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The FDA has opened a criminal investigation into vaping
The Food and Drug Administration opened a criminal investigation into the vaping supply chain earlier this summer, it has emerged. The Office of Criminal Investigations started the probe following reports of a vaping-related lung illness. The agency now says more than 530 people have been affected, and seven deaths have been attributed to the illness thus far.
Netflix says its originals will kick their smoking habit
Future Netflix original shows rated TV-14 or lower and movies rated PG-13 or below will no longer include depictions of smoking or e-cigarette use, except in cases of historical or factual accuracy. The service will also avoid showing smoking or e-cigarette use in more adult-orientated projects "unless it's essential to the creative vision of the artist or because it's character-defining (historically or culturally important)," it told Variety.
San Francisco's grand plan to ban online e-cigarette sales
Nearly 90 percent of all San Francisco high school students who vape get their fix by shopping online or through friends. Just 13.6 percent actually buy their pods at a physical store. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is acutely aware of this teenage reality -- these statistics are laid out in Health Code ordinance No. 190312, which prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes in San Francisco, in person and online. The ordinance's authors are specifically concerned with curtailing e-cigarette use among the youth population, noting that the number of teenagers who had tried vaping at least once rose by 1.5 million from 2017 to 2018. The ban will last until the US Food & Drug Administration reviews the health risks of vaping, which likely won't happen until 2022.
San Francisco set to become first US city to ban e-cigarettes
San Francisco has edged towards becoming the first US city to ban sales of e-cigarettes, as well as the manufacturing and distribution of them on city property. A preliminary vote saw city supervisors unanimously approve a ban on e-cigarettes the Food and Drug Administration has yet to review. It hasn't assessed any yet and companies have until 2021 to apply for reviews of their products under the agency's draft guidelines.
The FDA thinks an Xbox game can stop kids smoking
The FDA is behind a horror video game designed to teach teens about the dangers of smoking. Inspired by the statistic that three out of every four high school students who start smoking continue on to adulthood, One Leaves sets players in a cell with three other teens. The free PC and Xbox One game's objective is to escape the cell, but only one of the players will succeed. The game is being released as part of the FDA's "The Real Cost" youth tobacco prevention campaign, which is aimed at youth who are 12 to 17 years of age.
Marlboro owner invests $12.8 billion in e-cigarette maker Juul
Tobacco giant Altria (which owns Marlboro and Virginia Slims) has bought a 35 percent stake in Juul for $12.8 billion. The major deal pegs the e-cigarette company's valuation at $38 billion, which more than doubles its value since a previous investment in July. Altria will place Juul's products next to its cigarettes on retail shelves, and, pending antitrust approval, hold a third of Juul's board seats.
FDA to limit sales of flavored e-cigarettes
The Food and Drug Administration is essentially banning flavored e-cigarette sales at convenience stores and gas stations as part of a crackdown on underage vaping and smoking. The agency is limiting sales in physical stores to those that have age-restricted entry or areas that are closed off to under-18s. It will also require more vigorous age verification for online sales. It was widely expected that the FDA would take action against flavored e-cigarettes, though it stopped short of a complete ban.
Juul stops selling flavored e-cigarette pods, kills social media accounts
Juul Labs, the makers of the wildly popular Juul e-cigarettes, announced today that it will stop selling most of its flavored vaping pods in retail stores. The company will also put an end to its social media promotions and advertisements. The decision on the part of Juul comes as the government appears ready to apply more scrutiny to the vape brand and its potential targeting of kids.
E-cig makers have 60 days to show they aren’t targeting minors
The Food And Drug Administration may force several e-cigarette brands to stop selling flavored products if they can't prove they can keep their products out of minors' hands. The brands -- Juul, Vuse, MarkTen, blu and Logic -- have 60 days to convince the agency they have adequate plans to stop kids from vaping with their products. Those five collectively account for more than 97 percent of the e-cigarette market.
The FDA has a significant change of heart about e-cigarettes
The FDA has just announced a sweeping change in its policy regarding e-cigarettes and vaping products. In a press release issued this morning, the administration outlined its plan to focus on reducing usage of combustible cigarettes and tobacco, in turn loosening restrictive rules laid out just last year, that could have wiped out most vaping products ("eliquid").
