Providence Journal / Frieda Squires
An electronic cigarette is a plastic tube that creates flavored "smoke" (water vapor), and glows at the tip like an "analog" cigarette . It may contain nicotine (or can be used with "blanks") but does not contain tobacco.

A story told in headlines. It has Big Tobacco in favor of an FDA ban expected Tuesday on electronic cigarettes, the head of an anti-smoking organization protesting the ban in a letter to the FDA, e-cig owners hoarding their refills, and fears that innovation will be squelched.

Bill Godshall of Smokefree Pennsylvania posted the FDA release, which says, "Our concern is that this might introduce nonusers to nicotine use."

April 13:: Officials Probe E-Cigarettes' Health Claims. NPR, Morning Edition

April 16: FDA Lights Up "E-Cigarette" Ban Controversy. U.S. News & World Report.

April 25: E-Cigarettes Choice Releases First Detailed E-Cigarette Study To The Public

April 29: FDA Sued Over Electronic Cigarette Embargo. The Blog of Legal Times.

May 1: Hit & Run > FDA to Ban Electronic Cigarettes. Reason Magazine.

Expect pushback on this one. Users can cut back the strength of the nicotine refills, just as they do with nicotine gums. Electronic cigarettes seem like a viable way to lessen the harm of smoking tobacco for smokers who can't break the habit. That it might become fashionable to "smoke" banana- or coffee-flavored water vapor does not appear to outweigh the greater benefit to those currently smoking cigarettes.