronic cigarettes.

"There is no evidence, no convincing evidence that using e-cigarettes leads to people quitting, there's not even convincing evidence it leads to people smoking less, although that might be possible," he said.

But other health academics have disagreed and have written to the World Health Organisation describing e-cigarettes as potentially life-saving.

Professor Talley said if e-cigarettes were not properly regulated they would lead to young people taking up the habit.

"It'll seem to be cool," he said.

"I'm sure this will happen and that is not a good thing, it's quite likely, in my view, many of these young people will then transition to cigarettes themselves."

The e-cigarettes pitch

The documents released by the Therapeutic Goods Administration showed Nicoventures would like to be able to advertise e-cigarettes, and be able to sell them anywhere.

An internal TGA email summarised Nicoventures' pitch.

"Light touch regulation is a key; Require commercial freedoms (able to advertise and have general sale)," the email said.

Nicoventures declined to be interviewed but released a statement.

"Nicoventures has met with the Therapeutic Goods Administration about the possible introduction of a new smoking cessation device in Australia," the statement said.

"It is anticipated that Nicoventures will be making a formal application to the TGA in the near future.

"We expect to be able to provide more details to the public once the application is lodged.

"E-cigarettes and similar devices should be manufactured to the highest quality standards and marketed responsibly to ensure only the safest possible products are sold in Australia.

"This is currently not the situation."

Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Today, about 100 Canadians will die as a result of smoking. Tomorrow, it will be another 100. And it will be that way, every day, for the foreseeable future.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/23/2014 -- Governments, public-health experts, family members, not to mention smokers themselves, want those numbers to change. While the country's overall smoking rate is down sharply from what it was 50 years ago, the number of Canadians who light up remains stubbornly high.

About 16 per cent of the population, or nearly five million Canadians age 15 and older, smoke on a regular basis, and those numbers have remained pretty much unchanged for the past few years. Of those, 90 per cent want to quit, according to a 2008 report from the Canadian Lung Association. But, as anyone who's wrestled with the addiction will attest, quitting isn't easy.

So shouldn't they have every possible weapon in their arsenal to help?

Not according to the federal government.

Electronic cigarettes – battery-powered devices that vaporize liquid nicotine – may help some die-hard smokers quit, or at least reduce their exposure to the dozens of deadly toxins found in traditional cigarettes.

In Canada, there are no e-cigarettes with nicotine approved for sale, which makes the sale and advertisement of them illegal. Unlike nicotine-replacement products, such as gums or lozenges, e-cigarettes mimic the look and feel of traditional cigarettes and the experience of smoking.

The evidence backing e-cigarettes as an effective cessation or harm-reduction device is mixed, and more rigorous study is needed to figure out how well the products work at helping people quit tobacco-based cigarettes, and whether inhaling vaporized nicotine causes any long-term health effects.

At the same time, there is real – and legitimate – worry that e-cigarettes, available in dozens of candy and fruit flavours, could be a gateway for teens who will then graduate to the real thing.

Despite these lingering questions, more tobacco-control experts are embracing the idea that e-cigarettes may have a crucial role to play in reducing smoking rates and want them to be available on a restricted basis in Canada, to keep them out of the hands of minors. In August, the World Health Organization called on governments to prohibit e-cigarette advertising to minors and to ban them from being used indoors. The American Heart Association made a similar recommendation regarding minors.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this year that it would regulate e-cigarettes in a similar manner to tobacco-based cigarettes, including a ban on sales to minors. The rules will also require scientific evidence if companies want to market their e-cigarettes as a healthier alternative.

Here in Canada, the Non-Smokers' Rights Association has taken a bold stand, saying the federal government should make nicotine-based e-cigarettes available. They want regulations to specify what can go into e-cigarettes – for instance, the standard amount of nicotine they should contain – as well as rules to prohibit sales to minors and advertising of the products.

"There is no way that e-cigarettes can be as harmful as cigarettes," said Melodie Tilson, the association's policy director. "Why not have a product available that could help smokers cut down and quit?"

Yes, why not?

