Comments Sought on Tobacco Regulation

[Vocalek]

There is a call for public comments on implementing the new tobacco Regulation. The Notice is here: Regulations.gov

To submit a comment: Regulations.gov

And you can view comments here: Regulations.gov Regulations.gov

I submitted the following comment:

The number of US adult smokers was 43.8 million in 1990 and stood at over 45 million last year. The methods that worked so well from 1965 through 1989 to get people to quit have not been working for the past 19 years. It is time for a new approach--a more realistic approach—Nicotine Maintenance Therapy.

People smoke for the nicotine. Fact. They don't smoke to get high. They are dependent on the nicotine to maintain normal mood, memory, attention, and cognitive abilities.

The success of the electronic cigarette shows that people will stop lighting up tobacco if you provide them with adequate doses of nicotine from an alternative, cleaner source. Common sense tells us that many, many more smokers would have quit years ago if the FDA-approved NRT products did not deliver such inadequate doses of nicotine.


The following notice was displayed afterwards:

When will I be able to view my comment online?

Your comment has been sent to the agency and will be available on Regulations.gov once it has been processed. Given certain regulations may have thousands of comments, processing may take several weeks before it can be viewed online. We value your comment, and encourage you to contact the agency directly for additional questions related to your specific comment.

 

[Vocalek]

I opened the PDF for a comment from American Lung Association and found this:

AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION®
IN IOWA​

Micki Sandquisi
Executive Director

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2530 73rd Street
Des Moines, IA 50322
Phone: 515-309-9507​

Fax:515-334-9564

In addition, the Food and Drug Administration should make placing warning labels on spit tobacco products a priority as implementation of the legislation moves ahead. The American Lung Association in Iowa encourages the FDA to strictly enforce the deadline requiring larger, stronger warning labels on all smokeless tobacco packages and in advertisements. Smokeless tobacco products are not a safe alternative to cigarettes and carry many of the same health risks as cigarettes, as well some unique to smokeless tobacco. Updating these warning labels will ensure that consumers are getting accurate and easily understandable warnings about the dangers posed by smokeless tobacco products.

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It galls me that they can say that last sentence with a straight face.


I would be very interested in hearing the American Lung Association explain how smokeless tobacco harms the lungs.

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[Vocalek]

Opened one of the comments and saw this:

General Comment

Please enforce the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. I believe FDA regulation of tobacco is a great step forward in protecting our future generations from Big Tobacco. As you know, the U.S. is one of the few remaining countries that have not ratified this treaty, so our citizens are not yet protected by its life-saving measures. As a student at the University of Vermont, I ask that you please take action to change this. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Erin Schminke

 

[dragonpuff]

The following notice was displayed afterwards:

When will I be able to view my comment online?

Your comment has been sent to the agency and will be available on Regulations.gov once it has been processed. Given certain regulations may have thousands of comments, processing may take several weeks before it can be viewed online. We value your comment, and encourage you to contact the agency directly for additional questions related to your specific comment.

I posted a comment last week and didn't get this page when i clicked "post reply." All i got was that i could no longer click the "post reply" button.

Also, i was reading through the comments page one day, and there were dozens of identical comments (a paragraph long) posted on the same day; the only difference was that they were all signed by a different name. I don't remember what it said, some anti-tobacco bla bla bla, but they weren't actively representing an organization, there was no name like ALA or anything in these posts.

It seemed like they wanted it to look like there were multiple people requesting the same thing when there was only one person/group behind it wierd, it was pretty creepy.

I believe the date was Aug. 26 if anyone else wants to check it out

 

[Fredrick]

I found Dr. Siegel's comment here:
Regulations.gov


I hope they like it, because I sure did.

Edit: There are a lot of those cookie cutter "Please enforce this" comments on there. I went through about 25 of them until I found anything written by an actual independent mind.

 

[kinabaloo]

I found Dr. Siegel's comment here:
Regulations.gov


I hope they like it, because I sure did.

Edit: There are a lot of those cookie cutter "Please enforce this" comments on there. I went through about 25 of them until I found anything written by an actual independent mind.

Indeed; me too.

"The FDA and the anti-smoking groups damn well better start looking at the actual world around them rather than the ideological fantasy world in which they are living. People are dying and this is no joke. They can joke all they want about the traces of carcinogens in e-cigarettes. But those aren't what are killling 400,000 people a year. I'll say it again: it's the damn real ones."

