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May 23rd, 2016:

What’s Causing E-Cigarettes’ Trail of Injuries?

Device’s shape and lithium batteries can make it act “like a small rocket”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-s-causing-e-cigarettes-trail-of-injuries/

An electronic cigarette exploded in the face of a man in Albany, New York, recently, leaving him with a hole his tongue and burns on his hand, CNN reported. The explosion also knocked out several of the man’s teeth.

But this is far from the first injury caused by an exploding e-cigarette, or e-cig.

The battery-powered devices work by heating a liquid, which typically contains nicotine as well as other chemicals, into a vapor that a user then inhales. But the lithium-ion battery that heats the liquid within an e-cig poses a big safety risk: The batteries have the potential to explode, Dr. Michael Siegel, a tobacco researcher and professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, told Live Science recently.

Last month, a teen in New York City was hospitalized after an e-cig exploded while he was testing it out in a store, according to CBS News. The explosion damaged both of the teen’s eyes.

And in November 2015, an e-cig explosion left a Tennessee man potentially paralyzed, the Huffington Post reported. The explosion fractured the man’s vertebrae and bones in his face, and knocked out a tooth.

In July 2015, a young man in Alabama was airlifted to a hospital and placed on a ventilator after an e-cig blew up in his face. In addition to first-degree burns on his face and chest, the explosion left the young man with a hole in the roof of his mouth that made it difficult for him to eat, according to AOL News.

And earlier last year, a man’s exploding e-cig was powerful enough to shatter glass in the Southern California store he was in, NBC Los Angeles reported. After the blast, the man was rushed to the University of California San Diego Burn Center for treatment.

Why e-cigs explode

In a 2014 report, the U.S. Fire Administration examined e-cig explosions between 2009 and 2014. Lithium-ion batteries in other devices such as cellphones and laptops have also been known to cause fires, the report said. But the design of e-cigs—with their cylindrical shape, and the weakest structural point at their ends—makes these devices more likely than others to explode if the battery fails, according to the report.

The fires start in the battery. While all batteries contain electrolyte solutions (this is an essential part of how they work), the solutions used in lithium-ion batteries are different from those in regular batteries because they are flammable, the report said.

In a lithium-ion battery, the solution can become overheated, reach its boiling point and then rapidly expand and catch fire, causing the battery to explode, according to the report. Laptops and other devices have rigid plastic cases that prevent an exploding battery from doing much damage. But in an e-cig, the explosion can lead the cylindrical container of the device to explode, too, causing the device to “be propelled across the room like a bullet or small rocket,” the report said.

Tobacco Industry’s Hidden Agenda in the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC)

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Covert Agenda, International Tax Organization It Must Caution

Bisnis.com, DEPOK – The government is asked to be aware of the movements of the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC) for allegedly possessing a hidden agenda to influence the economic policies taken by the government.

Economist and Vice Chairman of the Institute of Demography, University of Indonesia Abdillah Ahsan said that the government should be careful on the recommendations given ITIC.

“The state can be used as a tool by the tobacco industry to make profits through tobacco control policies are weak, especially the tax policy is very effective to reduce consumption,” he said in an official statement received on Monday (05/23/2016).

Today, Monday (05/23/2016) 13th Annual Asia-Pacific Tax Forum was initiated by ITIC opened in Jakarta. Institutions which claims itself as a research and educational institute an independent nonprofit that claims will bring tax reform in Indonesia.

But, in fact, behind the ITIC approach to the Indonesian government, to infiltrate the hidden agenda of the tobacco industry.

Allegations of hidden agenda, especially on the issue of tobacco control, as in the case of tax / cigarette taxes, given what has been done ITIC in other countries.

Therefore, the government should not make a commitment on the ITIC. Tax reform is a record that should be reviewed, especially in the Tobacco Tax Section as it will sacrifice the people who become the target market for the benefit of cheap cigarettes industry.

Kartono Mohamad, Chairman of the Tobacco Control Support Center (TCSC) as well as Advisory Board Member National Commission on Tobacco Control ITIC said that what was done in the countries he approached actually just a camouflage for the hidden agenda that infiltrated the cigarette industry bigwigs.