US Navy bans e-cigarettes on every ship in the fleet
Last year, the FDA finally started regulating e-cigarettes and swiftly ruled to keep them out of checked baggage on flights. Incidental reports that some had caught on fire led regulators to restrict them to carry-ons lest they ignite in midair. It seems the US Navy won't even take that chance, as the branch just banned e-cigarettes across the entire fleet.
Teens love vaping, much to the Surgeon General's horror
We know that smoking is bad for you, which is why so many people have switched across to vaping as a (theoretically) safer alternative. But that hasn't stopped the Surgeon General from objecting to the rise in e-cigarette use, especially amongst young people. Dr. Vivek Murthy has posted a report saying that the devices are a public health issue because they're not a cure for the real problem of nicotine addition.
The After Math: Regulation Nation
Exciting news coming from the wild world of government rule making this week. The FDA signed off on a medical experiment designed to jumpstart your brain after it's died. Surprisingly, no, lead-acid batteries are not involved. The FDA also made waves by denying minors the ability to buy e-cigarettes, prompting calls from the public for the agency to explain why it took so damn long to do so. The FAA relaxed its rules over drone swarms, Takata pissed off the DoT yet again and Tesla made the EPA look a little silly. Numbers, because the Feds said so.
UK doctors say smokers should be encouraged to use e-cigarettes
If the British public needed reassurance that e-cigarettes are healthier than traditional smoking, a new report from Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has done just that. In a 200-page document, leading UK doctors have moved to quash the "increasingly common misconception" that vaping is dangerous and said that smokers should be "reassured and encouraged" to switch to e-cigarettes.
E-cigarette ads are encouraging teen vapers, CDC finds
Surprise! The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found a link between the popularity of vaping and e-cigarette advertising. In short, a greater exposure to vape-related ads increases the likelihood that a young person will pick up the habit. The findings are based on a questionnaire answered by 22,000 middle and high school students in the US. The responses were collected in 2014, so the situation might have evolved since then, but it shows a clear correlation between vaping and the volume of advertising found online, in print, on TV and in stores.
Millions of kids used e-cigarettes last year
Stephen Dorff is apparently more influential than we all thought -- if the youth of America even know who he is. Last year 3 million middle-schoolers and high-school students used e-cigarettes as their preferred method of tobacco delivery, according to a report by the Center for Disease Control. The CDC says that this carries over from 2014, where e-cigs were the most used tobacco product among those surveyed. In 2011, e-cigs represented 1.5 percent of overall tobacco use among that population and in 2015 the number skyrocketed to 16 percent. That's despite cigarette and cigar usage dropping during the same period. So yeah, kids really like battery-powered smokes.
Pax is bringing its vaporizer to Europe
Pax sells some of the best loose-leaf vaporizers -- and proprietary e-cig systems -- on the market. Over the past five years, though, its products have only officially been available in North America. Today, the San Francisco startup is branching out into Europe, beginning with the UK and Germany. But not all of its products are making the journey across the Atlantic yet.
UK research finds vaping is 95 percent safer than smoking
Vaping just took a huge step forward in its quest for public acceptance. A report published today by Public Health England (PHE), an agency sponsored by the UK's Department for Health, has concluded that e-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful than traditional smokes. In addition, it's recognised their potential to help people quit smoking altogether, and says it looks forward to the day when the NHS can prescribe medicinally regulated devices. "E-cigarettes could be a game changer in public health, in particular by reducing the enormous health inequalities caused by smoking," Professor Ann McNeill from King's College London, and one of the review's independent authors said.
Engadget Daily: Microsoft Surface Pro 3 review, hacking Watch Dogs and more!
We put Microsoft's new Surface tablet through the review ringer, took a look at vaporizer technology, found out just how realistic hacking in a video game can be, and discovered that Sony's new console's raking in the cash. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
What you need to know about vaporizers
Smoking is bad for you. There! We said it right up front. There's no reasonable line of argument that can lead to any other conclusion: smoking kills lots of people, around 50 percent of its long term users. But with all that said, people love to smoke. Heck, I smoked for many, many years and I still would if it had a few more vitamins. But bottom line, tobacco products smell awful, give you bad breath, have become socially unacceptable, cause all kinds of cancer and, ultimately, kill people. What if we were to tell you we've found a new way to get all the nicotine into our bodies with technology, and none of the harmful smoke? Well, good news, we can! Let's talk about vaporizers.
