At least one stock market observer sees big profits ahead if the federal government goes easy on electronic cigarette companies, but Sen. Sherrod Brown said Wednesday that e-cigs should be strictly regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Brown said he was scheduled to meet later in the day with the head of the FDA, and that he would urge a ban on sales and marketing efforts to children.

E-cigs aren’t governed by federal laws that apply to regular cigarettes, which prohibit their sale to minors and prohibit ads on television and radio, the Ohio Democrat noted in a telephone conference call with me and other news reporters.