James Benning U.S. 2011 99m
color sound HD

Filmmaker in person!

Twenty Cigarettes is a game with its own rules and a game with film history In Benning s Screentests we watch 20 individuals, each of them smoking a cigarette. Some of them are familiar, like Sharon Lockhart. Others we ve never seen before. But they all give us time to read their body language. We embark on a journey across foreign facial landscapes, through long inhalations into the inside of their bodies, and into the invisible world of their thoughts as we imagine them to be. James Benning is well known as the structuralist and documentarist who introduced the dimension of cinematic time into the landscape. One take lasts exactly three minutes, or the time it takes for a train to pass through a Californian landscape. This time round it s people who determine the length of the takes by smoking a cigarette. They stand among walls and shelves and only their movements, which they try to control, and the movement of the smoke, which they can t control, stipulate the coordinates of the filmic space. Benning makes a screenplay out of this and surprises us by once again creating something entirely new out of little more than smoke. Stefanie Schulte Strathaus

Venue New York Film Festival

Alternative nicotine products

Sign the petition – keep electronic cigarettes legal in europe!

Tobacco and its use have been regulated for decades. Reports of the negative public and personal health effects of traditional forms of tobacco use have increased consumer awareness. This, in turn, has encouraged people and companies to look for alternative or potentially safer forms of adult tobacco and nicotine use. Vaporizers, also known as digital, electronic or e cigarettes, do not produce a combustible “smoke” like traditionally burned cigarettes, nor do they contain tar, a by product of burning tobacco. Instead, they contain a small battery that converts a liquid from small cartridges into a water based mist or vapor. They come in many forms, but most often look like a plastic or glass cigarette or rod. The liquid cartridges may contain various amounts of tobacco based nicotine, synthetic nicotine, or no nicotine at all, and flavorings and propellants. Research studies on the personal and public health effects of the vapor produced by these products have been inconclusive.

This lack of consistent, scientific research has health groups divided. Some public health organizations believe that the products are not a safe alternative to traditional tobacco consumption and would like the Food and Drug Administration to regulate products as new or other tobacco products, as is allowed under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009. Other health professionals assert that nicotine vapor products may be a risk reduced method of nicotine use and therefore may help reduce use of traditional forms of tobacco with more serious health risks. While the FDA stated in 2011 that it planned to regulate e cigarettes as a tobacco product, no rules or regulations have been issued.

Electronic cigarette and liquid cartridge manufacturers, which include some traditional tobacco companies, state that they are looking for new, potentially safer ways, to allow adults to use nicotine and tobacco products where they otherwise face restrictions on smoking in public places.

Vaporizers have been gaining popularity in the U.S. and some state legislatures are taking action to regulate these products either similarly to other tobacco products, or as different products altogether.

The following actions have been taken in recent years to regulate the sale and use of electronic vaporizing products. At least 28 states have prohibited the sale of electronic cigarettes or vaping/alternative tobacco products to minors.

State Actions

Table is a work in progress and hyperlinks will be updated as soon after new laws are adopted. This table may not necessarily include all state statutes or actions on this issue.

State/Citation

Summary of policy/policies

Alabama
Ala. Code 28 11 2 (2013)

Defines alternative nicotine products, bans sales to minors under 19.

Alaska
Alaska Stat. 11.76.109 (2012)

Defines criminal behavior to include selling, giving or exchanging a product containing nicotine to a minor under 19.

Arizona
Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. 13 3622

Defines vapor product and crime of furnishing a vapor product to a minor under 18.

Arkansas
Ark. Stat. Ann. 5 27 233 (2013)

Defines e cigarette/vapor device and prohibits sale, giving or exchanging of products to minors under 18.

California
Cal. Health & Saf Code 119405 (2013)

Defines e cigarette device and prohibits sale or transfer of product to a minor under 18.

Colorado
Colo. Rev. Stat. 18 13 121 (2012)

Defines e cigarette as a tobacco product and prohibits sale or transfer of product to a minor under 18.

Hawaii
Hawaii Rev. Stat. 709 908

Defines electronic smoking device and prohibits sale or furnishing of product to a minor under 18.

Idaho
Idaho Code 39 5702 (2013)

Idaho Code 39 5703 (2013)

Idaho Code 39 5705 (2013)

Idaho Code 39 5706 (2013)

Idaho Code 39 5708 (2013)

Idaho Code 39 5714 (2013)

Idaho Code 39 5715 (2013)

Idaho Code 39 5717A (2013)

Defines e cigarette and prohibits sale or transfer of product to minor under 18 through in person or vending machine sales. Imposes a fine for sales to minors. Prohibits delivery to a minor.

Illinois
720 ILCS 675/1.5

Defines alternative nicotine products and prohibits distribution to a minor. Imposes a fine for sales to minors under 18.