In Canada, despite the fact that no nicotine e-cigarettes have been approved, it's easy to find nicotine cartridges in convenience stores or online. The lack of enforcement of rules, or creation of a clear policy, has put Canada in a regulatory vacuum that has left us with the worst of both worlds: no regulation on the sale or advertisement of e-cigarettes to minors and no mandated quality controls on the products themselves.

"There is a role for both Health Canada and provincial governments to regulate, and governments need to move forward on this," said Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society.

Eric Morrissette, a spokesman for Health Canada, said the department has no plans to do anything about e-cigarettes.

That is too bad, because like it or not, they are here to stay. And without rules in place, Canadians, young ones in particular, are vulnerable. Research from the Canadian Cancer Society in Quebec shows that one in three high school students have tried e-cigarettes.

There's a reason that Big Tobacco has been busy buying e-cigarette companies or creating brands of their own, and it's not out of the goodness of their corporate hearts. There's ongoing speculation as to whether those companies are using e-cigarettes to broaden the market for tobacco products, or if executives recognize the industry is dying and see e-cigarettes as the way to keep the next generation hooked on nicotine.

By staying on the sidelines and refusing to regulate the content, sale and advertising of e-cigarettes, Health Canada is squandering an easy opportunity to become a leader on an important public-health file.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

E-cigarettes have turned up in the classroom, and students are using the products to smoke during class, sparking calls for a ban on the products inside Winnipeg schools

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/03/2014 -- E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that mimic the use, appearance, and taste of conventional cigarettes. When inhaled, a liquid solution is heated and vapourized.

E-cigarettes can be imported, advertised and sold across Canada without restrictions, so long as they're not sold with nicotine and aren't advertised as health products. Manufacturers can't label the products as quit-smoking aids or as a healthy alternative to traditional smoking.

Being relatively new to the market, most Canadian schools don't have formal rules about them. Now that the e-cigarettes are showing up in classrooms, Winnipeg School Division Trustee Anthony Ramos wants to change the rules about e-smoking inside school buildings.

Users like Grade 12 student Maggie Matysiak argue that the products have helped them quit smoking, and should be encouraged as a deterrent to traditional cigarettes.

Matysiak told CTV Winnipeg that she uses e-cigarettes inside Ecole Secondaire Kelvin, and teachers and classmates haven't stopped her.

Although Matysiak hasn't been stopped, at least one Kelvin student said she's annoyed with the habit. Shayna Evans said she finds the devices distracting even though she sees students smoking them in class every day.

"It's a huge cloud of smoke and it's just very distracting. I'm surprised some of the teachers are OK with it," Evans told CTV Winnipeg, noting that other teachers are not.

Though fellow e-smoker Susanna Dack has used e-cigarettes for six months, in an effort to cut back on cigarettes, she said she would support a ban in schools out of respect for others.

"There's nothing wrong with these, but at the same time you don't smoke in the classroom, you don't smoke in the schools," Dack said.

The school board is expected to vote on Ramos' motion on Monday night.

Last week, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority issued a statement saying that e-cigarette restrictions were being considered, but more long-term research needed to be conducted before issuing a formal position. Other e-cigarette bans

In August, Toronto banned city employees from using the products in municipal work places, following in the footsteps of Red Deer, Alta. where the products were banned in June. In Red Deer, the products are treated like traditional cigarettes and users are banned from smoking them in public places.

Nova Scotia Health Minister Leo Glavine has told local media he hopes to introduce legislation to address e-cigarettes in the fall session.

Last December, New York City passed a bill banning e-cigarette use in restaurants, bars and clubs, and vaping is banned in public places in Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

They’re fast becoming one of the biggest public health concerns, electronic-cigarettes. As more and more people take up using this tobacco alternative, some cities are pushing back. So where can you use e-cigarettes? At least one city here on the Central Coast says "not in our public places."

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/19/2014 -- I received this question anonymously, "Dear Jon, is it legal to smoke e-cigarettes in restaurants, bars or outside patios?

The answer is, yes and no.

