FDA and e-cigarettes: Your action needed now.

[tA71ana]

Comment# 1jx-835c-lf5h

I wrote the following ( I hope it helps but then I hope that they are so inundated with comments that they won't have time to read them all, lol)

Dear Sir and/or Madame,
I began smoking tobacco cigarettes in the summer of 1972. Over the ensuing 40 years I developed Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis and later COPD. During the time that I smoked, I had tried repeatedly to quit - the gums, patches, cold turkey and Chantix, all to no avail. Over the years I have also developed/contracted chronic illnesses that now render me unable to take the aforementioned (and other) drugs and NRTs because of side effects and toxicity but these in my case had already been proven to be completely ineffective. On a lark I had visited a site (unrelated to E-Cigarettes) where a poster had mentioned that E-Cigarettes completely stopped her from smoking tobacco. I was skeptical but I researched it and obtained what amounted to a simple starter kit. I took my first vape and stopped smoking tobacco - absolutely, totally and completely - that very day. That day was April 28th, 2012 and I have not smoked a cigarette since, nor do I have the desire to. I was afraid that I would die a smoker’s death. Now I have the chance not to. I believe E-Cigarettes are a valuable tool to release one from the grip of tobacco smoke and the chemicals contained within that have caused devastation to so many lives. I do believe that E-cigarettes are a life-saving, harm-reducing tool and I believe it has saved my life. When I smoked tobacco I would awake in the middle of the night unable to breathe and coughing until I vomited. I have COPD and that will never go away but at least with vaping I don’t wake up in the middle of the night in the throes of strangling and gasping for breath.
I do hope that we can come together as Regulatory entities and Consumers to allow these products to remain freely accessible to of - age-smokers (in their present forms) as a harm – reduction tool and refrain from regulation and legislation that would render these products illegal, inaccessible or useless.
Thank you for this opportunity to give my opinion on this issue.

 

[Antwoord]

Is there any way to see the number of comments?

edit: never mind I found it.

 

[NocVision]

Is there any way to see the number of comments?

edit: never mind I found it.

How many? lol

 

[shastacola]

got my comment id number.

to see how many comments click here Regulations.gov

4,552
Comments Received*

*The total reflects comments received from Regulations.gov and other means as of 11:59 PM yesterday. All comments received may not be posted at this time including bulk submissions; therefore, the total comments received and posted may differ

 

[MarchHare]

Just under the wire...

Agency: FDA
Document ID: FDA-2012-N-1148-0011
Your Comment Tracking Number: 1jx-835f-d5zk

 

[ByStander1]

Done: Your Comment Tracking Number: 1jx-835f-irb8

 

[Kerig3]

Comment: 1jx-835f-tu8l1jx-835f-tu8l

Here's my testimony comment.

As a 34 year former smoker, now a user of electronic cigarettes, I truly thought that I would be addicted to smoking cigarettes to the day I died, especially after having tried most of the standard methods of quitting unsuccessfully over the last two an a half decades of my life. To complicate matters I am a chronic pain sufferer for the last ten years with a little-understood nervous system disease, which has greatly impacted most aspects my life. I take many oral medications along with having an implanted medicinal pump that delivers pain-relieving drugs directly to my spine to maintain a level of coping with constant pain in my lower extremities. The state of day-to-day existence with my illness actually kept me more attached to the 'act' of smoking simply because it was something that was enjoyable to me before I got sick and became unable to participate in most of my past activities. For that reason I really did not want to give up cigarettes, but all of my doctors and medical specialists warned me that continuing to smoke would complicate my future of living with my disease.

Incredibly, and quite unexpectedly to me, I was able to switch from cigarette smoking to using electronic cigarettes as easy as flipping a light switch. I am now able to enjoy the 'act' of smoking, but without all the well-documented harm that comes from the chemicals and carcinogens found in cigarettes.

When I had consulted my doctors beforehand about my wanting to try switching to electronic cigarettes, not one of them showed any concern about electronic cigarettes and they ALL encouraged me to try to make the switch if I could. In fact none of the many doctors I have seen since my switch have shown any trepidation about my using electronic cigarettes over the long term. I now have been using electronic cigarettes for more than two years and all of my doctors are still simply glad that I no longer smoke traditional cigarettes.

