Dr. Gilbert Ross of the American Council on Science and Health, in an exclusive article for the California Political News and Views noted, “The net result of all this alarmism against e-cigs is to protect cigarette markets. Why, you may ask? I fear the reason has more to do with maintaining local budgets propped up via cigarette taxes, and for the academic centers, vast amounts of funding from the mega-rich pharmaceutical companies who purvey nearly-useless nicotine replacement patches, gums and drugs.”