The city of Santa Cruz has added e-cigarettes to their tobacco ban ordinance, but no other city on the Central Coast has done that, yet.

E-cigarettes, there's no tobacco hence no smoke, but a battery powers the unit to heat the liquid laced with nicotine and the user inhales and exhales the vapor. For many, they're an attractive alternative to real tobacco.

Tobacco is banned in restaurants and bars and workplaces in California, but as of yet, there's no state policy on e-cigarettes. It is on the radar of lawmakers in Sacramento. So much like the plastic bag bans popping up in cities and counties in the state, cities are left in the position of considering possible controls on usage in public.

One of the major concerns about e-cigarettes is that there's a lack of research on the impacts of using the devices. Monterey County's Public Health Director Dr. Edward Moreno tells me he's concerned that e-cigarette's may be turning back the clock on public health.

"It's taken decades for California businesses to set a new culture here, a culture in which people have the privilege to breathe smoke free air while shopping or dining," says Moreno, "Businesses that allow e-cigarettes on their property are allowing or maybe allowing that culture to shift.

Moreno points to tobacco as an example of where we are with regard to understanding the impacts of e-cigarettes. He says 50 to 60 years ago the tobacco industry pushed their products on adults and youth. Then when research showed the devastating effects of tobacco on public health we started to see tobacco bans being put in place.

Says Moreno, "Even if we don't know if it's harmful yet, the concern I have is that it may, it may increase the number of people in California in the future who will become tobacco users."

Currently Santa Cruz is the only Central Coast city that has included e-cigarettes in their public tobacco ban policy. Seaside has discussed this issue; Salinas, Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel have no policy. Watsonville is looking at keeping the devices out of the hands of children, but no policy yet.

Some businesses and restaurants are making their own call, ahead of any city ordinance, and adding verbiage such as "including e-cigarettes" on signs that remind patrons of their 'no smoking' policy.

Moreno believes tolerance of e-cigarettes could be turning back the clock on public health, "So allowing people to have something that looks like a cigarette and has vapor emitting from it publically and they are not prohibited, may have a detrimental impact on the culture of health that we've actually been able to achieve here in California."

Moreno says there needs to be more research on the impacts of e-cigarettes and second-hand vapor. He points to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study from 2011 to 2013 that has poisonings occurring from e-cigarettes doubling and tripling year to year in a given month.

I reached out to the American Civil Liberties Union to discuss e-cigarettes. They refused to comment saying that was not a topic they would speak to.

So for now, e-cigarette users are at the mercy of what their community decides to do.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

With FDA regulation looming, it seems that there is a video or news post every other day condemning the e-cigarette industry.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/02/2014 -- Experts criticize the electronic cigarette brands for glamorizing e-cigarettes and question what ingredients are contained in e-liquids, or e-juice, as some people call it. In this article, we will discuss the e-liquids. The e-liquid, they say, is a mystery. Is it justified or fair? Maybe, maybe not. One thing is for sure, the industry needs a credible source for producing and then documenting what is in their e-liquids. Enter Bloog Viquid.

1) According to critics, no one knows what is in Electronic Cigarette e-Liquids
The big mystery surrounding e-liquids involves the ingredients. Many main stream e-cigarette brands carry e-liquids either produced in China or USA-made e-juice produced in buildings that may or may not adhere to good manufacturing processes. While some of these may be excellent, the e-cig smoker doesn't know which is which and the disclosure of the ingredients has come into question, especially with the e-liquid from China. Deemed unreliable, the Ingredient List is usually dismissed as unreliable. Which brings us to point two....

2) Of the e-Liquids that have an Ingredient List, most are dismissed as not from a credible source
Whether it is an imported e-Liquid from China or a local shop that gets their liquid from a US source, many of the critics claim that there isn't a reliable source to validate the documentation. Thus e-cig users may theoretically be vaping something more than they had anticipated. And that's why the critics and the media question the source of the documentation. And if one of those sources happens to be China, with their horror stories of lead in children's toys and melamine in milk, I can't say that I can really blame them. While many tobacconists and e-liquid producers do their best to produce a quality product, that is not the issue. The issue is ensuring that not only the ingredients are documented properly, but they are sourced from clean, reliable sources that everyone can agree is credible. Now I know that many e-cig brands and e-liquid manufacturers have provided documentation in the past, but the critics are still very vocal with their displeasure of the documentation's credibility.