This is not to say that some doctors aren't concerned about the long-term use of electronic cigarettes, it's just that in my real world experience I have not seen any concerns from the medical community towards these devices. It makes me wonder if most doctors are getting more scientifically-based information about electronic cigarettes than what the general public hears about, those over-hyped stories that make dramatic headlines on slow news days.

Thank you for listening to real people's experiences with electronic cigarettes and taking my testimony into consideration. Most anti-smokers find it way too easy to instantly conclude that just because electronic cigarettes 'look' like traditional cigarette then they must be as bad for you as a traditional cigarette. For me electronic cigarettes have been a life-changing way to stop smoking traditional cigarettes that happened to become available at a time in my life when I needed it the most. Without electronic cigarette technology I'm certain I would still be smoking today and complicating my illness while ultimately shortening my life.​

 

[TdxProductions]

Just submitted my comment! I hope they will be convinced by all the comments.

 

[Jimi D.]

4552 comments received !? That's it !!?? Our Country is lazier than I thought !

 

[tc3driver]

4552 comments received !? That's it !!?? Our Country is lazier than I thought !

While I generally agree with your statement, I believe the problem is more along the lines of "I am one person what can i do?"

Which is the same reason a lot of people don't vote, take any part in politics, and allow themselves to be ram-rodded and ran over at every possible turn.

 

[Vocalek]

They have not updated the count. Yesterday morning it was at 4552. Something's amiss on the Regulations.gov site. The comments were supposed to be turned off yesterday at midnight, but the Comment Now button is still available today.

 

[JuiceHound]

They have not updated the count. Yesterday morning it was at 4552. Something's amiss on the Regulations.gov site. The comments were supposed to be turned off yesterday at midnight, but the Comment Now button is still available today.

Vocalek, I agree, somethings no right. I'm seeing the same thing, taking note of the totals and times from yesterday. They'll have to get on their IT guys! ... uh, wait, I'm one of those...haha (an IT guy, not an FDA employee, mind you!...haha)

 

[Acco7]

I'm Italian and I'm very sad,
in Europe, governments seek to eliminate nicotine from eliquids...
I have the impression that the only real important thing for those who legislate,
is to make sure that people continue to consume traditional cigarettes, for many reasons...
but all economic reasons
not so much in favor of "tobacco companies", but especially for the "Big Pharma", that also fund anti-(traditional)-smoking campaigns...
and enriched with anti-cancer treatment...
in particular in Italy, the ISS (our Institute of Health) drew up a report of 20 pages for our minister of health,
where basically says that the esig, should be banned, just because it is easy to buy for minors on the Internet,
here, in this period is talking a lot on television about the esig, and There's so much misinformation...
I hope that the esig improve our society... but seeing what's going on, I'm very sad

 

[MisterCombo21]

Why do I only see 20 comments posted though it is supposedly past deadline? We must have gotten many more comments.

Will sign and start posting petition url soon.

 

[CES]

It's showing 5300 comments now, though still only 20 are posted...

 

[Rhapsodies Fire]

Just read this article on Gizmodo. They are going to raise the number of signatures needed from 25,00 to 100,000.

White House's Petition Page Raises Bar from 25,000 to 100,000 Signatures

We need to get people to sign it ASAP!

Don't worry...they have done this before. The last time we had an ecig petition on that site the minimum was 5,000. While the petition was going, they raised the bar to 25,000. When they raise the bar, it does not affect the petitions already posted.

 

[TxTunesLady]

the ones that were posted i figured were in the last comment section all the new ones havent been released yet is what i am suspecting

 

[tc3driver]

They have not updated the count. Yesterday morning it was at 4552. Something's amiss on the Regulations.gov site. The comments were supposed to be turned off yesterday at midnight, but the Comment Now button is still available today.

Haven't you ever heard the saying "close enough for government work!"

 

[TrickyRicky71]

While the count may not be as a high as some people like, i think the quality and more so the hard work being done by all the great folks here at ECF and throughout isnt all that bad and i bet if this was made more aware to regular smokers who are still on analogs they would back us and the ecig market for sure, but im sure most people just arent aware of whats going on.

 

[DC2]

I think 5,000 heartfelt comments generated for an obscure FDA action is pretty good.
It will certainly make them take notice, especially if they read them.


I wonder how many comments the cigar folks generate when their nicotine delivery system is threatened.
Probably a lot more than us, but maybe not.

But then, they have a lot of money, and can hire someone to write their comments for them.