The agency lost a legal battle with e-cigarette companies in 2010 after trying to block imports of e-cigarettes and has been sceptical about claims they are not harmful.
Male smokers clocked in at 56% of e-cigarette users versus 44% for women smokers.
In my opinion, without a major success in the e-cigarette initiative, Altria faces fewer and fewer growth prospects.
With an e-cigarette your nicotine is delivered with propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin rather than tar and ash.
Regarding safety, in an e-cigarette there is no tar or hundreds of other carcinogens released in the cigarette combustion process.
"Our mission is to 'obsolete' cigarettes, " said Craig Weiss, chief executive of NJOY, the leading US e-cigarette maker by market share.
"I would either take them off the shelves or I would very heavily regulate them so that we know the contents of each e-cigarette were very fixed, " says Dr Nathanson.
"The government is going to tax this industry and try to recoup the revenues they've lost from cigarettes, " said Eli Alelov, chief executive of Logic, a New Jersey-based e-cigarette company.
Richard: Speaking of growth, did you see that Wells Fargo securities in several of their reports have predicted that the e-cigarette business will overtake the traditional cigarette market within a decade.
Altria, the US maker of Marlboro, has stayed on the sidelines thus far, but analysts expect the tobacco giant to either acquire an e-cigarette manufacturer or launch its own brand soon.
The trade association for e-cigarettes, the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association, says they make no medicinal claims for their product.
Some e-cigarettes are made to look like a real cigarette with a tiny light on the tip that glows like the real thing.
Ray Story, chief executive of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, warned that tax rises on e-cigarettes would only benefit tobacco companies, to the detriment of public health.
This could be because e-cigarettes look similar to cigarettes, feel the same in the hand and can be social (think cigarette breaks or grabbing a smoke outside while at a bar with friends).
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