Indiana
Ind. Code 35 46 1 1.5
Ind. Code 35 46 1 10
Ind. Code 6 7 2 5
Ind. Code 35 46 1 10.2

Defines electronic cigarette and tobacco products, and prohibits distribution to a minor. Imposes a fine for sales to minors under 18.

Kansas
Kan. Stat. Ann. 79 3321 (2012)

Prohibits sale or distribution to a minor. Imposes a fine for sales to minors under 18.

Kentucky
SB 109 (2014) Prohibits sale to a minor. (Passed 3/31/2014, sent to governor)

Maryland
Md. Health General Code Ann. 24 305 (2013)

Defines electronic device and prohibits sale or distribution minors under 18.

Minnesota
Minn. Stat. 609.6855

Minn. Stat. 297F.01, subd. 19

Defines nicotine delivery products and prohibits sale to minors under 18.

Mississippi
Miss. Code Ann. 97 32 51 (2013)

Defines alternative nicotine product and electronic cigarette and prohibits sale to minors under 18.

Nevada
2013 Nev. Stats. Chap. 326

Nev. Rev. Stats. 202.2485 202.2497

Defines products made or derived from tobacco, which also prohibits sale to minors under 18.

New Hampshire
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. 126 K 2 (2013)

Defines e cigarette, liquid nicotine, and tobacco product. Also prohibits sale to minors under 18.

New Jersey
N.J. Stat. Ann. 2A 170 51.4 (2013)

Defines and adds e cigarette to list of tobacco related items that cannot be sold to minors under 19. Creates a fine for selling to a minor.

New York
N.Y. Public Health Law 1399 aa (2013)
N.Y. Public Health Law 1399 cc (2013)

Defines tobacco products, e cigarette and bans sales to minors under 18.

North Carolina
N.C. Gen. Stat. 14 313

Defines tobacco derived products and vapor products, and bans sales to minors under 18.

Oregon

(judicial order)

OR DOJ Settlement prohibits sale of e cigarettes until they are FDA approved, or until court rules FDA cannot regulate them and scientific research can prove them safe. In addition, the companies must give the Attorney General advance notice that they intend to sell electronic cigarettes in Oregon, provide copies of all electronic cigarette advertising, and provide copies of the scientific studies they maintain substantiates their claims. State doesn t claim to prohibit sales to minors

South Carolina

S.C. Code Ann. 16 17 500

Defines alternative nicotine product and e cigarette, also prohibits sale to minors under 18.

Tennessee
Tenn. Code Ann. 39 17 1502 (2013)

Tenn. Code Ann. 39 17 1503 (2013)

Defines electronic cigarettes and adds to list of tobacco products prohibited for minors under 18.

Texas

Tex. Health and Safety Code Ann. 161.252

Adds tobacco substitute or tobacco products to definition of tobacco products prohibited for minors under 18.

Utah

Utah Code Ann. 76 10 105.1

Utah Code Ann. 76 10 101

Defines e cigarettes and requirements to sell e cigarettes, and prohibits e cigarettes for minors under 19.

Vermont
Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 7 1005

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 7 1003

Defines tobacco substitutes, paraphernalia and products, to includes e cigarettes and other vapor devices. Also prohibits sale to minors under 18.

Washington
Wash. Rev. Code 26.28.080

Adds vapor product to items prohibited for minors under 18.

Wisconsin
Wis. Stat. 134.66

Adds “nicotine products” to items prohibited for minors under 18.

Wyoming
Wyo. St
at. 14 3 301(a)(i)

Defines “tobacco products” to include any product that is made from or contains nicotine. Defines electronic cigarette. Also prohibited for minors under 18.

Resources and News Items

NCSL has gathered information from many health and tobacco related blogs and organizations that study this issue. Some of these resources come from an advocacy or industry perspective, and inclusion on this list does not imply an endorsement from NCSL.

  • American Association of Public Health Physicians
  • American Cancer Society
  • American Public Health Association
  • Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
  • ASTHO and NACCHO (National Association of County and City Health Officials) co hosted webinar E Cigarettes A Path to Policy, Perspectives from Local and State Health Departments
  • Americans for Nonsmokers Rights, including state and local laws regarding electronic cigarettes
  • Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
    • CDC&#39 s MMWR report about calls to poison centers for exposure to e cigarettes (p. 292)
  • 2014 Surgeon General&#39 s Report The Health Consequences of Smoking 50 Years of Progress
  • E Cigarette Politics (supportive of tobacco harm reduction methods)
  • FDA statement about electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products
  • FDA News & Events about electronic cigarettes
  • Smokers Who Try E Cigarettes to Quit Smoking Finding From a Multiethnic Study in Hawaii
  • Tobacco firms plead case at White House, Dec. 2, 2013

Information from Industry

  • R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company
  • NJOY FAQ s and disclaimers

NCSL Contact

Karmen Hanson