3) FDA Regulation is imminent
Scheduled to have proposed regulation last year, the FDA has been delayed in their decision of how to handle e-cigarettes due to the US government shutdown. The tricky part is how to handle e-cigarettes. Are they a smoking cessation product even though people are still inhaling Nicotine? Are e-cigarettes a tobacco product because people are still inhaling Nicotine? Is Nicotine the problem, or are the over 4000 chemicals contained in the smoke that tobacco cigarettes create the problem? As you can see, it is not a black and white issue. And with the major tobacco companies jumping into the game, it only complicates things further. We can only hope that regulation is in the green section of the diagram at the right, not dangerously permissive as the critics are stating, and not overly restrictive, which the e-cig industry is afraid of. As long as it is fair to both the small companies, (small e-cig companies, tobacco shops, and vape shops included), as well as the large companies, regulation is welcome.

Ecig Canada, a luxury niche ecigarette brand, known for its E-Liquids, Cartomizers and KR808 batteries, began selling ecigarettes in 2008. As one of the first to market, Ecig Canada seems to always be a step ahead of the market. Why is that? By listening to their unabashedly loyal customers that have been with the brand for years. A quick scan of their Facebook page shows their customers love of the brand. The original challenge Bloog had is that although they have an American representative living in China and spot checking the production line of their e-liquids on a daily basis, the consistency of the flavor and vapor quality varied. Not to mention that they heard the same horror stories that the media was blasting. So over a year ago, they started their search for an American Pharmaceutical Company that could produce the e-liquids. The company would need to be FDA-Registered and use USP (US Pharmacopeia) designated ingredients. Moreover, by moving production to a Pharmaceutical Facility, Ecig Canada knew that the process would always remain 100% consistent. Why is that important? Think of your favorite cologne or perfume: you can buy at your local shopping mall or while vacationing in a shopping mall half of the world away- it is always the same smell. Why? The formulation and the process is always 100% consistent. Not 99.5%, or even 99.9%, 100%. The owners of Ecig Canada knew that if they could find a facility that had this level of formulation and process, the e-liquid would always be safe, consistent, and of the highest quality.

Fast forward to today's climate in the e-cigarette industry. An industry that needs a credible source of its eliquids from a reliable company. What is the ideal situation at the moment? A good start would be a US-based Pharmaceutical company that is FDA-Registered and DEA-Certified providing the documentation and Ingredient List of USP ingredients produced using cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Process) processes, along with a Certificate of Analysis for each batch. Ecig Canada has all of these bases covered. It is certainly not the be all/end all, but it sure is a great first step.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

In the few short years since the term “electronic cigarettes” entered the Canadian lexicon, the popularity of the devices has exploded.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/25/2014 -- In the few short years since the term "electronic cigarettes" entered the Canadian lexicon, the popularity of the devices has exploded.

"Vaping" has entered pop culture consciousness on series such as "House of Cards." There are vaping cafes popping up across Canada where enthusiasts learn about the newest devices and "e-juice" flavour cartridges. There are even online "vapologists" who can recommend e-cigarette juice the way a sommelier might recommend a wine.

But even as vaping becoming more commonplace, the legal status of the devices is still not clear, and health regulators have been largely silent on how, or if, they plan to regulate the growing industry.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration is expected to propose new regulations on e-cigarettes as early as this month. Those regulations will likely address how the products can be marketed, impose rules on health warning labels and ingredient lists, and perhaps call for bans on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.

Health Canada, meanwhile, has not said whether it too plans regulations, but it's likely health regulators will be watching how U.S. authorities proceed.

Health Canada last publicly addressed vaping in 2009, advising Canadians not to buy or use the products because the safety of the products had not been proven. The agency also reminded Canadians that no company has been granted market authorization under the Food and Drugs Act to manufacture and sell e-cigarettes that deliver nicotine.

