34
TOBACCO BUSINESS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
electric
ALLEY
C
an e-cigs get any higher?They
can and they will if recent
dynamic support has a say—
and apparently, it does—even
with the U.S. government.
The exploding arena of electronic
cigarettes is backed by a few solid industry
associations, one of which—the American
E-Liquid Manufacturing Standards
Association (AEMSA), now almost a year
old—is helping to raise the e-cig bar
for consumers, manufacturers
(e-liquid manufacturers
directly), e-liquid labs,
and potentially for
FDA review.
With
AEMSA
( www. AEMS A .
org) embarking on its
one-year anniversary
this
October,
Lou
Ritter, president, and Linc
Williams, secretary, recently
gave
Tobacco Business
exclusive insight
and updates,reporting that the association’s
founding goals have not only been
met, but some also “stretched”
beyond initial expectation:
• Since its inception in
October 2012, AEMSA’s
first-version e-liquid standards
were set and published
as a role model for the
industry—but they are
already being updated to
next-version (late 2013)
standards. “When we first
initiated the effort, we were
extremely happy to see that
not only did the first original
[e-liquid] manufacturers embrace
the idea,but they unilaterally agreed
that if they did not have to improve
their operations, then their standards
weren’t high enough,” explains Ritter. In
June, the association, with the help of
FDA feedback and industry experts,began
updating its standards,saysWilliams.“Our
standards are a living document, they will
always be ever-evolving,”he maintains.
Raising the E-Cig Bar
Welcome to
TB
’s first regular column on issues surrounding the
“electric” world of electronic cigarettes. This debut feature updates
readers on how the AEMSA is improving e-liquid standards, as well
as facilitating responsible industry dialog with the FDA.
By Renee M. Covino