 

[surbitonPete]

I think E-cigs are revealing just how extreme the fanaticism of anti-smokers has become.

It certainly proves that it's gone way beyond reason and a concern for peoples health. The should all be applauding the invention of the e-cig.

 

[ladyraj]

Opened one of the comments and saw this:

General Comment

Please enforce the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. I believe FDA regulation of tobacco is a great step forward in protecting our future generations from Big Tobacco. As you know, the U.S. is one of the few remaining countries that have not ratified this treaty, so our citizens are not yet protected by its life-saving measures. As a student at the University of Vermont, I ask that you please take action to change this. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Erin Schminke

This student appears to have confused the FSPTC legislation which was passed with the WHO"s FCTC which has not been ratified by our legislators. The two acronyms share common letters and may be at the root of the the mix-up.

 

[LaceyUnderall]

I think E-cigs are revealing just how extreme the fanaticism of anti-smokers has become.

It certainly proves that it's gone way beyond reason and a concern for peoples health. The should all be applauding the invention of the e-cig.

So true. It's always been my opinion that the anti-smoker groups are scarred ******ess by this product because they know that their ways are going to be brought out onto the carpet. Why? Because no other product has come onto the market that the user group is SOOOOO passionate about keeping.

Hey... but that's what you get. When you enslave (and demonize) a group of people for long enough, they eventually stand up and tell their captors to piss off.

 

[sherid]

So true. It's always been my opinion that the anti-smoker groups are scarred ******ess by this product because they know that their ways are going to be brought out onto the carpet. Why? Because no other product has come onto the market that the user group is SOOOOO passionate about keeping.

Hey... but that's what you get. When you enslave (and demonize) a group of people for long enough, they eventually stand up and tell their captors to piss off.

You are so right. I just posted Banzass' latest PR post, calling for e cig suppliers to be IMPRISONED

 

[Kamanjah]

OK, guys, this is our chance to be heard! They have to read each and every comment.

This is our big chance to influence how the FDA sets things up. Each and every one of needs to submit a comment, even if it's a copy of one someone else wrote. This is one way groups like Greenpeace (and kazillion others) influence public policy. I've submitted many comments during public comment periods, some original, some what an organization I support already wrote.

Comment away! Deadline is Sept. 29.

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[LaceyUnderall]

You are so right. I just posted Banzass' latest PR post, calling for e cig suppliers to be IMPRISONED

I SAW THAT and between the giggles I did almost puke. LOL


My comment for regulations.gov was:

Tobacco use has been a widely debated topic for many years. There is no doubt in my mind that tobacco harm reduction is a necessity and any regulations that are to be set forth, should keep in mind that there are less harmful products on the market.

As an agency that is to consider all things for the public health, IMHO it is very important that we stop this advocacy philosophy of "quit or die" and hopefully, regulation will come that offers adults access to more responsible choices for their nicotine needs.

If the agency can keep in mind the Tobacco Harm Reduction philosophy and base regulation upon that, then we could really begin to move forward in this country and start seeing massive reductions in smoking related illness, disease, and death and THAT is what the goal of regulation should be.

 

[jwhite]

Hey... but that's what you get. When you enslave (and demonize) a group of people for long enough, they eventually stand up and tell their captors to piss off.

Exactly... Smokers have been made to feel like outsiders and horrible people.... and for years we let them raise our taxes to line their pockets, restict where we can and can't smoke(even against business owner's wills-bars for example), and even ban us from smoking in our cars if we have kids with us(although debatable, I don't beleive they should be able to tell you what to do on or in your own property). All because smoking is "bad".

I beleive now is the time to speak up for our rights concerning e-cigs/pv's, before we get pushed into the same corner tobacco smokers are in.

I can't wait for consumer group to get off the ground!

 

[LaceyUnderall]

Exactly... Smokers have been made to feel like outsiders and horrible people.... and for years we let them raise our taxes to line their pockets, restict where we can and can't smoke(even against business owner's wills-bars for example), and even ban us from smoking in our cars if we have kids with us(although debatable, I don't beleive they should be able to tell you what to do on or in your own property). All because smoking is "bad".