But e-cigarettes that are not "expressly intended" for nicotine delivery continue to exist in a regulatory grey zone, neither approved nor banned in Canada. And even while e-cigarette "juice" that contains nicotine is officially not permitted for sale in Canada, the enforcement of that ban has been spotty at best, says Melodie Tilson, the director of policy for the Non-Smokers' Rights Association.

"In fact, we do have e-cigarettes with nicotine that are readily available on the market due to a lack of enforcement and because it's very hard for consumers to know whether they contain nicotine," she recently told CTV's Canada AM.

She says her group is concerned about e-cigarettes in large part because they worry they could become a "gateway" for young non-smokers to tobacco smoking.

"If they are being widely promoted like they are now and being promoted the way cigarettes were, and if they're being widely used in public places and workplaces where smoking used to be permitted, we could re-normalize the act of smoking for a new generation," she said.

So do e-cigarettes help smokers kick their habit, or re-enforce it? Again, there have not been enough high-quality research to say for sure.

The question of the devices' safety remains largely unanswered as well. Proponents point out that the vapour from e-cigarettes is free of the usual carcinogens found in tobacco. But others worry about the propylene glycol in the flavoured "juice" cartridges that becomes vapourized. Health Canada says propylene glycol is a known irritant and there are concerns might contain their own dangers. The effects of inhaling nicotine-laced vapour is even less well-understood.

Tilson's group, like many anti-smoking advocates, believe e-cigarettes could be helpful to smokers, pointing to two high quality studies that found that e-cigarettes can be as effective as nicotine patches in helping smokers quit.

"So we want a regulatory framework that protects non-smokers and at the same time, gives smokers access to a product that could help them quit," she said.

But that framework has still not materialized.

Even e-cigarette vendors themselves want to see regulation. Several have formed a group called the Electronic Cigarette Trade Association of Canada. which argues that Canada's e-cigarette industry has operated in a "Wild West" environment for too long.

The problem, say some observers, is that Health Canada is having trouble deciding whether e-cigarettes should be regulated as tobacco products -- even though they contain no tobacco -- or under the Food and Drug Act as medicines.

The ECTA says e-cigs shouldn't be classified as either. The group says good studies are needed to show that e-cigarettes are safe and regulations on the products, to ensure that nicotine-free juice is free of nicotine and to regulate contaminants in e-cigarette juice.

Several health groups want to see much tougher rules, calling for immediate bans and regulations.

The Canadian Cancer Society is calling for nationwide bans on sales to minors, as well as controls on the advertising of e-cigarettes. They also want regulation on e-cig ingredients and bans on vaping in public places.

Last year, the Canadian Lung Association issued a policy statement to say vaping was "potentially harmful" to lungs and called for an all-out ban on the sale of e-cigarettes until their safety could be properly researched. But the group is currently re-evaluating its stance, as it investigates the devices' use as a quit-smoking aid.

With the practice growing and with no clear rules on vaping from the federal level, several jurisdictions are moving ahead on their own.

Last December, New York City passed a bill banning vaping in restaurants, bars and clubs, while Los Angeles and several other California cities have banned vaping in public places.

Here in Canada, Nova Scotia said earlier this year it was planning to release legislation in the spring to regulate e-cigarettes the way tobacco is regulated, with bans on vaping in public places and bans on sales to minors.

For now, all eyes are on Nova Scotia, with many observers saying if Nova Scotia moves ahead with regulations first, it's likely other provinces will follow suit.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Scientists say they 'could save lives'- but how much do we really know about electronic cigarettes?

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/06/2014 -- Electronic cigarettes are "less harmful" than traditional cigarettes, new analysis of recent studies has shown.

An international group of scientists analysed data from over 80 studies conducted on the use and sale of e-cigarettes. According to the BBC, it focused on safety concerns, the toxicity of the chemicals present in both the liquid and the vapour and analysed the rate of use among non-smokers as well as smokers.

The analysis also showed that e-cigarettes are not regularly being used by non-smokers or those under the age of 18. It said that there was no evidence that the products encouraged young people to start smoking.

