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.
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.
Some e-cigarettes are made to look like a real cigarette with a tiny light on the tip that glows like the real thing.
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