Dose Big Pharma have a gunslinger heading the Tobacco Products of the FDA?

[Esharp]

I found this to be concerning. FDA Names Smoking Critic to Oversee Cigarettes - WSJ.com This is out of the Wall Street Journal. I had to read the article a few times to make sure I was getting all details right. There has to be a conflict of interest here for sure, but rest assure they will find away around that. I'm starting to believe that the system is so corrupt, that we vapors don't have a fighting chance. All opinions welcomed on this development.

 

[mostlyclassics]

Oh, there's a huge conflict of interest there! So much for the administration who said it wouldn't hire any lobbyists!

For folks who don't subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, this link contains all the pertinent facts about Mitch Zeller:

FDA names new head of tobacco products center

Here are two other ECF threads on Mitch Zeller:

FDA names new head of tobacco products center -- impact on us?

fda installs new tobacco products chief

I'm celebrating Mr. Zeller's appointment by buying another couple of liters of 100 mg./ml. nicquid for the freezer.

 

[Esharp]

Thanks mostylyclassics - Some good links there. I even watched a 46 minute speech he gave in 2011. It certainly gives you a little more insight into what this guy is about, and what could be coming our way. In his 2011 speech he talked about the FDA could have control over the ingredients in cigarettes including nicotine. He went on to say that they could reduce the nicotine levels in cigarettes to make them non-addictive. What's to say he couldn't do the same to e-liquid? To him nicotine and tobacco are one in the same. So this guy is not just anti-tobacco he is anti-nicotine as well. His working relationship with Glaxo Smith Kline should be setting off alarm bells with all vapors. This conflict of interest is so obvious that a blind man could see it. So my questions is, how dose the FDA conduct itself in a transparent way and keep itself impartial with this guy at the wheel?

 

[mostlyclassics]

So my questions is, how dose the FDA conduct itself in a transparent way and keep itself impartial with this guy at the wheel?

The answer is, Esharp, that the FDA can't.

 

[Esharp]

Well great! Now we have the fox (BP) guarding the chicken coop. I'm sure the CEO's at BP are just tickled pink right now. Talk about stacking the deck.

 

[DKM2]

Hmmm, I wonder. The dike looks a bit small for the vaper wave.
Now I'm new to this, but I got a really positive feel this could work for me,
whereas BP solutions are meant to fail. Money over deaths.
by our juice price, nic gum should be selling at $2 not $40. big margins for them.

 

[Esharp]

DKM2, you got a positive feel from this because it's a damn good fake. The overpriced BP options will give you nicotine but it's not the same as vaping. The BP products are suppose to be used for a 12 week period, and according to them you should be cured of your addiction. Well, everyone knows that's not case including BP. Mitch Zeller thinks that the 12 week period should be extended as it's clearly not enough time to treat your nicotine addiction. We'll have to wait to see what the new time frame will be for BP products. IMO, it's all for not, it still won't work. The problem is twofold, e-cigs work way better than the smoking cessation products of BP and BP stands to lose a whack of money every time a smoker goes to e-cigs as opposed to BP smoking cessation products. Ironically, most smokers who have tried to break their ties to cigarettes have already tried BP solution. They (BP) can't wrap their heads around the fact that someone has built a better mouse trap.

I smoked for 40 years. When I started on e-cigs, I smoked 14 cigarettes the first week. The 2nd week and beyond, I haven't even had a puff. I tried the patches and gums and got the same result as everyone else did. Just a waste of my hard earned money with no pleasure. Now I vape, and enjoy every minute of it. The problem with the anti's is that don't even want us to do that. They want us to quit totally or die. The anti's use to be against tobacco and now they have expanded that attitude towards nicotine as well. Mitch Zeller is one of those with ties to BP, and now he is head of the Tobacco Products division of the FDA.

 

[budynbuick]

Gum,patch,pill=BIG FAIL! Vape=Awesome success! That coming from a 50 yr smoker. I didn't try the pill but know others that did. Yea,resounding FAIL.

 

[Hello World]

Mitch Zeller thinks that the 12 week period should be extended as it's clearly not enough time to treat your nicotine addiction. We'll have to wait to see what the new time frame will be for BP products.

I wonder if anyone ever paid any attention to these time limits except as some sort of product information regulation that had to be printed on packages.

Secondly, it was already known 20 years ago it takes much longer than 12 weeks to beat nicotine but they don't act on these researches until some decades later. Much of what they tell us today was already obsolete yesterday. Same with e-cigs ... too new ... they don't want to accept it until 10 years of studies slanted in BP's favour has been done.

It's mostly all about laws, regulations and money.

 

[DKM2]

Hello world, sounds like my company/office/lab, big guys upstairs talk, us little guys do and make the money for them.
ya, cynical I know, but it sure feels like its true most of the time.

 

[Projectguy]

Have no fear we had an ally as big and perhaps more formidable than BP its BT. Yes whether we like it or not "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

E-cigs as I keep saying over and over is the saviour of BT. BT a warrior in a fight for its life and the most visible sign is Lorillard purchase of blu cigs. BT is currently pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into e-cig research most of which we will never see or know about the results of but which will be felt by all of us over the next 5 to 10 years. All this as they (BT) assume control of the e-cig market and whose market will become increasingly smokeless.

 

[mostlyclassics]

I wonder if anyone ever paid any attention to these time limits except as some sort of product information regulation that had to be printed on packages.

One friend of mine is still chomping on Nicorette eight years after he "quit."

 

[Esharp]

Have no fear we had an ally as big and perhaps more formidable than BP its BT. Yes whether we like it or not "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

E-cigs as I keep saying over and over is the saviour of BT. BT a warrior in a fight for its life and the most visible sign is Lorillard purchase of blu cigs. BT is currently pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into e-cig research most of which we will never see or know about the results of but which will be felt by all of us over the next 5 to 10 years. All this as they (BT) assume control of the e-cig market and whose market will become increasingly smokeless.

Yes BT is in this fight, they're not investing their money for nothing. Here is the issue I see with Mitch Zeller, he's not just against tobacco but nicotine as well. In a speech he gave in 2011 he stated that they could reduce the nicotine levels in cigarettes to the point where they are non addictive. This obviously can be done very easily with e-juice. He also stated in the speech that they couldn't reduce the nicotine levels to zero as nicotine is still legal. They are also looking at controlling the other ingredients that are found such as flavors. He is even against menthol, as it masks the taste of the tobacco and as such makes it more enjoyable to smoke. He is for harm reduction but he wants people off nicotine. Here is his 2011 speech, it's about 46 minutes long.
DCARE 2011 - FDA Regulation of Tobacco products - YouTube