I beleive now is the time to speak up for our rights concerning e-cigs/pv's, before we get pushed into the same corner tobacco smokers are in.

I can't wait for consumer group to get off the ground!

So true. So true. And don't even get me started on what I think BS it is that the government is telling small, private business owners what they can and cannot do in their own establishments. And... Do people honestly think that they are better than others that they should have the RIGHT to be admitted where ever they feel like going? Blah. Puke. I can't live in a society like that and won't. Fine... You don't want smoking in parks... on the streets... I can get on board with that... but in a bar where the owner wants smoking? Please. Don't come in if you don't like it! /rant

There IS a consumer group already... you should go and visit because they are working hard to get everything balanced and get projects out for folks to participate in: Right To Vape - Index RTV has been around since January and are getting things booming and looking for more people to help/participate. Totally consumer driven and suppliers only participate as individuals. I am just happy to be able to help as a consumer in any way I can because I am a consumer too!

 

[jwhite]

So true. So true. And don't even get me started on what I think BS it is that the government is telling small, private business owners what they can and cannot do in their own establishments. And... Do people honestly think that they are better than others that they should have the RIGHT to be admitted where ever they feel like going? Blah. Puke. I can't live in a society like that and won't. Fine... You don't want smoking in parks... on the streets... I can get on board with that... but in a bar where the owner wants smoking? Please. Don't come in if you don't like it! /rant

I'd have to politly disagree with one point of this- Parks I can understand since kids are running around as I'm a parent, but on the street? Seriously? Other than that, we are on the same page. Oh and a side note to the smoking ban- In hancock county, it is illegal to smoke 25ft from an entrance, window or ventalation of a building!! Ridiculous....


There IS a consumer group already... you should go and visit because they are working hard to get everything balanced and get projects out for folks to participate in: Right To Vape - Index RTV has been around since January and are getting things booming and looking for more people to help/participate. Totally consumer driven and suppliers only participate as individuals. I am just happy to be able to help as a consumer in any way I can because I am a consumer too!

I will deffinatly check it out. I do have some questions about it versus the group eric is trying to get started but I won't hijack this thread for it.

BTW is it just me or is the regulations.gov page hard to navigate through?

 

[LaceyUnderall]

I'd have to politly disagree with one point of this- Parks I can understand since kids are running around as I'm a parent, but on the street? Seriously? Other than that, we are on the same page. Oh and a side note to the smoking ban- In hancock county, it is illegal to smoke 25ft from an entrance, window or ventalation of a building!! Ridiculous....

Well... and I used to think this too... until they took ash trays off of public streets... then I started seeing cigarette butts everywhere. As a greenie... it makes me sick to think that littering of any kind is acceptable. Granted, they took ash trays away.

And... it wouldn't be that bad removing smoking from streets IF they had left smoking inside in certain establishments. Instead, they pushed all establishments to stop smoking, putting smokers on the street to "affect" others. It was a backwards policy to begin with... but that is what they had intended from the beginning. Ban people from smoking inside... force them to go out... and then ban them from outside smoking. Baby steps.

We just need to reverse that philosophy and I think it is totally possible... With the advent of all this new technology that allows for better ventilation in small, smoky spaces, there isn't any reason private businesses can't regain their rights to offer the establishment they wish to offer. However, business owners do have to stand up for their rights in order to accomplish this.

Maybe the example of fight that PV users have in them, will give a few more people the cojones to stand up for themselves. This is one thing I greatly admire about our mission as a community: There are a TON of people willing to actually do. American's have become apathetic, just letting things happen to them and accept it. Hopefully, with activism, others will follow suit. Private Businesses, IMHO, need to be accepting of allowing PV users to vape freely. By private businesses doing this, they make a loud statement towards their rights to offer an establishment that is available to all.

 

[lotus14]

Yes, PLEASE, everyone post a comment. We all complain that our voices aren't being heard. Here is a great place to start.

Every comment counts!

Once again:
Regulations.gov

 

[Janetda]

ok, very interesting...

Dear Commissioner Hamburg, I'm writing to express my belief that FDA regulation...

comes from Citizens’ Daily Lobby Keep Big Tobacco off FDA Advisory Council

even more interesting:

Drug Channels: New FDA Chief's Surprising Link to Drug Wholesaling