Electronic Cigarette Company Pays $170,000 to California In Settlement
Smoking Everywhere, one of the country's largest electronic cigarette sellers, has agreed to pay $170,000 in a settlement with the California Attorney General's office over allegations it marketed products to minors and claimed they were safe.
"Smoking Everywhere aimed ads at minors and falsely claimed its products were safe," Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. said. "This settlement stops the company from marketing these addictive products to kids or claiming they aren't dangerous." To read the consent judgement, click here.
Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are battery-operated devices with nicotine cartridges designed to look and feel like conventional cigarettes. Instead of actual smoke, e-cigarettes produce a vapor from the nicotine cartridge that is inhaled by the user.
Smoking Everywhere and other electronic cigarette makers have claimed that e-cigarettes are safe because they contain no carcinogens or tar, and produce no second-hand smoke.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, found that some electronic cigarettes contain dangerous chemicals including carcinogens such as nitrosamines, and one brand also contained diethylene glycol, commonly known as antifreeze. Also, nicotine itself is considered toxic.
Some e-cigarettes come in strawberry, chocolate, mint, banana and cookies-and-cream flavors designed to appeal to a young audience.
In the settlement, Smoking Everywhere agreed that it will not:
Source: Electronic cigarettes won't be marketed to minors - SignOnSanDiego.com
Lesson to learn, indicate on your affiliate websites that the electronic cigarette is open to individuals 18 years of age or older and don't promote them as "safe".
"Smoking Everywhere aimed ads at minors and falsely claimed its products were safe," Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. said. "This settlement stops the company from marketing these addictive products to kids or claiming they aren't dangerous." To read the consent judgement, click here.
Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are battery-operated devices with nicotine cartridges designed to look and feel like conventional cigarettes. Instead of actual smoke, e-cigarettes produce a vapor from the nicotine cartridge that is inhaled by the user.
Smoking Everywhere and other electronic cigarette makers have claimed that e-cigarettes are safe because they contain no carcinogens or tar, and produce no second-hand smoke.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, found that some electronic cigarettes contain dangerous chemicals including carcinogens such as nitrosamines, and one brand also contained diethylene glycol, commonly known as antifreeze. Also, nicotine itself is considered toxic.
Some e-cigarettes come in strawberry, chocolate, mint, banana and cookies-and-cream flavors designed to appeal to a young audience.
In the settlement, Smoking Everywhere agreed that it will not:
- Market or sell electronic cigarettes to minors. Its website will be age-restricted, and a customer will need to show a government-issued ID. Retail products will be behind a counter.
- Sell flavored electronic cigarette cartridges such as strawberry, mint or bubblegum that could appeal to minors.
- Advertise its products as a smoking cessation device unless the FDA approves them for that purpose.
- Claim that its products are safer than cigarettes or contain no tobacco, tar or carcinogens, and produce no second-hand smoke unless there is competent reliable scientific evidence to support the claims.
Source: Electronic cigarettes won't be marketed to minors - SignOnSanDiego.com
Lesson to learn, indicate on your affiliate websites that the electronic cigarette is open to individuals 18 years of age or older and don't promote them as "safe".