Exploding hoverboards might have gotten all the attention lately, but electronic cigarettes have also been showing a disturbing tendency to spontaneously combust, injuring a growing number of people whose devices have blown up in their faces or pockets.
Exploding hoverboards might have gotten all the attention lately, but electronic cigarettes have also been showing a disturbing tendency to spontaneously combust, injuring a growing number of people whose devices have blown up in their faces or pockets.
Both types of products are powered by rechargeable lithium ion batteries that are suspected of catching fire when overcharged.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission jumped immediately into action on problem hoverboards, declaring the products an unreasonable fire risk and warning manufacturers to adopt safety standards or face seizures.
E-cigarettes are a different story, however. At the moment, federal regulators can do little more than shake their fists impotently at faulty electronic cigarettes manufacturers, most of whom are in China. That’s because e-cigarettes are considered tobacco products, and thus fall under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has yet to start cracking down despite the meteoric growth of “vaping.”
But after four years of work, the agency is close. The FDA sent a final draft of e-cigarette regulations to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget for approval in October.
Although product liability lawsuits have been filed against the retailers and wholesalers, regulations would help stop injuries before they happen by giving the FDA the authority to require the devices to meet federal safety standards.
The regulations would get the potentially dangerous devices out of the hands of kids immediately. Among other things, the rules would impose the same age restrictions as apply to conventional cigarettes. They can’t come too soon. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen use of e-cigarettes has been growing dramatically, tripling among middle and high school students from 2013 to 2014.
While researchers haven’t settled the question of whether vaping is as harmful as smoking, we do know e-cigarette users don’t breathe in the same kind of carcinogenic smoke and tar that conventional cigarette smokers do. But no matter how you package it, nicotine is an addictive chemical linked to cardiovascular disease.
The vaping liquids also have been found to contain other chemicals such as Diacetyl, a flavoring associated with a terrifying illness called “Popcorn lung.” But until the new regulations kick in and require the disclosure of all chemicals in those liquids, there’s no way for consumers to know what other substances they might be inhaling.
Neither the risk of explosion nor concerns about long-term health effects of e-cigarettes have put a damper on their growing popularity. That makes it all the more imperative to have regulations as soon as possible. We have waited too long already.
— Los Angeles Times