The decision in a 2011 federal court case gives the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate e smokes under existing tobacco laws rather than as a medication or medical device, presumably because they deliver nicotine, which is derived from tobacco. The agency has hinted it will begin to regulate e smokes as soon as this year but so far, the only action the agency has taken is issuing a letter in 2010 to electronic cigarette distributors warning them to cease making various unsubstantiated marketing claims.

For now, the devices remain uncontrolled by any governmental agency, a fact that worries experts like Erika Seward, the assistant vice president of national advocacy for the American Lung Association.

“With e cigarettes, we see a new product within the same industry tobacco using the same old tactics to glamorize their products,” she said. “They use candy and fruit flavors to hook kids, they make implied health claims to encourage smokers to switch to their product instead of quitting all together, and they sponsor research to use that as a front for their claims.”

Read More E Cigarette Explodes In Man’s Mouth

Thomas Kiklas, co owner of e cigarette maker inLife and co founder of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, countered that the device performs the same essential function as a tobacco cigarette but with far fewer toxins. He said he would welcome any independent study of the products to prove how safe they are compared to traditional smokes.

The number of e smokers is expected to quadruple in the next few years as smokers move away from the centuries old tobacco cigarette so there is certainly no lack of subjects,” he said.

Menthol cigarettes to be banned by eu

List of nicotine levels in cigarettes by brand

  • More on this story
  • Cigarette packaging U turn will take politics out of the issue, minister says

    Jane Ellison defends move after Labour claimed government was only acting because it feared defeat in House of Lords

  • Every coalition U turn the list in full

  • U turn could result in plain packaging on cigarettes by 2015

  • Tobacco companies fuel black market in Britain, say MPs

  • Will banning 10 packs really help smokers quit?

  • EU to ban menthol cigarettes and make tobacco pack health warnings bigger

  • MEPs to vote on tougher smoking rules

  • 80% of teens in favour of standardised cigarette packaging, survey shows

  • Health groups dismayed by news ‘big tobacco’ funded rightwing thinktanks

  • Comment and debate
  • Heard a thinktank on the BBC? You haven’t heard the whole story

    George Monbiot When the BBC interviews someone about smoking, it’s supposed to reveal if the thinktank they work for receives funding from big tobacco

  • The BBC must declare the interests of its contributors, or lose our trust

  • Why the assault on cigarette packets? They already look like props in a horror movie