CA: Bill introduced to legally equate e-cigs to cigarettes.

[pnwmom]

164. The manufacturers sued the govt. for the right to be classified as a tobacco product.

And they won.

They wanted to be classified with tobacco products so they wouldn't have to go through other FDA regulation (as other drugs do.)

So they're trying to have it both ways. They want it to be regulated with tobacco when it suits them, but not when it doesn't.

http://gothamist.com/2013/01/22/e-cigs_e-cigarettes_njoy_vaping_vap.php

But NJOY's rise to becoming the most popular e-cigarette brand in the country stemmed from a lawsuit they filed to prevent their product from strict government oversight, and they continue to reap profits in a vacuum where no regulation currently exists.

In 2010 NJOY sued the FDA to prevent electronic cigarettes from being regulated as a drug device that provided the "therapeutic benefit" of quitting smoking. Nicotine devices must undergo rigorous and costly testing before they can market themselves as products to help smokers quit. NJOY won the lawsuit, and the right to keep selling their product as a type of tobacco product. E-cigarettes were ordered to be regulated under the historic Tobacco Control Act of 2009.