Recently I responded to a call to action by contacting both my senators and my congressional representative. It's been several months since doing this and this is the first and only response I've recieved:
Thank you for contacting me about the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory authority over e-cigarettes and other smokeless tobacco products.
Electronic cigarettes are products designed to deliver nicotine to the user in the form of vapor instead of smoke. Thus far, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not evaluated e-cigarettes for safety or effectiveness. The FDA did conduct a small study of certain e-cigarettes and found significant quality issues that indicate that quality control processes used to make these products are substandard or non-existent. The FDA has also expressed concern that the marketing of products like e-cigarettes could increase nicotine addiction among young people and encourage them to try other tobacco products.
As part of its implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and tobacco Control Act, which was signed into law by the President in 2009, the FDA has proposed a new rule that would extend the agency's authority over additional tobacco products like e-cigarettes. Under the proposed rule, e-cigarette manufacturers would be required to register with the FDA, report ingredient lists, and only be able to market new tobacco products after FDA review. Manufacturers would only be able to make direct and implied claims that the FDA has confirmed with scientific evidence. Furthermore, under the proposed rule, there would be minimum age and identification restrictions to prevent sales to underage youth, requirements to include health warnings, and vending machine sales would be prohibited. The FDA has proposed different compliance dates for the various provisions of the rule so that all regulated entities, including small manufacturers, will have time to comply with the requirements. Additionally, products that will continue to be marketed for therapeutic purposes will continue to be regulated as medical products and will be unaffected by this new proposed rule.
The public comment period for the proposed rule on e-cigarettes ended on August 8, 2014. The FDA is currently in the process of reviewing the more than 72,000 received comments and will subsequently issue a final rule.
Thank you again for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to do so again in the future. I also encourage you to visit my website, which may be found at flake.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
JEFF FLAKE
[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif]United States Senator[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif]I basically responded back stating that he's shown that he's not bothered to read my letter or address those concerns and that he's fully vested in FUD from anti-nicotine advocates within the FDA. Also let him know that because of that oversight, I'll remember to vote for "not him" next time around and will be encouraging others to do the same.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif]Anyone else have any better responses?[/FONT]
Thank you for contacting me about the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory authority over e-cigarettes and other smokeless tobacco products.
Electronic cigarettes are products designed to deliver nicotine to the user in the form of vapor instead of smoke. Thus far, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not evaluated e-cigarettes for safety or effectiveness. The FDA did conduct a small study of certain e-cigarettes and found significant quality issues that indicate that quality control processes used to make these products are substandard or non-existent. The FDA has also expressed concern that the marketing of products like e-cigarettes could increase nicotine addiction among young people and encourage them to try other tobacco products.
As part of its implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and tobacco Control Act, which was signed into law by the President in 2009, the FDA has proposed a new rule that would extend the agency's authority over additional tobacco products like e-cigarettes. Under the proposed rule, e-cigarette manufacturers would be required to register with the FDA, report ingredient lists, and only be able to market new tobacco products after FDA review. Manufacturers would only be able to make direct and implied claims that the FDA has confirmed with scientific evidence. Furthermore, under the proposed rule, there would be minimum age and identification restrictions to prevent sales to underage youth, requirements to include health warnings, and vending machine sales would be prohibited. The FDA has proposed different compliance dates for the various provisions of the rule so that all regulated entities, including small manufacturers, will have time to comply with the requirements. Additionally, products that will continue to be marketed for therapeutic purposes will continue to be regulated as medical products and will be unaffected by this new proposed rule.
The public comment period for the proposed rule on e-cigarettes ended on August 8, 2014. The FDA is currently in the process of reviewing the more than 72,000 received comments and will subsequently issue a final rule.
Thank you again for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to do so again in the future. I also encourage you to visit my website, which may be found at flake.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
JEFF FLAKE
[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif]United States Senator[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif]I basically responded back stating that he's shown that he's not bothered to read my letter or address those concerns and that he's fully vested in FUD from anti-nicotine advocates within the FDA. Also let him know that because of that oversight, I'll remember to vote for "not him" next time around and will be encouraging others to do the same.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif]Anyone else have any better responses?[/FONT]
