There have been a lot of well-crafted logical arguments, and a healthy dose of common sense, presented by the forum members in this thread. I thank everyone for that, the information will help me when talking to those that do not vape.
Unfortunately, logic and common sense rarely come into play between Congress and the various governmental agencies.
I doubt that Congress cares if any given report from any given agency is delayed or not, and I doubt they care about any given recommendation, unless:
1. The reports and recommendations could have a "significant" impact on manufacturing and employment (which equals electability)
2. The reports and recommendations could have a "significant" impact on public perception (which equals electability)
3. The reports and recommendations could have a "significant" impact on campaign contributions (which equals electability)
Recommendations on ecigs will have little impact on any of those items. Some will disagree, primarily due to a perception that supporting ecigs may impact contributions from BT and BP, but those organizations have much more skin in the game on the side of allowing them to continue what they are doing as opposed to dealing with a "potential" threat or opportunity from what is still a very small industry.
The FDA does however have an overarching agenda, that is an ingrained part of their culture, to play Nanny and protect us from ourselves -- the little people just aren't smart enough to be allowed the liberty of making their own decisions when it comes to their health and safety.
As such, I'm willing to bet that the guts of the ecig portion of the report will be very simple, politically safe, and contain just a few "factual" statements:
1. Nicotine is an addictive poison and members of the public *could* harm themselves unless dosages are controlled.
2. The effects of vaping wide-ranging combinations of nicotine, PG, VG and flavorings have not been well studied and the potential benefits and harms have not been scientifically determined. Members of the public *could* harm themselves using certain combinations.
3. The effects of quality control on nicotine, PG, VG and flavorings when used in various combinations via vaping is unknown. Members of the public *could* harm themselves unless the quality of those components is regulated.
4. The effects of nicotine usage via lozenges, gum, and patches have been well studied by the scientific community and it has been determined that the benefits outweigh potential harm.
4. Funding for those studies has been provided by the industries that manufacture those products.
5. Therefore it is in the best interest of the public to place a "hold" on the ecig industry until the manufacturers can provide, at their own expense, acceptable assurances that they have instituted acceptable quality control on the components and the public will receive a positive benefit/harm ratio.
The only big unknown is the exact nature of the "Hold" on the industry.
I believe this will translate to crappy products from fewer industry players at significantly higher retail prices, but *probably* not the death of the industry.
