FDA and PACT Possibly to limit the impact to Vapers?

[Armisis]

Now with the news of the FDA calling e-cigs tobacco products and the limiting effects that can cause, would it not be better to aim the e-cig market more towards the same cover that Cigars and Pipe tobacco has where you can get varied flavors of each and you can buy on the internet?? For some reason no one seems to be pushing for this? Why???

Dave Stanton

 

[Dicot]

First of all, welcome to ECF Dave!

As of right now the FDA has only issued a press release stating that despite the case they lost last year when they tried to classify e-cigs as "drug devices" ejuice still falls under their control since the tobacco control act of 2009 defines "tobacco products" as any product that is made or derived from tobacco. Since ejuice contains nicotine, derived from tobacco, and occasionally tobacco flavor extracts the FDA is stating they have the legal ability to, and will, control it as they would any other tobacco product.

The important part in all of this and the answer to your question is that they have not actually drafted any sort of regulation with regards to ejuice as of yet. As it stands the PACT act only applies to cigarettes, which is why you can still buy other forms of tobacco in "characterizing flavors" on the internet and in stores. So as of right now the act doesn't apply to ejuice, and won't unless they amend the law to include it.

Also keep in mind that the actual flavorings are not banned, just the act of marketing characterizing flavors: ie calling your ejuice "blueberry" will be banned. So if the ish really hits the fan, you'll still be able to get your blueberry flavored ejuice, however you may just have to get it from a brick and mortar store and it will probably be called something along the lines of "berry blue". It's all in the wording. It sucks that e-cigs will potentially be reduced to playing the word game like head shops currently do, but whatever. The important thing to remember through all of this is that e-cigs are here to stay.

All in all no one really knows how the FDA is going to approach this yet. All the press release says is that they intended to draft some laws soon, so hopefully there will be ample time to voice our opinion and be included in the process. The ecig market can't push to be included in the pipe tobacco category cause that market only exists because of the wording that was chosen in the PACT act. However the vibe I get from the press release is that the FDA is butthurt from the Sottera ruling last year and are out to flex their muscles on e-cig users in any way possible, it's all for the kids of course!!

The best thing you can possibly do to protect the future of e-cigs is to spread your vaping love to other smokers as well as play an active and vocal role in support of vaping as a method of tobacco harm reduction. Visit CASAA | The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association (essentially the e-cig consumer advocate group) and keep updated on the impending regulations.

Thanks to yvilla, vocalek, Bill Godshall, section31 and quite a few other members whom I can't remember off the top of my head (sorry guys/girls!) for clearing up a lot of this mess in another thread during the past two days.

 

[Armisis]

I find this all interesting, and really hope it dosn't impact the internet sales, as it is very very hard to find any local supples while on deployment in Afghanistan ie: none. It is also interesting as in the UK it is not a tobacco product and not regulated as such. Or as a drug for that matter so far. They see it has nicotine but as it does not have tobacco leaves in it is not tobacco, I guess they look at it as if you call the bark from a tree bark and then when the question comes up what to do about the leaves throwing them in the same label as the bark...

Overall it just looks like the FDA wants to get their cut of the pie by what ever means they can. Typical. No wonder they allow company's to do their own study's on things like GM foods. To me the purpose of the FDA is good however, its implementation has become corrupted by big business. Which invalidates much of their so called research.

I enjoy vaping a lot, as I had been a non-smoker for 4 years and when I deployed this base is rife with smokers the pressure and stress of deployment and being away from my family got me at it again quickly, and it made me feel horrible, so I switched to vaping and on a major scale IE: investing in quite alot of gear and juice of many types. I've been reading up on ECF so i dont go in blind into any purchase. The thought of the FDA making it so I cant get juice for use here or any of the many others I have introduced to vaping being limited or totally cut off, is SO very unfair and may make many go back to analogue, that is really twisted in my opinion.

I guess if need be I could order UK liquids to my wife back there (yes I am US but live in the UK) send them to me in her boxes as needed... There is no problems with that.

The FDA looks like the puritanical force of the 50's or the days of prohibition, it is the parents job to protect the children NOT the FDA's they need to but out and focus on things that matter like getting working drugs approved for people who need them.

Thank you so much for all the info.

Dave