By Martinne Geller
LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - The health warning on a MarkTenelectronic cigarette package is 116 words long.
That's much longer than the warnings on traditionalcigarette packs in the United States. Nicotine, the e-cigarettewarning says, is "addictive and habit-forming, and it is verytoxic by inhalation, in contact with the skin, or if swallowed."It is not intended for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding,or people ... who take medicine for depression or asthma."Nicotine can increase your heart rate and blood pressure andcause dizziness, nausea and stomach pain," says MarkTen, aleading brand in the United States. The ingredients can be"poisonous."
MarkTen's parent company Altria, maker of Marlborocigarettes, said the language seemed appropriate. There is norequired health warning on electronic cigarettes in the UnitedStates, so "we had to do what we thought was right," said aspokesman for Altria Client Services.
The company's frankness about the perils of nicotine datesback to the late 1990s, when it led a campaign for cigarettes tobe regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Small tobacco companies at the time said the big guys would useregulation to seal their dominance. Today, small e-cigarettemakers are saying the same thing. Many argue that firms likeAltria and Reynolds American want hefty rules to help neutralisethe threat that e-cigarettes pose to their businesses. Byaccentuating the risks of 'vaping,' they say, big firms maydeter smokers from trying the new devices, even though mostscientists agree they are safer.
"If you read that (warning) as a smoker, you might think 'Oh,I'll just stick with a cigarette,'" said Oliver Kershaw, aformer 15-a-day-smoker who quit through e-cigarettes and foundedwebsites that advocate them.
Big tobacco companies have pushed for a range of controls one-cigarettes. These include lengthy health warnings, reducedproduct ranges, restricted sales, and scientific testingrequirements. Kershaw and others say such efforts risk squeezingsmall players. Too many rules would stifle innovation and reducethe range of products to "a very simple, utilitariane-cigarette," said Fraser Cropper, CEO of Totally Wicked, anindependent e-cigarette company based in the UK.
Big tobacco companies say their goal in pushing for firmcontrol is not to hurt smaller competitors. Regulation willbenefit consumers and e-cigarette companies alike by ensuringsafety and quality standards and boosting confidence, they say.Small companies should not be exempt from responsible behaviour.
"Our stated goal is to get to e-vapour leadership, to havethe strongest brands in the marketplace," said the Altriaspokesman. He could not predict the impact of increasedregulation on smaller firms. "I don't know how they run theirbusinesses and what it would cost them to meet thoserequirements."
Most anti-tobacco campaigners agree that e-cigarettes shouldbe regulated. But some believe they deserve a lighter touch thantobacco because they can help smokers quit, and may be lessharmful than smoking.
Measures that make e-cigarettes less appealing or hard tocome by may keep people smoking, these people say. Clive Bates,a former head of UK charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH),thinks public health officials who advocate tough controls endup helping Big Tobacco's conventional brands.
"They really are all doing their utmost to protect thecigarette trade," Bates said. "They just don't realise it." Hethinks regulations should encourage smokers to quit, or switch.
The image of e-cigarettes is already changing. Theproportion of people in Britain who think vaping is just asharmful as smoking doubled last year to 15 percent, according toa survey by ASH. In the United States, a similar picture isemerging. The growth in U.S. sales of e-cigarettes slowed to 5percent in the fourth quarter last year from 19 percent a yearearlier, according to Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog. Sheattributes that partly to increased uncertainty about theproducts.
Derek Yach, a director at Vitality Institute, a healthresearch company, doubts there is any "conspiratorial effort" tocrush the new business. But he says that "if the dominantmessage is one of doubt, then the status quo gets maintained."Yach once headed tobacco control at the World HealthOrganization and worked at PepsiCo.
Japan Tobacco International, the world's third-largesttobacco company, thinks strict regulations could hurt youngfirms. "If you make it extremely hard (to comply), you woulddrive small companies out of business," said Ian Jones, JTI'shead of scientific and regulatory affairs for emerging products."You would lose the value of the category, you would lose thespark."
"OPEN SYSTEMS"
E-cigarettes came onto the market a decade ago promising asafer nicotine fix. The devices heat nicotine-laced liquid tocreate an inhalable vapour, rather than burn tobacco. That givessmokers the traditional hand-to-mouth ritual without the deadlysmoke.
The global vaping market, which could top $7 billion thisyear, is evenly split between cigarette look-alikes, often soldby tobacco companies, and refillable "vapours, tanks and mods" -devices which users modify to suit their needs. These are oftenmade by smaller firms. Demand for them is growing three times asfast as the overall market, as users say they find them moresatisfying than early all-in-one models.
Serious devotees favour such refillable "open systems" thatlet them mix and match liquids and batteries to vary theirnicotine intake. Open systems are often sold in vape shops andlend an edgy, do-it-yourself creativity to the vaping community.According to Wells Fargo, there are now around 8,500 vape shopsin the United States and 19,400 globally. Vape shops account forabout one-third of all U.S. sales, while the Internet accountsfor another third.
In August, Reynolds - which does not produce mods - urgedthe FDA to "ban open system e-cigarettes, including allcomponent parts." Such systems, Reynolds wrote, present a"unique risk for adulteration, tampering and quality control."
If the FDA does not want a ban, Reynolds suggested, itshould regulate vape shops as manufacturers. That would subjectthem to FDA inspection, registration, manufacturing standardsand product clearance requirements.
Vape shops often mix nicotine and flavouring, just aspharmacies compound drugs, said Richard Smith, communicationsmanager at Reynolds. This means "the vape shop seller is amanufacturer under the applicable laws and regulations."
E-cigarette independents say such a move targets them;analysts note that the business model of big tobacco firmsdepends on mass production, not mix-and-match.
"I think they (Reynolds) probably want that snuffed outbefore it gains traction," said Philip Gorham, anAmsterdam-based tobacco analyst at Morningstar.
Reynolds says that's not true. "We fully support innovationin tobacco products, including vapour products," said Smith. Thecompany wants "a level playing-field where all manufacturers aresubject to equal treatment."
DOING THEIR DUTY
Shane MacGuill, a tobacco analyst at market research firmEuromonitor International, said Reynolds' move may seem zealous,but companies have a duty to shareholders: "It would be remiss... of them not to try and push for the competitive environmentthat is as favourable to them as possible."
Steven Parrish, a former Alt
