Below is the response I received from my state senator this morning -
May 9, 2016
Dear Ms. XXXXXXX,
Thank you for sharing your concerns with me about the Federal Drug Administration's (FDA's) newly proposed "grandfather date" regulation for tobacco products. Your letter contained language very similar to many other letters and emails, which might have even been generated from an advocacy group on your behalf. Every letter from an Oklahoman is important to me, and I am happy to know the opinion of so many Oklahomans.
As you may know, on April 24, 2014, the FDA released "deeming" regulations to use a February 15, 2007 "grandfather date" to include cigars, electronic cigarettes, and other tobacco products under FDA authority. Before February 15, 2007, many tobacco products, including cigars, were not available for regulation. Electronic cigarettes were not considered tobacco products until 2011. Many critics of the FDA's rule argue that applying FDA regulations to cigars and electronic cigarettes under the February 15, 2007 rule would be devastating to private businesses and would ban a significant number of electronic cigarette products that millions of consumers use to remain smoke-free. On May 5, 2016, the FDA announced its finalized rule to the deeming regulations, which you can read more about
here.
As an advocate for limited government, I support the right of private businesses to limit tobacco use in and reasonably around their premises. States and localities should also have the full authority to restrict smoking and tobacco use within their borders. I also support policies that remove federal regulatory barriers in our free-market economy and give citizens as much control of their own lives and the lives of their families as possible. This retroactive regulation of tobacco products by the FDA, including the selection of a date for some products that precede their invention, is unfair and unacceptable.
On April 28, 2015, Rep. Tom Cole (OK) introduced H.R. 2058, the FDA Deeming Authority Clarification Act. If enacted, H.R. 2058 would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to change the grandfather date of newly deemed tobacco products to the date when the FDA's "grandfather date" regulation is finalized. This would mean that hundreds of electronic tobacco brands and the dozens of private businesses that sell these products would be able to stay on the market with very minimal changes and at a significantly lower cost. H.R. 2058 has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where it awaits further action. Currently, no Senate companion bill to H.R. 2058 has been offered. I will keep your thoughts in mind, if legislation about this regulation comes to the Senate floor for a vote.
Please feel free to contact me again via email at
www.lankford.senate.gov for more information about my work in the United States Senate for all of us.
In God We Trust,
James Lankford
United States Senator