According to him, it is one of their strategies in order to perpetuate its business in a subtle way.

“Government officials, especially in Kementeri Finance, potential to influence. It is very dangerous for tobacco control efforts in an attempt protection of people,” he said.

The statement also added that in 2015, ITIC met with Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla. During the meeting, President of ITIC Daniel Witt gave the book Excise Tax in ASEAN: A Guide to Reform Ahead of AEC 2015 to the Vice President.

Witt says that the book discusses among others the implementation of customs clearance for cross-border trade, for example excise for commodities such as cigarettes, alcohol, and so on.

The book has also been given to the Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro. It was supposed to be a first step ITIC approach to the Indonesian government.

The first thing that should be questioned, according to the ITIC is whether independent? In fact, on the board of directors ITIC stands four major tobacco industry, Philip Morris (PMI), Japan Tobacco International (JTI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Imperial Tobacco.

Two years after being founded, ITIC revealed that they provide access or support in policy making for the sponsor, including the transnational tobacco companies.

ITIC has been lobbying various nations to oppose the tobacco tax policies. They make a tax manual which essentially facilitate the investment climate but tucked inside a chapter on tobacco tax.

“Will they clear, namely that the government did not raise high taxes on cigarettes, something which is contrary to international rules, including the World Bank.”

In May 2015, the World Bank withdraw financial backing for the 12st Annual Asia-Pacific Tax Forum in New Delhi, India, which is being organized by ITIC.

The World Bank refused to give support and the Indian government did not send top officials to the forum. All done for the protection of society by giving exemption on tobacco products.

What’s Causing E-Cigarettes’ Trail of Injuries?

Device’s shape and lithium batteries can make it act “like a small rocket”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-s-causing-e-cigarettes-trail-of-injuries/

An electronic cigarette exploded in the face of a man in Albany, New York, recently, leaving him with a hole his tongue and burns on his hand, CNN reported. The explosion also knocked out several of the man’s teeth.

But this is far from the first injury caused by an exploding e-cigarette, or e-cig.

The battery-powered devices work by heating a liquid, which typically contains nicotine as well as other chemicals, into a vapor that a user then inhales. But the lithium-ion battery that heats the liquid within an e-cig poses a big safety risk: The batteries have the potential to explode, Dr. Michael Siegel, a tobacco researcher and professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, told Live Science recently.

Last month, a teen in New York City was hospitalized after an e-cig exploded while he was testing it out in a store, according to CBS News. The explosion damaged both of the teen’s eyes.

And in November 2015, an e-cig explosion left a Tennessee man potentially paralyzed, the Huffington Post reported. The explosion fractured the man’s vertebrae and bones in his face, and knocked out a tooth.

In July 2015, a young man in Alabama was airlifted to a hospital and placed on a ventilator after an e-cig blew up in his face. In addition to first-degree burns on his face and chest, the explosion left the young man with a hole in the roof of his mouth that made it difficult for him to eat, according to AOL News.

And earlier last year, a man’s exploding e-cig was powerful enough to shatter glass in the Southern California store he was in, NBC Los Angeles reported. After the blast, the man was rushed to the University of California San Diego Burn Center for treatment.

Why e-cigs explode

In a 2014 report, the U.S. Fire Administration examined e-cig explosions between 2009 and 2014. Lithium-ion batteries in other devices such as cellphones and laptops have also been known to cause fires, the report said. But the design of e-cigs—with their cylindrical shape, and the weakest structural point at their ends—makes these devices more likely than others to explode if the battery fails, according to the report.

The fires start in the battery. While all batteries contain electrolyte solutions (this is an essential part of how they work), the solutions used in lithium-ion batteries are different from those in regular batteries because they are flammable, the report said.

In a lithium-ion battery, the solution can become overheated, reach its boiling point and then rapidly expand and catch fire, causing the battery to explode, according to the report. Laptops and other devices have rigid plastic cases that prevent an exploding battery from doing much damage. But in an e-cig, the explosion can lead the cylindrical container of the device to explode, too, causing the device to “be propelled across the room like a bullet or small rocket,” the report said.