How does the vaping industry defend itself?

[PRODOS]

I'd like to try and understand how the vaping industry approaches the job of defending itself.

I started a thread at the New Members Forum to try and improve my understanding of how businesses determine their vaping policies.
Basis of corporate/business policies on vaping/e-cigs? | E-Cigarette Forum

stevegmu - stevegmu | E-Cigarette Forum - told me about:

AEMSA (American E-Liquid Manufacturing Standards Association)
AEMSA | American E-Liquid Manufacturing Standards Association

But he noted that:

"Big US manufacturers- Halo, Johnson Creek, NJOY, Nikoticket, MBV... None are members, and they account for a good % of the e-liquid manufactured in the US."​

He also mentioned the Chinese manufacturers in another post.

I wrote to Johnson Creek to ask them if they were a member of any vaping industry group.

Then there's CASAA (Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association). As its name suggests, this is not formally an industry association. But I know that Johnson Creek supports CASAA and even has a tiny CASAA logo & link at the bottom of their website.

Also, I see that the President of the American Vaping Association ("a nonprofit organization that advocates for small- and medium-sized businesses in the vapor product market") is on the CASAA Board of Advisors.

Re: AEMSA ...

Does anyone on this forum keep track of its activities? If so, how would you characterise their approach?

Re: Industry associations in general ...

Why haven't the "biggies" gotten together to form their own advocacy organisation?

Is it due to intra-industry disagreements? Is it because they feel it's better not to approach things that way?

General observations

My impression is that most people -- non vapers -- don't mind vaping once they understand it.

But most of these same people haven't been given the opportunity to understand vaping.

They hold many mistaken views and maintain a kind of vague, floating, unformed skepticism about the second-hand effects of vaping.

That being so: Why is vaping conflated with traditional smoking?

And why are there growing prohibitions on vaping? (Perhaps, precisely *because* its conflated with traditional smoking?)

Thanks for any assistance with this.

 

[PRODOS]

Correspondence with Johnson Creek (reproduced with permission) ....

Me:

... what I'm writing about is to ask: Is Johnson Creek currently a member of any industry body that supports and defends vaping/e-cig standards and the rights of vapers/e-cig users?

The reason I ask is that I'm concerned about the ever increasing encroachment on the rights of vapers and the large amount of misinformation about vaping across the community -- both in the USA (where I have family) and Australia (where I live).

Thanks for any clarification on this.​

Johnson Creek:

... Thank you for your email.

We were the first e-liquid company in the USA and as such we've seen this industry go through a lot of changes.

We are very active behind the scenes when it comes to these issues.

We don't normally talk about it though as we believe that the vaping advocacy groups will be more effective if they don't have to fight the perception of bias too.

If you go to our webpage and scroll down to the bottom, you'll see some seals and other icons.

One of those is the "We Support CASAA" button.​

Comments welcome. Thanks.