I cannot believe how half-baked and short-sighted this petition is. It doesn't even pass the giggle test. Right now....someone at the FDA is saying, "How did all my strategy notes end up in this petition?"
From My first post-
"I wasn't aware they had classified it as a drug device?
No one has answered this question. I get a host of assumptions. I do not make decisions on assumptions in signing my name to a public petition. Words can make or break petitions and what ramifications are plausible. They lumped these petitions together. That is a major no no in my book. Each should stand alone! Assumptions- LOOK we can't be wrong.. look at all these people who signed our petition.
E-Cigs could be taxed as high as cigs or cigars. QUICK TOO! How many people tried e-cigs because it was less money and ended up quitting a bad habit. These are hard cold KNOWN things here. I will not deal in assumptions, after assumption to make a decision to sign a petition that has many areas of wording that seem suspect to me.
But hey everyone has the right to do as they see fit. IMHO
My last words on subject UNLESS someone wants to reply to my words. (giving benefit of doubt that you want me to shut up and I will no problem-just do not address me or anything I have said..and I will fade away)
The FDA has been examining and detaining shipments of e-cigarettes at the border and the products it has examined thus far meet the definition of a combination drug-device product under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The FDA has been challenged regarding its jurisdiction over certain e-cigarettes in a case currently pending in federal district court. The agency is also planning additional activities to address its concerns about these products.
Where do you think the eliquid comes from? It is a tobacco product weather we like it or not.I get that some people want e-cigs classified as tobacco products to ensure they remain legal, but I can't get on board with that. They're not tobacco products. Just because the FDA doesn't currently have a classification that fits doesn't mean c-cigs need to be forced into an existing one. Whichever one you pick, it hands control of them to the FDA anyway.
If they were classified as tobacco products, they'd probably be seen as a societal evil and inevitably be heavily taxed by states and the federal government. Also there would be no flavors allowed beyond menthol and tobacco. The only benefit is they couldn't be outright banned. I think that's unlikely anyway.
Am I completely off base on all that?
Why wasn't this explained at or on the page that asks for comments instead of just telling everyone they want to regulate as tabacco product please comment? What did they think everybodies comment would be without a little explaining as you have done here?You aren't aware that the FDA has declared that electronic cigarettes are "drug-delivery devices"?
FDA and Public Health Experts Warn About Electronic Cigarettes
There is a huge thread here on ECF that has been following the federal court case referred to in the FDA Press Release quoted above.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...peals-court-stays-judge-leons-ruling-now.html
To summarize, the FDA's position is that electronic cigarettes are unapproved drug-delivery devices and has begun enforcement by seizing incoming shipments. Smoking Everywhere asked for an injunction to stop FDA from seizing product. The case was later joined by Soterra (NJOY) whose products were also ordered seized by FDA. Judge Leon granted the injunction and based his opinion on the idea that the products are tobacco products. FDA has obtained a temporary stay of the injunction (allowing them to continue seizing products) pending decision by the appeals court. FDA continues to insist these are drug-delivery devices.
You may want (as do I) to have these products just left the heck alone by everyone. But realistically, how do you picture that happening? There is a Federal Court case and ultimately the products will be legally declared to be either a product that the FDA can regulate as a combo drug-delivery devide, or as a product that the FDA can regulate as a tobacco product.
The petition asks the FDA to stop insisting on their position. That would mean that they would stop seizing products at the border, because the products would no longer be considered an "unapproved" product that CDER can regulate. Instead, they would be considered a tobacco product that does not require approval. The products could, however, be regulated to ensure safety--allowing for such things as complete accurate labeling, child-proof packaging, and testing of liquids to ensure purity.
As has been pointed out, the FDA cannot impose taxes on any product. Sure congress could impose taxes on them as a tobacco product. But let's face it, congress could impose taxes on them right now, without having to name the classification they fall into. Congress taxes the sales of furs, luxury boats, etc. Comprende?
Again, you are not being asked to SIGN the petition. People are being asked to leave comments. If you don't want to leave a favorable comment, don't. If you want to leave a comment AGAINST the AAPHP suggestion, then the FDA will take that as approval to continue their current modus operendi: Stealing the products being imported by retailers and thereby doing their best to enact a defacto ban against the product.
As a person who had smoked traditional cigarettes for fifteen years, I have tried multiple times to quit, using all options available to me. Two months ago, I acquired my first personal vaporizer (e-cigarette) and was able to completely break my addiction to traditional cigarettes within one week of using the new product. At the time of this writing, I have no further desire to smoke traditional cigarettes -- in fact, I now find the smell of traditional cigarettes to be extremely unpleasant. If the personal vaporizer were to become unavailable as a result of FDA actions, though, I am almost completely positive that I, along with many others who have successfully transitioned to "vaping," would be likely to return to traditional cigarettes due to the nature of the addiction to nicotine. This would be against the interest of public health.
I concur almost completely with AAPHP's recommendations to the FDA, as it provides the quickest means of ensuring the continued availability of this harm-reducing technology. I would add to the AAPHP's recommendations that the FDA should, in the interests of ethically protecting public health, undertake the appropriate steps to add a third classification for liquids containing nicotine for use in personal vaporizers rather than classify all vaporizer-related products as tobacco products, as users have already transitioned to the use of liquids that contain zero nicotine and contain no components or chemicals that were in any way derived from tobacco.