3-6-14 e cigarettes

A senate committee held a  public hearing at the State Capitol Wednesday on West Bend Republican Senator Glenn Grothman’s bill to exempt e-cigarettes from Wisconsin’s smoke-free air law. Right now, e-cigarettes are not regulated, which Dona Wininsky of the American Lung Association in Wisconsin believes is wrong.  "Right now there's over 250 different brands.  Our position is that the FDA needs to issue some kind of regulations over these products,"  Wininsky told AM 1170 WFDL's Between the Lines program. 

Grothman contends there is no harm from e-cigarettes and that no one is exposed to secondhand smoke from them, but Wininsky says we don’t really know if they’re safe.    According to Consumer Reports, sales of e-cigarettes hit one-point-five billion dollars last year, nearly triple the previous year. Often, they are marketed as a way to quit smoking, but Wininsky says if a smoker wants to quit, they can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or talk with their doctor.  Wininsky adds that one of the Lung Association’s biggest concerns is that e-cigarettes are marketed to young people.