When it comes to information about e-cigs and the nanny state fight against them, Dr. Siegel presents excellent information, and has been doing so for a number of years.
With the possible exception of Lorrilard, the tobacco industry per se has been relatively quiet about e-cigs. The big push (and big K Street money) is coming from the Pharmaceutical industry because e-cigs are cutting into their profits on nicotine gums, patches, lollipops, and other “smoking cessation products. E-cigs are no more a tobacco product than a patch, yet the FDA (with encouragement of Big Pharma) is seeking to regulate them under the Tobacco Act.
The big push (and big K Street money) is coming from the Pharmaceutical industry because e-cigs are cutting into their profits on nicotine gums, patches, lollipops, and other “smoking cessation products
Dr. Siegel does not agree:
the deeming regulations ... represent a devastating blow to the public's health and a huge gift for combustible cigarettes and in turn, for cigarette-related disease and death.
On your recommendation, I read a considerable volume of material on Dr. Siegel's blog. I did not run across a discussion of opposition from smoking cessation aid manufacturers. Dr. Siegel's emphasis appears to be entirely anti-tobacco, while many commenters on his blog are tobacco industry apologists.
I cannot think of a regulatory provision that would be more favorable to combustible cigarettes than to ban any potential competitor products that are not made from tobacco and do not involve combustion from informing consumers that these products are safer alternatives to smoking. This is literally a huge gift to the combustible cigarette market and therefore, it is devastating to the public's health. It is going to increase disease and death. This is absolutely the opposite of what the FDA should be doing in these regulations.
Take a read of his latest blog post. I'll have to admit that these regulations don't lay a glove on the purveyors of nicotine via Nicorette and Nicoderm, while threatening to shut down nicotine's use through e-cigarettes. However, Nicorette and Nicoderm are minimally useful in assisting smokers to quit, while e-cigarettes are highly efficacious. I therefore see the tobacco industry as the party that has the most dollars to loose from e-cigarettes, and the most motivated to oppose them. I hope so, anyway, since Nicorette and Nicoderm have the image of motherhood and apple pie by contrast to Big Tobacco.