FDA Comments gone missing from Deeming docket summary?

[AgentAnia]

Yesterday afternoon, the docket summary (Regulations.gov) on the FDA proposed rule showed 50,000+ comments received. When I checked just now, it shows 31,096. So ca. 20,000 have disappeared, without explanation that I can find.

Was some glitch responsible for the 50k count, or have 20k been deleted and if so, why? I just sent the FDA liason, May Nelson, an email asking for an explanation. We shall see.

H/T to Stefan Didak on twitter for bringing this to light.

 

[SeniorBoy]

Thank you. The other thing I just noticed on the docket link is that you NO LONGER see letters submitted by vendors. Maybe I missed it but all I see today is:

Supporting Documents
No documents available.

If it's someplace else please point me. I'm very sure of what they formerly displayed since on 5/19/14 I wrote about the great letter that Mountain Oak Vaper sent and I could read same.

EDIT: So sorry. I found the letter in the Primary Documents section via a search. My bad!

 

[DrMA]

You're operating under the assumption that the FDA can count stuff other than BP cash...

Seriously: this is very disconcerting.

 

[AgentAnia]

Someone on twitter took a screenshot of the page showing 50+k comments, so at least no one can say we're making this up!

I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than I (Bill G? CASAA? just about anyone?) will chime in on whether this is permitted.

 

[aikanae1]

Maybe they aren't waiting until the comment period to close before reading them?
I'm just guessing, but I'm very curious about this.

 

[AgentAnia]

Had a reply from May Nelson this morning:

"The website regulations.gov was experiencing technical problems last week. In fact, it was inaccessible for a period of time. These technical problems may have resulted in a different number of comments being displayed, but I am not sure. As I write this email, the website is showing 31,698 total comments and that number is correct to my knowledge.[*] Thank you for your interest in this rulemaking. –May Nelson"

*The email is dated Saturday, 6/14, though not sent until today.

Hmmmm.

 

[aikanae1]

Something's not right.

 

[zoiDman]

Why is it that Our Government has a Hard Time putting up a Website that Runs Properly?

LOL

 

[sonicdsl]

Why is it that Our Government has a Hard Time putting up a Website that Runs Properly?

LOL

They have a hard time navigating through all the series of tubes.

 

[aikanae1]

Had a reply from May Nelson this morning:

"The website regulations.gov was experiencing technical problems last week. In fact, it was inaccessible for a period of time. These technical problems may have resulted in a different number of comments being displayed, but I am not sure. As I write this email, the website is showing 31,698 total comments and that number is correct to my knowledge.[*] Thank you for your interest in this rulemaking. –May Nelson"

*The email is dated Saturday, 6/14, though not sent until today.

Hmmmm.

Any follow up with this?
Was 50,000 comments a glitch or error or were some pulled out for some reason?
I thought 50k was low to begin with.

 

[AgentAnia]

Apparently the 50,000+ was a glitch; the count has remained in the 30-35k range since my last post. (My personal hypothesis is that that number is low due to CASAA members holding back until the CTA is issued, but I could be wrong.)

I do see that as of this morning, over 15,000 comments have been posted.