Want create site? Find Free WordPress Themes and plugins.

As the FDA continues to drag its feet towards regulation of electronic cigarettes, many state and local governments take the issue into their own hands. Most are just scrambling institute laws preventing the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors. But anti-smoking groups are calling these efforts “Trojan Horse” legislation.

The most recent of these efforts is in Ohio where the American Cancer Society is arguing against a bill that would ban the sale of alternative nicotine products (primarily e-cigs) from being sold to anyone under age 18. But anti-smoking advocates claim that the bill has been crafted by the tobacco industry to protect an emerging market it intends to use to circumvent smoking taxes and laws.

Are tobacco companies really behind this legislation? Yes, in some places. Lorillard claims credit for proposing the bill in Ohio that would ban sale of e-cigs to minors. However, some states are pushing for this legislation with the support of e-cig user groups, smoking cessation experts, or even on their own. Many individuals feel that e-cig use should be prohibited from minors, but that their risk profile by comparison to smoking (presumably 99% less risk) shouldn’t require smoking-level restrictions.

But anti-smoking groups can’t see past the nicotine and the “it still looks like smoking” aspects of electronic cigarettes. Their concern with age verification legislation is that it carves out a new category of nicotine product for the nation to consume. This means — for them, that is — all the work done to tax smoking so heavily, prevent it from occurring indoors just about anywhere, and kill cigarette advertising and marketing efforts have to start over.

This is why they tend to fight against e-cig age verification bans — and the Amercian Cancer Society tends to be the most vocal.