Altria began urging the FDA to impose the deeming regulation back in 2010 because it wanted to gain control of the cigar industry, and began urging FDA to impose the deeming reg on e-cigs in 2011.
In contrast, none of the other tobacco companies began to privately support the deeming regulation until last year.
Now, the largest tobacco company executives are urging the FDA to quickly implement the deeming regulation on e-cigs (and to ban PVs and e-liquids) because they know:
- PVs and e-liquids pose a huge threat to future cigarette and cigalike e-cig sales (without the deeming regulation),
- sales of PVs and e-liquids are skyrocketing, sales of cigarettes keep falling, and sales of cigalikes are now stagnant,
- PVs and e-liquids are far more effective than cigalikes for quitting smoking and reducing cigarette consumption,
- PVs and e-liquids cost about 33% of the price of cigalikes, and about 25% of the price of cigarettes,
- their cigarettes and cigalike e-cigs won't be able to compete in a free market against PVs and e-liquid,
- they can afford the $10-$40 million it would cost to submit new tobacco product applications for each of their several cigalike brands,
- 99% of PV and e-liquid manufacturers cannot afford the $10-$40 million to submit a new product application,
- FDA is very unlikely to approve any new tobacco product application for a PV or e-liquid even if applications are submitted,
- FDA would need to approve several new tobacco product applications for cigalike brands before sending cease-and-desist letters to PV and e-liquid manufacturers, and
- FDA will be facing increasing pressure from vapers to approve new product applications for PVs and e-liquid as their sales continue to skyrocket.
The best ways to prevent the FDA from imposing the deeming regulation on e-cigs include continuously exposing (to the media, FDA and Congress) how it would:
- protect cigarettes from market competition by far less hazardous PVs and e-liquid,
- ban >99.9% of all e-cig products on the market (including those most effective for quitting smoking and reducing cigarette consumption),
- threaten the lives of most vapers, smokers and secondhand smokers,
- give the e-cig industry to Big Tobacco companies and allow sales of only more expensive and inferior cigalike brands, and
- create a huge black market for PVs and e-liquids, which would increase product risks and reduce quality control.
