The American Medical Association (AMA) are recommending that the legal age to be able to purchase e-cigarettes be raised to 21 . They announced their decision this week and are also calling for more regulations to be imposed on the product. As usual they spend their time talking about the supposedly negative aspects of e-cigarettes and leave out all the good they do.





The AMA also want to see nicotine packaged in child-resistant containers and urge the strict enforcement of laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors. Again they are going down very familiar territory. They label e-cigarettes as tobacco products despite the absence of tobacco. It's a strengthening of the AMA's policy on e-cigarettes. In the past they had wanted to prohibit their sale to those under the age of 18 but it seems that isn't enough for them now. Of course they refer to the CDC survey that showed an increase in the number of high school and middle school students using e-cigarettes. At least they're not seeing an increase in the use of the deadly tobacco cigarettes and surely that's a good thing looking ahead to the future?





AMA President Dr. Robert M. Wah is also urging the FDA to act now which is a bit like asking your taxi-driver to speed up in a traffic jam. Where the AMA are really getting it wrong is in their call to prohibit claims that e-cigarettes are an effective tobacco cessation tools. What is wrong with these people? Don't they ever read the positive stories from people who have been using tobacco cigarettes for years and have now kicked that deadly habit thanks to e-cigarettes?





Karen Casey from the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives said last year that e-cigarettes should be available as a viable option for anyadults trying to give up smoking. She said: "This product has the potential to help more adults quit smoking than any other product on the market right now." Carey knows that from first-hand experience having given up smoking after 30 years thanks to e-cigarettes.





Are her qualified views totally wrong or are the AMA simply not bothered to find out just how effective a smoking cessation tool e-cigarettes are?