Most significantly, scientists showed that e-cigarettes can help smokers cut down their cigarette intake and even help them quit entirely. And they warned that tough regulation of the new industry could "damage public health on a big scale".

"Regulators need to be mindful of crippling the e-cigarette market and by doing so failing to give smokers access to these safer products that could save their lives", said Professor Peter Hajek, one of the authors of the paper.

However, Prof Martin McKee, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine pointed out that despite the research, health professionals remain "deeply divided" on the issue.

So what do we know about e-cigarettes, and should they be regulated?

What are e-cigarettes?
E-cigarettes come in a range of shapes and sizes, but common to all of them is the way they work. A built-in battery powers a small electronic heating element located in the "atomiser", which draws liquid up from a cartridge and onto the element. The solution, usually a mixture of propylene, glycol, glycerine, flavourings, and – critically – nicotine, turns to vapour and is inhaled through the mouthpiece.

Some e-cigarettes look like a regular tobacco cigarette, others look more like the top of a hookah pipe. Others still have been made to look like a traditional pipe – the kind that Sherlock Holmes smoked.

Are they dangerous?
Anna Gilmore, director of the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath told The Guardian: "E-cigarettes are certain to be way less harmful than cigarettes. Common sense would dictate that". But their long-term effects still remain unknown.

The WHO says that their safety is "illusive", noting that it is impossible to know what effect they may have on the body because "the chemicals used in electronic cigarettes have not been fully disclosed, and there are no adequate data on their emissions".

The British Medical Association (BMA) has also expressed concerns about the lack of adequate testing or controls. "The real truth," says Gilmore, "is that we just do not know.We cannot say e-cigarettes are risk-free. We cannot yet be sure what impact they will have on smoking rates or population health, whether they'll be the miracle product or not."

Should they be regulated?
Professor Robert West, of University College London told the BBC that e-cigarettes should be "regulated appropriate to what they are" and that they are "orders of magnitude safer" than tobacco cigarettes

He suggested "bespoke regulation" including banning sales for under-18s and controls on how the devices are advertised.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the British Medical Association's director of professional activities, told the BBC that there was evidence that children were beginning to use e-cigarettes as a direct result of marketing campaigns.

"Rather like cigarettesin the 50s and 60s, we really need to look at [advertising] and, I believe, ban it, to stop them advertising in a way that attracts children," she said.

Professor John Ashton, president of the UK's Faculty of Public Health, agreed that the possibility that advertising might impact on children was a cause for concern.

E-cigarettes are currently not regulated as medicines in the UK, the Daily Telegraph notes, but Britain's drug watchdog the MHRA wants to introduce new controls by 2016.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

According to the Centers for Disease Control, during 2000-2004, "An estimated 443,000 persons in the United States died prematurely each year from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/05/2014 -- During 2001-2004, the average annual smoking-attributable health-care expenditures nationwide were approximately $96 billion. When combined with productivity losses of $97 billion, the total economic burden of smoking is approximately $193 billion per year."

Comparing the health risks of tobacco smoking to the Swine Flu brings out some interesting and thought provoking statistics. According to President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology on H1N1, "A plausible scenario is that the epidemic could cause between 30,000 and 90,000 deaths in the United States." That puts the comparison of real deaths of 443,000 smokers to a "war games guess" of 30,000 to 90,000 for the H1N1 influenza for which the government recently declared a Health Emergency. That declaration and the shortage of the H1N1 vaccine has caused a panic in the U.S.

No study or statistic has been offered that points to the Swine Flu as being more deadly than tobacco cigarettes in causing death, yet a disproportional effort in preventative measures are currently being channeled to defend against a lower risk health issue. Toxic tobacco smoke contains many additional chemicals, including carbon monoxide and tar which is a sticky substance that accumulates in the lungs, causing lung cancer and respiratory distress. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the world and is responsible for more than 5 million deaths each year.

