The industry and consumers should welcome such regulation with open arms. It cuts the ANTZ crowd completely out. Our opponents are not FDA, tobacco or pharmaceutical companies. We need to target the groups that willingly spread misinformation about electronic cigarettes and counter their every move with facts. That however, takes time and money.
CASAA's "all volunteer" model is not well suited for this. They need to find a steady source of income, hire a staff and start behaving as a full grown lobbyist organization. There aren't enough e-cig users to mount a sustained, successful grassroots movement. This is not a job for amateurs.
One of our greatest adversaries and biggest ANTZ groups is the American Lung Association - a non-profit, voluntary health organization that has huge influence on health policies in the US. They started as a grass-roots effort, selling Christmas Seals to combat tuberculosis, a death sentence in 1907. With education efforts and growing public support, the ALA has grown into a huge, powerful and rich organization. It all started with a few dedicated amateurs.
I think you are being overly dismissive of what CASAA has accomplished and will be able to do in the future.
CASAA cannot start "behaving like a full grown lobbyist organization" until it has funding like one. CASAA started in October 2009 with a few hundred registered members, 6 hard-working, dedicated directors (the other 6 voted in were pretty much inactive by 2010), no web site, no research, no legal status, no tax status, absolutely no money and no one paying attention. Not to mention just about everything was done via the internet, because we didn't have the resources to fly people around to testify.
Fast forward 41 months later and CASAA has an active 10 member board of directors (now including a renowned epidemiologist and THR expert, 3 attorneys and a professional accountant), links to our web site from hundreds and hundreds of vendor sites and others sites, research library, nearly 100k in funds (with monthly reoccurring donations increasing every day), is a registered non-profit with 501(c)(4) IRS status, over 4,800 registered members, a legal policy director (who flies around the country testifying), directors who attend FDA hearings and tobacco control and tobacco conferences. We have the ear of some major e-cigarette and tobacco companies and tobacco control and THR experts are starting to recognize our name. They don't even TRY to lie that CASAA is an astro-turf group anymore. And in a few weeks, CASAA will be sitting across the table from the FDA, representing the best interests of smoke-free consumers. CASAA is also now actually funding research, rather than just reporting it. CASAA is very frugal with funds, because we are absolutely aware that we will need money for lobbyists and public relations experts. But, as with any young organization, we have to gain a following and raise a LOT of funds before we can become "professional."
I just had to chuckle at this, though. Just how do you expect CASAA to "find a steady source of income" and "hire a staff?" Do you think these things happen by magic? You even acknowledge in your comment that "this takes time and money," yet don't seem to think CASAA should require either to be where you want it to be at this point. Powerful rich people and big corporations and companies just throw money at young organizations that are unproven? (For the record, we do accept company donations. We just don't acknowledge them in any special way, anymore than we acknowledge individual donations. It is vital that CASAA be able to say it is independent of the industry and doesn't allow industry influence. CASAA is a CONSUMER organization that represents the interests of consumers. 99% of the time, our efforts also benefit companies that sell smoke-free alternatives, so it still behooves companies to help CASAA grow.) Anyhow, CASAA has to grow and prove itself before bigger fish notice us and they are taking notice now.
CASAA has spent the past 3 1/2 years growing and proving itself. What other organization that represents smoke-free consumers is anywhere near where CASAA is now? And for the record, CASAA never intended to be a lobbyist organization. It was built on the mission of education and getting the truth out about smoke-free alternatives and tobacco harm reduction and be a consumer voice. We assumed there would eventually be a vendor organization doing most of the lobbying to protect the existence of the products and CASAA would probably .... heads with both the government and the e-cigarette companies to make sure the market remained open and diverse for consumers. It's only because the industry has failed to come together, organize and gain the backing of the consumers and community sooner that CASAA has been forced to step up and play "lobbyists" for e-cigarette consumers and industry alike.
The industry and consumers should welcome such regulation with open arms. It cuts the ANTZ crowd completely out. Our opponents are not FDA, tobacco or pharmaceutical companies. We need to target the groups that willingly spread misinformation about electronic cigarettes and counter their every move with facts. That however, takes time and money.
As someone already pointed out, the FDA doesn't live in a vacuum and the ANTZ groups ARE the shills for Big Pharma. The FDA is HUGELY influenced by lobbyists of the ANTZ, pharmaceutical industry and industry - plus the fact that the agency itself is populated by ANTZ. Specifically, the last director. Who do you really think wrote the FSPTCA of 2009? It certainly wasn't legislators. CASAA is hoping the new FDA director, Mitch Zeller, is less an ANTZ and more reasonable. The FDA deeming regulations will give the ANTZ more power, not cut them out. People need to understand how closely twisted together these powers really are.
If people think that the FDA "standards for the manufacture, distribution, labeling and marketing of e-liquids that contain nicotine" are actually going to be reasonable and leave us with effective and affordable electronic cigarettes, they are fooling themselves and ignoring very recent history. Unless Mr. Zeller takes a completely different stance on e-cigarettes than the previous director, the FDA's attitude that e-cigarettes are an unapproved drug that needs its approval and should be banned won't have changed. It will still want them off the market unless proven "safe and effective." Since it can no longer do that by banning them as unapproved drugs, they will do that with excessive regulations and standards. Unfortunately, the FDA has shown no indication that its opinion of e-cigarettes has changed to give us any reason to hope for reasonable regulations and standards. Hopefully, CASAA representatives will be able to get a better hint of what the FDA wants when they meet with them.
