Do ANY suppliers want self-regulation?

[Aloy1001]

The bottom line is that there should be an organization formed for self-regulation before the Government imposes their version of regulation.

I agree, but trying to get a group of vendors to agree on these rules would be like trying to get us all to agree on what to have on our pizza. Since there are no current regulations it is very unlikely an individual vendor would be willing to bend on any points of contention when arriving at the self-imposed regulations. What does it hurt anyone not to agree to any point? Exclusion from the group? This does not stop them from doing business so what's the big deal there. In order for something like this to work we'd need a third party mediator with a high level of credibility. This industry is too young to have anything like that now (IMHO). There is no source consumers look to for information other than forums like this one. ECF has credibility, but they also use advertising dollars from the vendors to help support the site so there could be a conflict of interest there.

 

[Shining Wit]

Ah, the new "American way".

Nah! Same old American way, free enterprise in a competitive capitalist market that feeds on profit and has to grow to survive.
How many small (tobacco) cigarette manufacturers are there?
How many small petroleum suppliers?
How many one-man painkiller manufacturers?
The list is endless, someone starts a company or business, works hard, builds it and grows it and eventually they can be a "high end supplier".
The company I work for was started from scratch in September 2008 and is now a multi million pound business that is ready to meet the challenges of regulation in the UK and then the EU and the rest of the world. It wasn't born from a global giant like J&J or Pfizer, it happened because two guys had a vision and backed it up with passion, dedication, hard graft etc.
Our motto is 'We make it happen' and we do, whatever it takes, however innovative or unorthodox we might have to be, we will succeed.
We don't gripe about the rules or the 'unfairness' of it all, we don't raise our prices unreasonably to fund the huge investment in the future, we try to become more efficient instead. Anyone can do it, you've just got to have the right intention.

Tampa2 and butterbean03 make some good points. The one thing I cannot see happening though is self-regulation because of the lack of agreement and cohesion among so many different suppliers and, most obviously, because the FDA/Government would not let it happen (big P & T would make sure of that!).
One other reason highlighted by butterbean03 is the potential for an accident.
I started a thread in the 'Outside' forum prompting people to state what they thought the LD of Nicotine was. Most people, including liquid suppliers, didn't know what it was and some were quite shocked when they realised that a tenth to a fifth of a spoonful of 25mg liquid could kill a child. Please don't reply to that point here as I don't want to hijack a thread with value like this one.
Click here for 'How much is lethal'.

John.