MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: E-Cigarettes

Interview

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SCHULTZ: Traditional cigarette manufacturers agreed on a ban to television
advertising almost 45 years ago. E-cigarette manufacturers are now getting
the same pressure.

Joining me tonight, Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who sent a letter
to executives of the five companies, asking them to keep their e-cigarette
ads off of television.

Senator, great to have you with us tonight.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D) CALIFORNIA: Thanks Ed.

SCHULTZ: Why is this such a priority? What`s the focus here?

BOXER: Well, the focus for me is stopping another health disaster from
exploding in this nation. You know, so many of us saw what happened with
the tobacco companies denying that nicotine was addictive. We know it`s
addictive. We know it causes heart disease. We know it impedes brain
development in children.

So, now what do we have? A new way to deliver nicotine and the cigarette
companies just are going on the air, they`re advertising on shows that
teens watch, 2.5 million teens are now smoking e-cigarettes, and I just
feel -- we`ve got to get out ahead of this before we have a real problem on
our hands, which starting to have a problem right now.

SCHULTZ: What kind of response do you expect from the industry?

BOXER: I sure hope it`s better than when they Congress, when they lied to
Congress and said nicotine wasn`t addictive.

Look, Ed, we know that this is a nicotine delivery product. And we already
know the problem of nicotine. What people don`t focus on is there are also
chemicals in there, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, some of these cause
cancer. That`s being delivered to our youngsters. And, you know, they
always well, we`re not advertising to kids and then they have flavors like
bubble gum and gummy bear and cotton candy. We weren`t born yesterday.

So, I`m very concerned about this and I was hoping to appeal to the sense
of right and wrong, it`s a cigarette companies -- by the way, three of the
largest cigarette companies own these e-cigarette companies.

SCHULTZ: You would think that the cigarette industry might have learned
its lesson with the tobacco lawsuit and the settlement into the billions of
dollars and now they`re coming out with a product that would parallel
exactly what the cigarette industry did to this country and if it`s proven
that these -- that they are not healthy, don`t they run the risk of a
repeat?

BOXER: Of course, they do. But you know they`re taking in those dollars,
just follow the money. Now, I want you to know that several of the
senators have joined with me and we`ve written to the FDA, the Food and
Drug Administration and we said to them, you put out a rule a year ago. It
would ban sale to minors which by the way we`ve done in California.

You would require that ingredients be disclosed on the package and it`s
taken them all this time and they still haven`t in fact...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

BOXER: ... issued this rule. So I have some news, I did call the acting
commissioner today and he told me this was the highest priority. So I`m
prayerful that we will have this rule come out and maybe finally we can get
some action.

SCHULTZ: All right. I hope so too.

BOXER: I hope so.

SCHULTZ: The City of San Francisco may become the first city in the nation
to outlaw chewing tobacco from playing fields, what`s your take on that?

BOXER: Well, my take is Major League Baseball boxes because they know that
these players are heroes to these children. And this chewing tobacco, it
is not a benign habit. It causes oral cancer. It`s devastatingly painful.

So, they`re trying to say, you know, by this ban, let`s not have these role
models for our children starting on yet another dangerous habit.

So, you know, my state is -- I just have brag for a minute. They`re just
ahead of it and I`m so proud of them. But I`ve got to do my work here
because I don`t want any kids getting hooked on these e-cigarettes and on
nicotine, and formaldehyde and all these other things that are in these e-
cigarettes.

SCHULTZ: All right. Senator Barbara Boxer, ahead of the game, no doubt
about it. Senator good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate it very
much.

BOXER: Yes, OK (ph).

SCHULTZ: That`s the Ed Show. I`m Ed Schultz.

"PoliticsNation" with Reverend Al Sharpton starts right now.

Good evening Rev.

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