Free Talk Live

Boston health officials today voted to treat electronic cigarettes, known as e-cigarettes, like tobacco products, banning use of the increasingly popular products in the workplace and restricting their sale to adults only.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to oversee electronic cigarettes marketed for non-therapeutic use as tobacco products after a court ruled the products can’t be regulated as drugs or medical devices. The FDA will propose subjecting e-cigarette companies to rules that already cover the makers of regular cigarettes, such as providing the government with lists of product ingredients, the agency said today in a letter on its website.

A federal judge said Thursday the Food and Drug Administration cannot stop shipments of electronic cigarettes into the United States.

Ten dollars for a pack of cigarettes? It might soon become a reality in many stores in New York City. The cigarette tax in New York would jump $1.60 a pack under a tentative deal struck between Governor David Paterson and state government leaders.

A Florida vapor spent a few days in the hospital after suffering facial burns when his electronic cigarette spontaneously ejected the battery. Given the current battle e-cigarettes are facing in numerous state legislatures, this could become a serious setback for the industry.

The good news is electronic cigarettes can not be banned as they have just received "legal" classification as a tobacco product.

SFO banned electronic cigarettes earlier this month and now the city is in the first stages of banning them. The plan is to fold them into the current smoking ordinance, saying that anything that looks, feels or functions like a cigarette is a cigarette and has to be banned from public places.

The American Lung Association has come out in full force by sending lobbyists to various state legislators to argue against the electronic cigarette.

Electronic cigarettes are opening a new front in the tobacco wars as state and local lawmakers try to restrict the product, which may allow users to circumvent smoking bans.