The deadly crusade against e-cigarettes

Posted on November 22, 2012

It s among the most important public health problems in the world

Allow or ban in the workplace?

preventing the devastation wreaked by smoking. Experts predict the global death toll of cigarettes will approach 1 billion lives lost this century. But misguided or agenda driven public health officials worldwide are condemning one hope for slowing this catastrophe electronic cigarettes, or e cigarettes, and certain low risk tobacco products that have the potential to reduce the risk caused by smoking.

Public health officials are gathered at a conclave in Seoul, South Korea, for the revision of an international tobacco treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). They ll be taking up e cigarettes and perhaps even calling for a ban.

The logic employed by these critics is that since e cigarettes look like actual cigarettes, they must be curbed as well.

But what the critics see as a bug is actually a feature e cigarettes can work as a public health tool precisely because of their resemblance to the real thing.

E cigarettes work by giving addicted smokers the nicotine they crave, without the toxic smoke. They supply a variable amount of nicotine in a watery vapor and produce a red glow at the tip when puffed upon.

That similarity especially the nicotine, the addictive substance smokers crave is what is best about e cigarettes. The nicotine hit they supply matches, more or less, that of inhaling cigarette smoke, as do the behavioral mannerisms of holding the thing as though it was their familiar friend, the conventional cigarette.

But that s where the similarity ends. There are no products of combustion to be inhaled hundreds of times a day, and hence no tobacco toxins.

E cigarette users they call themselves vapers get the satisfying drug but none of the tarry smoke. That s why many smokers who switch to e cigarettes succeed in staying smoke free.

An important fact, rarely discussed by public health gurus, is that the patches, gums, and drugs they recommend as safe and effective are all too often neither. Among the 46 million smokers in the United States, well over half say they want to quit, and more than one third attempt to do so each year but less than one tenth succeed.

Despite those sorry statistics, those in charge at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization, and the European Union health commission argue for sticking with currently approved cessation methods.

Lethally addictive cigarettes remain available on every street corner in Brussels and Atlanta while authorities denounce e cigarettes (the product is already banned in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand). And while, as of today, e cigarettes remain available in the European Union, a new Tobacco Products Directive is expected this year to call for a ban on e cigarettes (while tightening the existing proscription on the nearly harmless type of Swedish smokeless, snus). Such measures would leave addicted smokers with few reliable means of quitting.

Prohibiting the safest form of nicotine delivery will increase, not stem, cigarette related deaths. Truly informing smokers about reduced risk nicotine products, such as e cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, and increasing access to these products is a good way to save millions of lives.

Article by Gilbert Ross, MD

Marlboro (cigarette) – wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jr cigar – the world’s largest cigar store – statesville, nc

Marlboro cigarettes 13 and snus 13 come in the following varieties of flavor and packaging

USA cigarette varieties edit

Marlboro box, 25’s box, and soft pack
Marlboro 100’s box and soft pack
Marlboro Eighty Threes box
Marlboro 72’s box

Marlboro Red Label box and soft pack
Marlboro Red Label 100’s box and soft pack
Marlboro Gold Pack box, 25’s box, and soft pack
Marlboro Gold Pack 100’s box and soft pack
Marlboro Gold Pack 72’s box
Marlboro Silver Pack box
Marlboro Silver Pack 100’s box
Marlboro Silver Pack 72’s box
Marlboro Blend No. 27 box and soft pack
Marlboro Blend No. 27 100’s box
Marlboro Virginia Blend box
Marlboro Virginia Blend 100’s box
Marlboro Southern Cut box
Marlboro Black box
Marlboro Black 100’s box
Marlboro Special Blend Red box
Marlboro Special Blend Red 100’s box
Marlboro Special Blend Gold box
Marlboro Special Blend Gold 100’s box
Marlboro Menthol box and soft pack
Marlboro Menthol 100’s box
Marlboro Menthol Green Pack 72’s box
Marlboro Menthol Blue Pack box
Marlboro Menthol Blue Pack 100’s box
Marlboro Menthol Blue Pack 72’s box
Marlboro Menthol Gold Pack box and soft pack
Marlboro Menthol Gold Pack 100’s box and soft pack
Marlboro Menthol Silver Pack box
Marlboro Menthol Silver Pack 100’s box
Marlboro Menthol Blend No. 54 box
Marlboro Menthol Blend No. 54 100’s box
Marlboro Menthol Smooth box
Marlboro Menthol Smooth 100’s box
Marlboro Menthol Skyline box
Marlboro Menthol Skyline 100’s box
Marlboro Menthol Black box
Marlboro Menthol Black 100’s box
Marlboro NXT box
Marlboro Edge box

UK varieties edit

Marlboro Red
Marlboro Gold Original
Marlboro Gold Original 100’s (Superkings)
Marlboro Gold Touch
Marlboro Silver
Marlboro Bright Leaf
Marlboro Bright Leaf Platinum
Marlboro White Menthol
Marlboro Ice Blast

International cigarette varieties edit

Marlboro Gold Touch
Marlboro Flavor Code
Marlboro Premium Black

USA snus varieties edit

Marlboro Snus Original (discontinued in California, New York, Texas, Utah, Nevada, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Kentucky)
Marlboro Snus Mint

Marlboro in Canada edit

Philip Morris sold the Canadian rights to the “Marlboro” name to Imperial Tobacco Canada in 1932. After the brand’s successful American relaunch in the 1950s which later became well known to Canadians through exposure to the brand’s international sponsorships and advertising Philip Morris tried several legal manoeuvres in attempting to reacquire the Canadian rights, to no avail. Imperial Tobacco continues to sell a line of cigarettes under the Marlboro name in Canada, albeit with very different packaging from that of the Philip Morris product. Philip Morris retains the rights to the “rooftop” trade dress and other elements of Marlboro’s branding which were developed after the 1932 sale, and has historically used that trade dress in Canada in combination with the names “Matador” or occasionally “Maverick” for a line of Virginia blend cigarettes. 14 15

In 2006, Philip Morris International’s Canadian affiliate Rothmans, Benson & Hedges introduced a new product with the “rooftop” trade dress, and marked as being the “World Famous Imported Blend”, but not bearing any actual brand name. This led to a legal challenge from Imperial, contending that the new packaging created customer confusion by merely suggesting the Marlboro brand, thereby infringing on Imperial’s Canadian trademark rights. Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Imperial in June 2012. The judgment noted that Canadian regulations which (in most cases) prohibit the public display of tobacco products at retail locations i.e., customers must ask for a brand by name exacerbated the situation, as there were now two products that customers might be referring to when asking for “Marlboro”. 14 Though PMI is expected to appeal, shortly after the ruling it began using the brand name “Rooftop” on packaging for the previously unbranded cigarettes. 15