After U.S. sales began in 2007, federal regulation of e-cigarettes may no longer be a pipe dream.

E-cigarettes, also known as electronic cigarettes, may receive regulation from the Food and Drug Administration, possibly by the end of the month. Since the product’s release in the United States, it has fallen through FDA loopholes, allowing it to be available to anyone. E-cigarettes have since risen in popularity, including use by children under 18 years old, and have prompted states to take matters into their own hands until a federal standard is set.

When e-cigarettes began being imported into the country, the FDA determined the product to be a drug delivery device. It stopped importation until December 2010 when Sottera, Inc. took the issue to court. 

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The court found e-cigarettes and any other products derived or made from tobacco can be regulated as a tobacco product under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The bill was signed by President Barack Obama in his first term to give the FDA the authority to regulate marketing, manufacturing and sale of tobacco products. E-cigarettes were also ruled to not be drug delivery devices unless marketed for therapeutic use.

However, even with the court’s ruling the FDA only has the authority to regulate certain categories of tobacco products immediately; E-cigarettes do not fall under one of these categories.

Since then, the product has been unregulated at a federal level in the United States.

Jennifer Haliski, an FDA media affairs officer, said regulations for the product are underway.

“Electronic cigarettes are battery-operated products that turn nicotine, which is highly addictive, and/or other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user,” she said. “The FDA intends to propose a regulation that would extend the agency’s “tobacco product” authorities — which currently only apply to cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco — to other categories of tobacco products that meet the statutory definition of tobacco product.”

Haliski said the FDA cannot comment on the timing and release of the proposed legislation or its contents but the proposed regulation has been sent to the Office of Management of Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

The lack of federal regulations has spawned an increase in popularity for the product for children too young to buy tobacco products.

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A study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in 2012 the number of middle and high school aged Americans who used e-cigarettes at least once was 10 percent, more than doubling the 4.7 percent the previous year. The study also found that in 2012, more than 1.78 million middle and high school students have used e-cigarettes.

Some states have proposed their own regulations on e-cigarette sales while a federal standard is set.

Illinois does not have any legislation that prevents smoking e-cigarettes in public or work places, but as of August, prevents the selling of e-cigarettes to people 18 years old or younger. SIU prohibits the use of electronic cigarettes inside and within fifteen feet of university vehicles, buildings and facilities where smoking is prohibited.

E-cigarettes may not have all the dangerous substances normal cigarettes have inside, but they still contain the key ingredient of nicotine.

David Gilbert, a professor of psychology and head of a smoking addiction study at SIU, said there are several psychological and biological factors nicotine can have on the human body that make it addictive.

He said the psychological factors include a perceived reduction of stress and negative emotions and increased ability to concentrate along, and the biological factors include the reduction of appetite.

Gilbert said the body’s adaptation to nicotine is why it can become so addictive.

“The brain adapts and the body adapts to wanting nicotine,” he said. “So use over a long period of time results in the brain and body adapting and this makes the individual keep wanting to use nicotine to maintain just a normal state of being.”

E-cigarettes do have healthier contents than their tobacco- filled counterparts, Gilbert said. He said e-cigarettes do not produce side-stream smoke, the smoke in e-cigarettes doesn’t contain all the carcinogenic factors that normal cigarettes have and the e-cigarette contains far fewer chemicals than normal cigarettes.

While there are no studies about whether e-cigarettes are harmful to your health because the product is still fairly new, smoking e-cigarettes is probably healthier than smoking normal cigarettes, Gilbert said.

The introduction of e-cigarettes has also presented new options for smoke shops across the country.

Holly Kruep, president of RollnUp Smoke shop, said e-cigarettes are on the rise but are not likely to replace cigarettes anytime soon.

“You’re never going to, in my opinion, replace the cigarette but it’s getting more taboo,” she said. “(The e-cigarette is) filling that need, (but) I think it’s more of an add-on purchase. That’s what I’ve seen rather than a complete substitute.”

Kruep said cigarette sales have been declining for years now and the selling of e-cigarettes has not affected tobacco sales. However, e-cigarette sales have been on the rise since they were released and provide decent revenue for her business, she said.

People who smoke e-cigarettes have their own reasons for using the device, but many agree they use the product because they think it is a better alternative to normal cigarettes.

Kara Hunt, a senior from Harrisburg studying fashion design merchandising, said she enjoys e-cigarettes for fun and because of the different flavors the product can offer.

“I don’t smoke cigarettes, I just smoke e-cigarettes for fun,” she said.

Hunt said she only uses her e-cigarette at home because she thinks there is a certain perception about smokers in general. If legislation is put in place to prevent people from smoking in a public place or inside, she would stop smoking e-cigarettes altogether, she said.

Byron Millard, a graduate student studying linguistics from Kingsport, Tenn., said he enjoys being able to smoke inside with the device instead of outside like he used to do when he smoked cigarettes. He said if legislation were put in place to prevent him from smoking e-cigarettes in public, he would understand and respect that others might not want to be around a smoker.

There can be a stigma with smoking electronic and normal cigarettes, Millard said.

“Especially with our generation, there’s more of a stigma with it,” he said. “Less and less people are smoking and a lot more people are conscious about it, so yeah I think there is a stigma and it has been developing for a few years now.”