15 Working Days till Final Deeming Rule Takes Effect
Contact: Gregory Conley
Tel: 609-947-8059
Email: [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12/16/2015 at 8:30 am EST
Omnibus Bill Will Protect Cigarette Markets & Harm Public Health
Congress squanders opportunity to save tens of thousands of American jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the American Vaping Association, a leading advocate for the benefits of vapor products such as electronic cigarettes, is expressing deep disappointment in Congressional leaders for their failure to include a lifesaving and jobs-saving policy rider relating to vapor products in the just-released omnibus spending bill.
This policy rider would have shielded the U.S. vapor products industry from the most destructive element of regulations proposed last year by the Food & Drug Administration — that all vapor products that have come to market since February 15, 2007 (i.e, all of them) go through a multi-million dollar retroactive premarket approval process. The proposed rider would have forbid the FDA from requiring such applications for products on the market on the effective date of the FDA’s regulation, but would not have prevented the FDA from regulating those products.
“This deal protects cigarette markets,” said Gregory Conley, President of the American Vaping Association. “Congressional leaders have squandered a real opportunity to benefit both public health and small businesses across the country. The perverse outcome of this failure to act is that smoke-free vapor products will be treated far more harshly by the FDA than deadly tobacco cigarettes ever have been.”
Conley continued: “Without a change in the 2007 grandfather date, 99.9%-plus of vapor products on the market today will be banned. This is nothing more than modern-day prohibition. The FDA’s proposal is an unmitigated disaster and Congress’ failure to act will cost jobs and lives.”
Last night, CQ Roll Call (paywalled) reported that an attempt was made late last week to reach a bipartisan compromise on the grandfather date change. According to CQ, language was proposed that would have moved the grandfather date while also requiring child-resistant packaging and requiring the FDA to issue final product standards for vapor products within three years, among other limits. Ultimately, however, no language dealing with vapor product regulation ended up in the proposed deal.
“A billion lives will be lost to smoking in the twenty-first century. Rather than take a monumental step in reducing the death and disease caused by smoking, Congress instead decided it was easier to accept the status quo,” said Conley.
Conley cautioned that despite the setback, more can and will be done to stop the FDA’s deeming ban.
“Make no mistake about it — the fight to save vaping in the United States has only just begun. Vapers, small business owners, and sensible public health advocates need to make their voices heard even louder in 2016,” said Conley.
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You can learn more about AVA and vaping by visiting the AVA website. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the American Vaping Association:
The American Vaping Association is a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies that encourage the growth and sustainability of small- and medium-sized businesses in the rapidly growing vaping and electronic cigarette industry. The AVA was founded by Gregory Conley, a consumer and industry advocate with a long track record of advocating for vapor products dating back to 2010.
We are dedicated to educating the public and government officials about public health benefits offered by vapor products, which are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid nicotine or nicotine-free solution and create an inhalable vapor. The AVA is not a trade group and does not speak for any particular businesses, including our industry sponsors.
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I smoked cigarettes for 36 years. The only thing that assisted me in stopping the curse of cigarettes was vaping. Do not take this right from me, as it absolutely works!
It saddens me to know that the FDA is treating vaping so harshly. I smoked for 53 years and found no success until I vaped. I have been tobacco free for 2+ years. I suffered from asthma and needed treatments constantly because smoking irritated my lungs. I haven’t needed my asthma medication or treatments in over a year. I started vaping at 12 ml of nicotine and am now at zero ml. I continue to vape occasionally for the hand mouth habitual part of smoking. I believe vaping has given me a few extra years of life. I’d rather see young ADULTS vape than smoke or chew tobacco. Many of them have started vaping as a fad. However, they are smart enough to use 0 ml nicotine. I also believe I was from a generation of people who were a slave to my addiction caused by early advertising of the big tobacco companies that made cigarette smoking stylish.
Myself and my wife both quit smoking cigarettes using vaporizers. We have not been smoking cigarettes for a little over a month now we are not out of the woods yet but we are on the fast track to it soon. I have been smoking cigarettes since I was 11 years old so I have been smoking for 26 years now!! If you take this from us more people will die from smoking cigarettes but I guess the money from the cigarette company’s is more important than our health and jobs. This is bull****
I am a vapor and shop owner for Electric Clouds in Albuquerque. I think this whole FDA is a disaster. Our vaping community has helped so many people. I’m here to support our industry!
I am 67 years old, I started smoking when I was 13, I am 4’9″ and it so happens that I stopped growing when I was 13. Please don’t take the vaping away from us, I have not had a cancer stick for 8 months and I am so proud of myself, please don’t take vaping away from us. You would be making a big mistake.