Hello all and allow me to say this is a very interesting post.
Ok ….. Here is my soap box speech…. Please forgive me,
As a board member of an E-Cig company here, I have to say TropicalBob makes a very valid point; we welcome the FDA and/or the ECA as our industry needs regulating to guarantee product quality and that all the companies have to follow documented QC programs that are complaint in nature. I know most companies out there just lean on their suppliers to give them such data. How good is that data?
We are witnessing the birth of an industry that needs to be classified with Tobacco products. Not as a drug or combination drug device.
Again, I also have to agree that there are E-Cig companies out there causing problems with claims and the FDA is also has made their mistakes too, but for reasons. Also, I feel too that Big Pharma and Big Tobacco have a stake in this but what is that stake? I get the feeling the FDA is caught between a rock and hard place on the whole issue and maybe some of their actions may not have been the right way to handle things, but it is what it is. We all need to just put this behind us (FDA and E-Cig companies) and move on in harmony and cooperation together.
As a company, we personally need to make sure that we receive testing from our sub-suppliers and do our own testing internally as well. As a company we also perform random outside testing with FDA approved testing facilities. While this has been a very large expense for us and we have had to incur these costs, we are being a corporately responsible company. With our multiple manufacturing facilities throughout the US and overseas, we are already following protocol proactively before it is required to guarantee our investors that ethically we will be able to meet reasonable guidelines set forth by the FDA for Electronic cigarettes as a tobacco product.
My hope is that the FDA does not shut down our industry and force tobacco cigarette consumers back to analog only; it would be a crying shame for the American public, health care and mankind in general. On the other hand the FDA does need to purge all the little POP up companies who are not being ethical or responsible from the system. I am not saying it has to be Big Tobacco or Big Pharma who takes our industry, but what I am saying is there are the bleeding edge and the leading edge in business. The bleeding edge pioneers have been here and for that I thank the good ones and there are the ones who caused problems. In business there are the companies that follow the pioneers that are the long term players that have the capabilities for the long term business survival. These companies have to be highly ethical, responsible, very well planed and proactive. Well, the pioneers have done their job and some will make it through (with many growing pains), most wont, but now it is time for the long term players to get involved with the outcome of this ruling and that is why we are here. A good example - we have not even launched our brand yet as we have been investing great amounts of time, money and effort in our products to ensure what we bring to the market is not just a product, but a product of the highest quality all the way around.
In the end, we have invested substantial money in research & development alone and hope the FDA looks at companies like us and others being just as responsible in favorable light. We also hope they do look hard at the companies who just rushed to market with a brand label to make a quick buck – without regards of the consumer or ethical guidelines.
We have not joined the ECA as we have not seen enough value to date, but over the last week we have been happy with the most recent activities and will continue to monitor. The other side of this too, is the fact that responsible, ethical and professional companies who made the investments that provide the proper processes in place will be the ones who will be able to survive this storm.
There will be a nicotine tax some day and if that is all it takes to gain our path forward then I say let’s do it now.
After this post I am sure there will be a slurry of companies jumping on this band wagon claiming to be ethical and interested in quality control but to date I can count on one hand the companies in business today actually doing this in the e-cig business and can’t even count the number of companies that just brand label the same thing over and over again jumping in for the quick buck band wagon. The companies that have innovative technologies (not just brand labels) and unique products combined with full QC processes will be the ones to buy from. This is what it will take to even think about being in this market in the near future and for the long run, provided the FDA provides a path forward. The industry has not even generated enough profit in the US to fund this for anyone at this point. It is all about long term commitment and dollars invested, price point of entry starting today will be in the millions to do it right.
Electronic Cigarettes are not a smoking cessation device, they are just alternative that eliminates a lot of the hazardous carcinogens, let’s face it - it is still smoking so it cannot be totally healthy for you, "Think about it".
So, it is going to take some large money and large commitments from select companies who will rise to the top while the others wash out, even if the FDA does not fall victim to the politics of big money from big pharma. On the other hand hopefully the ECA stays the course to help encourage the FDA down the best path for the public (i.e. not a medical device for electronic cigarettes or change the rules all together).
We welcome the FDA over sight and self applied industry regulatory compliance through some neutral body, it is the right thing to do as a tobacco born product (i.e. Nicotine based) as we are, it makes good common sense.
It is just business, it has always been this way this is nothing new, just new to some people in this business.
We are here to Help.
WHEW I said a lot and that’s all I have to say about that……….
