E-cigarettes are tobacco products

Tobacco companies are selling E-cigarette LTEs, which resemble cigarettes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the authority to regulate them as tobacco products. However, the tobacco industry is going to great lengths to ensure that e-cigarettes are called anything but tobacco products. Because doing so exempts these unregulated products from current tobacco control laws.

Currently, our state senators are considering SB 841, which gives special treatment to e-cigarettes. At first glance, this bill looks promising in prohibiting minors from purchasing e-cigarettes. But closer review shows that the industry's main goal is to create a special exemption to prevent e-cigarettes from being included in Missouri's current tobacco control laws, as well as preventing e-cigs from being regulated in the future.

E-cigarettes are a fairly new product, and manufacturers would like people to believe that they are a safer alternative to smoking, but this has not been scientifically proven. There is still so much that people do not know about e-cigarettes, and until further research is done, our legislators should treat e-cigs like all other tobacco products.

Everyone is in favor of keeping these products out of the hands of kids, but we do not need a bill written with language that undermines current state law to do so. Until the FDA releases regulations on e-cigs, and until we know more about the health impact of these products, we should urge our senators to amend SB 841 to include e-cigarettes in Missouri's current definition of tobacco products.

PRISCILLA H. MABUCE, Cape Girardeau