Big tobacco puts dire warnings on e-cigarette packaging.
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The NY Times’ September 28, 2014 article details new health warnings about e-cigarette use, including the nicotine is toxic when inhaled. One warning, from Altria, maker of Marlboros, reads in part: “Nicotine is addictive and habit forming, and is very toxic by inhalation, in contact with the skin, or if swallowed.”Another, from Reynolds American, maker of Camels, says the product is not intended for persons “who have an unstable heart condition, high blood pressure, or diabetes; or persons who are at risk for heart disease or are taking medicine for depression or asthma.”
The fact these companies are voluntarily warning about e- cigarettes is “totally Orwellian,” said Robert N. Proctor, a Stanford history professor who studies the tobacco industry. He added, “They do everything for legal reasons, otherwise they’d stop making the world’s deadliest consumer products,” he said of tobacco companies.
Read the full New York Times story here.