NASHVILLE – In a sign that the state is hardening its stance on electronic cigarettes, health departments throughout Tennessee are putting up posters in their buildings warning about the potential harm of the devices. The notices caution users about e-cigs, the nicotine and other chemicals in them as well as exposure to vapor second-hand.

According to an article in this week’s Chattanooga Times Free Press, state health officials issued their initial advisory on e-cigs in February. Since then, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed rules calling for regulation of electronic nicotine devices.

“The additional independent research we’ve seen on electronic cigarettes has increased our concerns since we issued the initial advisory in February,” Dr. John Dreyzehner, Tennessee Department of Health commissioner, was quoted as saying in the Times Free Press.

While the state is not conducting its own studies on “vaping,” department spokesman Woody McMillan said officials are “monitoring the research of organizations from around the world and from information collected by umbrella health associations.”

Currently there is no government regulation of how much nicotine or other chemical a manufacturer may put in the juice cartridges used to produce the vapors in electronic cigarettes. Meanwhile, demand for the devices has continued to build rapidly — notably among young people.

Tennessee’s announcement came on the heels of the American Medical Association’s decision last week to take a harder stance against e-cig companies marketing to young people. Citing the “alarming growth in use of electronic cigarettes among minors,” the national physician organization adopted new policy opposing the sales and marketing of electronic cigarettes and nicotine delivery products to minors.

This past March, NACS issued a statement of position that encourages stores selling e-cigarettes to adopt, as a best practice, a policy of treating these products as age-restricted, subjecting them to the same age-verification procedures as those applicable to tobacco products.