What the flu vaccine is to H1N1 as a preventative, the electronic cigarette may be for the tobacco smoker. An electronic cigarette is a futuristic advancement in science that makes it look, feel, and taste like a tobacco cigarette, as the user duplicates the mechanical motions. It expels an almost odorless water vapor that looks like smoke, but isn't. The e cigarettes are battery-powered with a cartridge that typically contains nicotine in various levels (or none), propylene glycol and tobacco flavoring. In their October briefing, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in the United Kingdom released a favorable position on electronic cigarettes.

The researchers also found that "the propylene glycol itself was a potent germicide. One part of glycol in 2,000,000 parts of air would--within a few seconds--kill concentrations of air-suspended pneumococci, streptococci and other bacteria numbering millions to the cubic foot."

Clinical trials on electronic cigarettes containing propylene glycol were carried out in New Zealand by Dr. Murray Laugeson of Health New Zealand and can be found on the website of SS Choice LLC at http://www.eCigarettesChoice.com under the tab "Media Coverage." Far from posing a threat to our health, the propylene glycol in e cigarettes might just keep us healthy. Further studies should be done on the effects of propylene glycol to determine if it can be used successfully as a virus prevention tool. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the best flu preventative was right under our noses all this time?

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

It’s a critical time for the e-cigarette industry. In April, the FDA announced proposed rules to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/31/2014 -- The announcement kicked off a period of public comment so that e-cig makers and public health experts can raise concerns and give the FDA the necessary facts to write an appropriate set of final rules. Regulation is just like writing the rules of a new game—on one side there are businesses vying for industry-friendly regs, and on the other are public health advocates.

"The deeming rule that the FDA has proposed is very, very, very limited in its scope," says Stanton Glantz, a cardiology professor at the University of San Fransisco and one of the most vociferous proponents of strict rules for e-cigs. "It requires a useless warning label and says they can't be sold to kids under 18, but it doesn't put any restrictions on internet sales, which means kids under 18 can easily get them. It has no restrictions on marketing at all." This puzzles Glantz. "You would think that the Obama administration would be supporting tobacco control because it would reduce health care costs." As far as Glantz is concerned, the administration has erred on the side of the tobacco interests.

Naturally, one of the biggest concerns among health advocates is children's access to e-cigarettes—and marketing of e-cigs to teens is up 321%, as TIME recently reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that almost 2 million students in the U.S. have tried e-cigarettes. Policies to address the issue run the gambit from the least controversial—like establishing an age restriction on purchasing e-cigs and child proof packaging—to the more divisive, like prohibiting marketing to teens, prohibiting internet sales, and restricting the use of kid-friendly candy-like flavors.

But even the most basic restrictions—like better product labeling, and child proofing—were absent from the FDA's initial deeming rules, making other restrictions on advocates' wish lists seem that much further away. "Any meaningful rules on marketing of e-cigarettes are years, and years, and years away," says Glanz, pointing out that if restrictions were imposed, e-cog companies would likely sue over marketing restrictions on first amendment grounds.

Craig Weiss, the CEO of NJOY in Scottsdale, Arizona, one of the leading electronic cigarette brands, also thinks the FDA rules will stay fairly restrained. "The FDA are smart people," he says. "They have to read everything and they will, but I think what you saw in the proposed regulations, that's what you are going to see in the ultimate regulations as well."

As for whether any child-marketing restrictions would make sense down the line, Weiss says there are appropriate curbs, but there is no reason e-cigarette marketing should be as strict as tobacco. "You are confusing the arsonist with the firefighter," he says. "Why would you treat products that are part of the solution as products that are part of the problem?" he says. Though NJOY is careful not to make direct claims that their products can help smokers quit, Weiss is a big believer in the potential for electronic cigarettes to replace cigarettes. Weiss supports limits on the age of actors in ads and rules against e-cigs appearing in cartoons, but he rejects the idea that there is anything wrong with his ads, which do feature young adults.

That's not good enough for public health advocates. "The best way to market to kids is to market to young adults," says Glantz, "If you designed marketing to stop smoking in a 50 year old, it could be done. That's not what they are doing. It wouldn't be on MTV, it would be on evening news."

