Cancer groups urge restrictions on e-cigarettes
By Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times
Electronic cigarettes should be subject to the same taxes, marketing restrictions and limitations on public use as traditional tobacco products, according to new guidance from cancer experts.
In a joint policy statement issued Thursday, the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Society for Clinical Oncology acknowledged that e-cigarettes may improve public health by taking market share away from combustible tobacco products and helping smokers quit. But until the benefits are proved, the statement said, regulators shouldn’t distinguish between the two kinds of products.
The U.S. surgeon general’s office estimates that smoking-related conditions such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease result in 484,000 premature deaths each year. If present trends continue, 5.6 million children alive today will wind up dying as a result of smoking.