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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.

The FDA says its new guidelines would make the food Americans eat safer and help prevent the kinds of food borne disease outbreaks that sicken or kill thousands of consumers each year. The rules could cost manufacturers up to $475 million annually. The bill also authorized more surprise inspections by the FDA and gave the agency additional powers to shut down food facilities. In addition, the law required stricter standards on imported foods.

The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act makes it illegal to sell a prescription drug for any purpose other than what's listed on the label. Nevertheless, a divided federal appeals court this week tossed out the conviction of a former drug sales rep who was recorded pitching a doctor on other uses of a medicine approved by regulators solely to treat the sleep disorder narcolepsy.

A Florida man trying to kick the smoking habit was puffing on an electronic cigarette when a faulty battery caused it to explode in his mouth, taking out some of his front teeth and a chunk of his tongue and severely burning his face, fire officials said Wednesday.

For a muscular agency that combats vicious drug criminals, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration acts like a terrified and obstinate toddler when it comes to basic science. For years, the DEA and the National Institute for Drug Abuse have made it all but impossible to develop a robust body of research on the medical uses of marijuana.

Here’s a tale of two lawsuits: an artist who wants to get paid for his work and a university employee who wants to get paid for falling out of her chair. The former gets to keep his Facebook and MySpace communications private and the latter has to turn them over. Old electronic communications laws mixed with cutting edge electronic communication on social networking sites mean that individual judges have wide leeway in determining what online is private and what’s not.

According to Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing: “If granted, those expanded spying powers would make it easier for the government to snoop on email, webmail, Skype, Facebook, even Xboxes.”
if the government trots out “child pornography” as a reason to have these invasive and ever-expanding powers, don’t believe it. They’ve ignored hundreds of cases already.

The governor of Michigan is trying to force through the legislature a bill that would establish emergency rule, LITERALLY. Gov. Snyder is seeking emergency powers that would enable him to 1) unilaterally declare a “financial emergency”, 2) disincorporate entire municipal governments, 3) dismiss elected officials with no replacement election to follow, 4) seize control of local civil services, 5) hand taxpayer money, services and POWERS to private, for-profit firms...

A man who refused to stop smoking an electronic cigarette forced a Continental Airlines flight to return to Portland Tuesday afternoon. he was held overnight on a federal detainer and formal charges are expected today. The Department of Transportation is considering banning the devices, which are currently legal. However, Continental has a policy banning the use of e-smokes.