Candy makers want electronic cigarette manufacturers to stop using the names of popular candy products for flavored nicotine liquid.
Several kid-focused brands including Girl Scouts of the USA, General Mills and Tootsie Roll Industries have sent cease-and-desist letters to manufacturers of liquid nicotine demanding they discontinue using brand names such as Tootsie Roll, Thin Mint, Cinnamon Toast and more. The kid-focused brands claim that the candy-like names given to flavored liquid nicotine may attract young children who could get addicted to nicotine smoking. These companies have also said that if liquid nicotine makers do not pull down names that are appealing to kids then they may take necessary legal action.
E-cigarettes are quite different to the conventional cigarettes or cigars and use batteries. Instead of smoke, e-cigarettes throw out vapor, which is considered less harmful. E-cigarettes are gaining high popularity and according to the Associated Press, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently proposed to regulate e-cigarettes. However, they did not put a ban on fruit or candy flavored liquid nicotine, which are already banned from use in regular cigarettes as the flavors may attract young children.
"Using the Thin Mint name - which is synonymous with Girl Scouts and everything we do to enrich the lives of girls - to market e-cigarettes to youth is deceitful and shameless," says Kelly Parisi, a Girl Scouts spokeswoman.
The e-cigarettes industry has already reached a market size of $2 billion in sales in 2013. The risks or benefits of smoking e-cigarettes remain unclear. However, e-cigarettes may encourage nicotine addiction and could possibly continue the risk of addiction in existing smokers.
"It's the age-old problem with an emerging market," says Linc Williams, board member of the American E-liquid Manufacturing Standards Association and an executive at NicVape Inc., which produces liquid nicotine. "As companies goes through their maturity process of going from being a wild entrepreneur to starting to establish real corporate ethics and product stewardship, it's something that we're going to continue to see."
Williams indicated that with the ongoing debate regarding the names, his company is already in the process of renaming several of its liquid nicotine names. NicVape is already been asked by candy brands to discontinue using brand name Junior Mints for their liquid nicotine. The company is also working to remove images and names such as gummy bear from its products that may be attractive to children.