Weiss responds: "I'm interested in converting every adult smoker in the country to these products. I think it would be a tragedy for smokers to be smokers for decades before we advertise in a way that is appealing to them."

The battle over e-cig regulation isn't settled, but if what's going on now is any indication, that battle may have actually been over—and won by industry—before it even started.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Soon the few people left in civilized society who still smoke will be stubbing out their last gaspers and resolving to quit. Some of them may turn instead to e-cigarettes, those funny little white cylinders of plastic and metal, which contain liquid nicotine and are being sold in ever greater quantity.

Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/28/2014 -- One of the great advantages of these things is that it's perfectly legal to puff away at work. As you can't actually light them, they don't count as smoking. And as all they emit is a little water vapour, they aren't even antisocial.

Yet, increasingly companies are taking the very regrettable step of banning them. Some say they are a fire risk or that they may be harmful, but the main reason seems to be that they look too like the real thing. A spokeswoman from the British Medical Association recently complained that they set the wrong example and they renormalize the idea of smoking in offices just when everyone had succeeded in making it seem freakish.

It is for that very reason - the similarity to a real cigarette and the way they normalize the idea of smoking at work - that I'm strongly in favour of people puffing away on them in the office.

Constitutionally, I'm no libertarian. I approve of employers banning things and issuing draconian rules and regulations, and I'm hoping that 2015 will see a lot more of them. Dress codes, fixed hours of work, Facebook bans - all these are excellent ideas. Rules are much less tiring than grey areas; they free you from fretting about small things and allow you to save your creative energy for things that matter.

But with these fake cigarettes, it's different. Here at last is a way of getting back something that we lost on that day five years ago when the last office smoker was hounded out through the revolving doors to puff away on the pavement outside.

I'm not saying that we should bring those days back. Clearly we can't let people slowly kill their colleagues by blowing poisonous fumes at them. But by focusing exclusively on the fact that smoking kills, we have forgotten that it was also one of the most useful rituals that offices have ever seen.

Smoking was the most reliable and most powerful way of bonding that anyone has yet found. The simple act of lighting someone else's cigarette, of offering a pack around or chatting for just the time it takes to smoke one created a good feeling that lasted about as long as the tar sits in your lungs.

I had proof of this a couple of weeks ago when I spoke at an I squinted at her for a bit. "Alex!" I said, flinging myself at her.

We weren't even friends at school but we were fellow frequenters of the sixth form common room, where she was incredibly generous with her gold packets of Benson & Hedges. But there we were, not having seen each other for three decades hugging like long lost sisters.

With the gradual ostracism of smokers at work, the bonding value has been strengthened but has been turned into something nastier.When smokers were rounded up and made to puff away in special little rooms, gossip took on a more divisive tone.

Now, it is worse still. Smokers have to stand on the pavement outside, where they look unsavoury to visitors arriving at the office. My (very) few smoking acquaintances tell me that the camaraderie is stronger than ever, but it is of an us-and-them sort: smokers against the world.

Soon even these outdoor huddles may be outlawed and all chance of bonding through smoking will be gone. Fewer people will die very nasty deaths but something that used to be wonderful will have gone.

The e-cigarette is nothing like as good as the real thing, as you can't offer a pack around, you can't light someone else's and there is no beginning, middle or end. But it is a memory of a sort of comradeship that we have failed to recreate in any other non-death-inducing guise.

In honour of this memory I would start "e-cigarette" them myself, but that would seem too perverse. Instead, I'm planning something else for 2013. To get a cut glass whisky decanter and fill it with brown apple juice. It could sit on my desk with a couple of nice tumblers and I could pretend I'm Don Draper and offer people a convivial drink as they pass by.

There is a small problem. The thing that bonds most tightly about cigarettes and booze is the vice. And if you take the vice away, there is nothing left that sticks.

About Ecig Canada Zone TTE
Ecig Canada Zone, (http://www.ecigcanadazone.com), based in Toronto, ON, is a leading provider of Ecigs In Canada and distribution services for small to mid-sized businesses worldwide. Our online services focus on business making this place a better place.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm