How Indiana is handling the growth of the e-cigarette market

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http://ecigarettereviewed.com

When it comes to e-cigarettes, Indiana is at the heart of the new market. The state has long been a test market for tobacco companies and last year, Nu Mark, a sister company to cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, also tested its new e-cigarette Mark Ten in Indiana.

"They always seem to pick Indiana to test-market their products," says Jon Macy, an assistant professor at Indiana University’s School of Public Health in a recent Indiana Public Media report. "They test-marketed some of the new smokeless chewing tobacco products, the snus and orbs and sticks. I think they pick Indiana because of our high rates of tobacco use in the state. Relatively lax tobacco control policies in terms of the amount of money we spend on tobacco prevention and cessation programs."

Anti-smoking advocates say allowing Indiana to be a test market, sends the message that the state supports smoking and it isn’t serious about getting people to quit.

"We need more research dollars, for sure, to address emerging issues," Macy says. "The tobacco industry out spends us by a lot in Indiana and nationwide and in terms of being able to do research to figure out their marketing strategies and the impact of their marketing is difficult when you don’t have the resource to do the research."

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