Link: Senate committee votes down restrictions on electronic cigarettes
Highlight: A bill that would have banned the use of electronic cigarettes in restaurants and many other public places in Virginia was defeated in a General Assembly committee on Tuesday.
Section that I didn't expect: Opponents of the proposed ban, including Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc., the nation’s largest tobacco company, argued that e-cigarettes produce fewer toxins than traditional cigarettes and that a ban is not justified.
End copy and paste.
As tobacco companies see the money in vaping, we might get some lobbying help. I know most vapers tend to see tobacco companies as the enemy, but sometimes "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" comes into play. This isn't the first time I've seen this. The bill that had all of us calling the Whitehouse (HB 2058) was started and pushed by politicians who get money from tobacco companies. That's a tobacco bill that happens to support vaping. HB 2058 would allow tobacco companies to release products too. SNUS is the only one that's made it through the approval process and tobacco companies have been releasing and selling products for years that are getting pulled because they skipped the approval process. If HB 2058 passes, they'll be able to put those products back on the market. Perhaps I need a foil hat, but that seems intentional.
I'm kind of impressed with the tactics actually.
Step one: donate money to politicians
Step two: release products and skip the approval process
Step three: wait for the products to get pulled
Step four: rinse and repeat
Step five: pressure politicians to pass a bill and insert riders into other bills.
Step six: rally support of smokers, vapers, and anyone who dislikes gov't regulation
Step seven: if bill passes, re-release products from steps two, three, and four because they have been on the market before the new "grandfather date".
Clever and sneaky.
Camel Crush Bold is one of the products that was pulled. Camel Crush was released in 2008. I can't find when Camel Crush Bold was released. These other products were released and pulled too: Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter, Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter Menthol and Vantage Tech 13. Anyone know when any of those were released? This might give us an idea about how long this plan has been in place.
Bottom line: vaping needs to step up the tactics and lobbying efforts. Signing a change.org petition or inundating the White House with phone calls for a few days isn't going to do it. This will be tough. Just the PM part of the Altria group is worth 80Billion. The entire vaping industry was expected to be worth 3.5Billion in 2015 and the current forecast is to be worth 10Billion by 2017. "A Billion Lives" might get attention and sway minds (might not. It's not out yet so we can't really know), but will it get crafty lobbyists?
Anyone know how to set up and run a superPAC?
Highlight: A bill that would have banned the use of electronic cigarettes in restaurants and many other public places in Virginia was defeated in a General Assembly committee on Tuesday.
Section that I didn't expect: Opponents of the proposed ban, including Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc., the nation’s largest tobacco company, argued that e-cigarettes produce fewer toxins than traditional cigarettes and that a ban is not justified.
End copy and paste.
As tobacco companies see the money in vaping, we might get some lobbying help. I know most vapers tend to see tobacco companies as the enemy, but sometimes "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" comes into play. This isn't the first time I've seen this. The bill that had all of us calling the Whitehouse (HB 2058) was started and pushed by politicians who get money from tobacco companies. That's a tobacco bill that happens to support vaping. HB 2058 would allow tobacco companies to release products too. SNUS is the only one that's made it through the approval process and tobacco companies have been releasing and selling products for years that are getting pulled because they skipped the approval process. If HB 2058 passes, they'll be able to put those products back on the market. Perhaps I need a foil hat, but that seems intentional.
I'm kind of impressed with the tactics actually.
Step one: donate money to politicians
Step two: release products and skip the approval process
Step three: wait for the products to get pulled
Step four: rinse and repeat
Step five: pressure politicians to pass a bill and insert riders into other bills.
Step six: rally support of smokers, vapers, and anyone who dislikes gov't regulation
Step seven: if bill passes, re-release products from steps two, three, and four because they have been on the market before the new "grandfather date".
Clever and sneaky.
Camel Crush Bold is one of the products that was pulled. Camel Crush was released in 2008. I can't find when Camel Crush Bold was released. These other products were released and pulled too: Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter, Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter Menthol and Vantage Tech 13. Anyone know when any of those were released? This might give us an idea about how long this plan has been in place.
Bottom line: vaping needs to step up the tactics and lobbying efforts. Signing a change.org petition or inundating the White House with phone calls for a few days isn't going to do it. This will be tough. Just the PM part of the Altria group is worth 80Billion. The entire vaping industry was expected to be worth 3.5Billion in 2015 and the current forecast is to be worth 10Billion by 2017. "A Billion Lives" might get attention and sway minds (might not. It's not out yet so we can't really know), but will it get crafty lobbyists?
Anyone know how to set up and run a superPAC?
