Electronic cigarettes - smokeless devices marketed as a way to deliver nicotine without the harmful effects of tobacco smoke - may be just as unsafe as the products they mimic, officials with the Food and Drug Administration said last week. For months, the FDA has wanted to keep e-cigarettes, as they are known, from being sold in the United States. They have blocked shipments at the border. They have warned that people can't know what they are inhaling when they use the product. But their efforts are being held up, as an e-cigarette manufacturer questions in court whether the FDA has regulatory authority over the devices. Now, the FDA is saying that a small sample of e-cigarettes that it analyzed contained carcinogens and toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze. Defenders of the products say they still contain much less of the bad stuff found in cigarettes.
