Tell your story to the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee

[Vocalek]

Let your voice be heard. The FDA's tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee has a public forum. One piece asks "How Safe are E-Cigarettes" and reprints the news story from Discovery News. Comments are welcome. We are up to 24 at the time of this writing.

All that is necessary is for you to tell your story regarding how e-cigarettes have helped you and what the effects have been on your health.

How Safe Are E-Cigarettes? « A Public Participation Forum for the FDA Advisory Committee (TPSAC)

 

[markfm]

The link posted is to a place that doesn't sound like it has anything to do with the actual FDA TPSAC:
Roster of the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee
I don't see anyone identified as part of CRE on the TPSAC, and the "About" for thecre.com states they are funded by outside foundations and firms -- not a government group.

I don't know what industry/group he is repping, but I would be curious to see if he has anything to do officially relative to TPSAC, and what his backing is for working on this issue. (I always wonder where the $ are coming from)

This doesn't mean it isn't legitimate, just that it is not apparent that the site is really linked to TPSAC.

What do you know about them? Any background on who they really are, who is funding this?

 

[Vocalek]

I'll research that. Meanwhile, whover is running things has noticed our comments:

Very Informed Comments on e-cigarettes

CRE is impressed with the thoughtfulness of the comments received on e-cigarettes, see How Safe Are E-Cigarettes? « A Public Participation Forum for the FDA Advisory Committee (TPSAC)

Those members of the public who wish to supply additional comments or studies on e-cigarettes are encouraged to post them on the “Studies and Concepts Forum” on the right hand side of this page at Studies and Concepts Under Review.

Each article is also equipped to take comments.

A Public Participation Forum for the FDA Advisory Committee (TPSAC)

 

[Vocalek]

Just found this description of CRE

About The CRE

The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) was established in 1996, after the passage of the Congressional Review Act, to provide Congress with independent analyses of agency regulations. From this initial organizing concept, CRE has grown into a nationally recognized clearinghouse for methods to improve the federal regulatory process.
The CRE has two paramount goals:

To ensure that the public has access to data and information used to develop federal regulations, and

To ensure that information which federal agencies disseminate to the public is of the highest quality.

CRE would also welcome your comments on any of the issues contained on this site, new regulatory issues which should be addressed by CRE, or how we might improve the website. Please e-mail your comments to comments@TheCRE.com or by mail at 1601 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Suite 500, Washington, DC 20009.

 

[markfm]

Thanks Elaine, their connection just is not clear, and many on ECF have been posting links to them, so it would be good to know where they are coming from.


The info I have found sounds like they are a for-profit group, and it is not clear who is paying, why they are playing in this, or if they have any actual tie to anyone on TPSAC. A bit of clarification would be great.

 

[Desert Willow]

I'll research that. Meanwhile, whover is running things has noticed our comments:

Those members of the public who wish to supply additional comments or studies on e-cigarettes are encouraged to post them on the “Studies and Concepts Forum” on the right hand side of this page at Studies and Concepts Under Review.

The "studies and concepts under review" seem to more oriented to the study of menthol. I did not find a e-cig comment place there... or did I miss it?

Brightest Blessings!

 

[Traver]

Thanks Elaine, their connection just is not clear, and many on ECF have been posting links to them, so it would be good to know where they are coming from.


The info I have found sounds like they are a for-profit group, and it is not clear who is paying, why they are playing in this, or if they have any actual tie to anyone on TPSAC. A bit of clarification would be great.

As far as I can tell they are a private lobbying group.

Center for Regulatory Effectiveness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[markfm]

Understood, the question is what is their part in this. The tone of the page makes it sound like it is some kind of real conduit for public comments to TPSAC, but the TPSAC membership doesn't list anyone claiming to be part of thecre.

There are many links to this on ECF, Rolygate tacked up a sticky ("a US government regulatory authority watchdog" sounds like some kind of recognized, quasi-official, group), people jumping on it, yet nobody has answered the basic questions of "Who are they? Why are they doing this? Who is paying this private lobbying group?"

(I would love to see that some group has actually got a connection to TPSAC, is acting to really collect comments from vapers that might be looked at, or even better, that the real TPSAC .gov site provide a mechanism for public inputs. thecre might be the real deal, indeed be such a group, but if they are then I would have thought that CASAA would know them, be able to state that positively.)

 

[Traver]

Understood, the question is what is their part in this. The tone of the page makes it sound like it is some kind of real conduit for public comments to TPSAC, but the TPSAC membership doesn't list anyone claiming to be part of thecre.

There are many links to this on ECF, Rolygate tacked up a sticky ("a US government regulatory authority watchdog" sounds like some kind of recognized, quasi-official, group), people jumping on it, yet nobody has answered the basic questions of "Who are they? Why are they doing this? Who is paying this private lobbying group?"

(I would love to see that some group has actually got a connection to TPSAC, is acting to really collect comments from vapers that might be looked at, or even better, that the real TPSAC .gov site provide a mechanism for public inputs. thecre might be the real deal, indeed be such a group, but if they are then I would have thought that CASAA would know them, be able to state that positively.)

As far as I can tell they are a lobbying group. Funded by private donations including industries that are affected by the FDA. If they are lobbying against FDA regulations it would seem to be a place where we want to be heard.

 

[markfm]

If multiple people on ECF are starting threads saying people should go to a site, someone at ECF ought to have some idea as to who they are. I actually don't, myself, that is why I am asking, part of that whole "be informed" thing that we keep telling people.

Someone is paying them to lobby -- who? If people think that is an unreasonable thing to ask, sorry. Elaine didn't come back quickly, any firm info, so it sounds like it isn't anything that CASAA has direct knowledge of. Pharmacy interests? tobacco? Mix of vaping suppliers?

(The deep pockets in this arena are tobacco and pharmaceutical firms.)

Do they have any recognized actual role as a conduit for public comment to TPSAC, or is it a self-declared thing?

 

[Traver]

On the about us page they say This Forum is managed by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE). Here's an interesting article about CRE.
"Paralysis by Analysis" by Chris Mooney

 

[markfm]

That is the kind of material I have been seeing, which does not give me any feeling that they have a real connection at all to tpsac. It certainly does not answer what their role is in this, who is paying them, what their actual goal is.

 

[Traver]

That is the kind of material I have been seeing, which does not give me any feeling that they have a real connection at all to tpsac. It certainly does not answer what their role is in this, who is paying them, what their actual goal is.

They don't actually say they have any connection to tpsac. They try to make appear that they do and that's why I asked about them in the first place.

 

[markfm]

So we're both in the same boat

There are a lot of ecf threads now pointing to cre, so it really would be nice if casaa or ecf staff could find out on whose behalf cre is working.