Posted on 11/20/2019 7:14:07 AM PST by Kaslin
President Donald Trump reportedly has reconsidered a plan to ban flavored e-cigarettes, a reversal that was widely portrayed as a triumph of politics over public health. Yet that criticism more aptly describes the proposed ban, which would have sacrificed the interests -- and potentially the lives -- of current and former smokers in the name of curtailing underage vaping.
There were political arguments on both sides of this debate. Advocates of the flavor ban argued it would appeal to suburban women concerned about the recent rise in e-cigarette use by teenagers, while opponents warned that it would alienate vapers who were otherwise inclined to support the president, endangering his reelection.
The opponents, bolstered by rallies and polling data suggesting that vapers were highly motivated and apt to vote (or refrain from voting) based on this issue, seem to have prevailed. But they not only had the stronger political argument; they also had the stronger public health argument.
Millions of Americans have quit smoking by switching to vaping, a far less hazardous source of nicotine. Consumer surveys and sales data show they overwhelmingly prefer the products targeted by the proposed ban.
That policy, which was expressly designed to make vaping products less appealing, would have driven some former smokers back to their old habits while deterring current smokers from making a switch that could save their lives. Even The New York Times saw the folly of this approach, warning that it "would almost certainly force people who already use these products, including roughly 11 million adults, to choose between traditional cigarettes (which remain widely available, despite being deadlier than e-cigarettes) and black-market vaping products."
For the time being, the vaping industry, including thousands of mom-and-pop shops across the country, seems to have dodged a bullet. But it still faces the looming threat of federal regulations that are expected to drive most businesses and products from the market.
Under a 2016 rule, manufacturers, which include vape shops that mix their own e-liquids, have to persuade the FDA that allowing sales of their products is "appropriate for the protection of public health." Although it's still not clear exactly what that means, vaping businesses must submit a "premarket tobacco application" (PMTA) for each of their products by May 12 -- less than six months from now.
A PMTA is required for every product variation. The FDA puts the "average cost" at $132,000 for e-liquids and $467,000 for devices, although it says some applications could cost more than $2 million.
Either way, those costs are likely to deter all but the largest vaping companies. The FDA itself predicts that "54 percent of delivery systems and somewhere between 50 and 87.5 percent of e-liquids" will "exit the market" before the application deadline.
If a business manages to file adequate applications in time, it will be allowed to keep those products on the market for up to a year while the FDA decides whether to approve them. But even at this late date, the requirements for approval remain opaque, as a lawsuit filed last month by a coalition of small vaping companies points out.
The FDA, for instance, demands "sufficient information regarding the potential abuse liability" of each product and suggests it would be satisfied with "a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study comparing several doses of a new product to a comparator product with a known abuse liability." It's not clear whether anything short of that prohibitively expensive option would suffice. And while manufacturers are supposed to list "harmful or potentially harmful constituents," the FDA still has not fully specified what those are.
"Our next focus will be on ensuring that the Trump administration recognizes the need to reform the FDA's regulatory system for these products," says Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, an advocacy group that supports vaping as a harm-reducing alternative to smoking. "If President Trump wants to win in 2020, mere inaction on this issue is not enough."
I guess they should ban flavorful alcoholic beverages too in order to protect the children. Pina colada - too sweet, get rid of it.
So we get to the crux of the issue. Big business pushing the little guy (or guys) out. I guess this is the American way. Buy the legislature and control the market.
That’s being worked on, starting with beer.
You can have my menthol Vuse Solo when you pry it from my cold, dead lips.
Because health professionals are experts on what appeals to teenagers.
they have fruity flavored and colorful alcohol ads out there attracting kids to their product,, why no one complaining ?¿
heh heh
That ‘study’ was a couple years ago, but there are more since, including a brand new one from Iowa State University. All totalitarians insist they are acting in society’s best interest.
Vape sales are not taxed the same as tobacco sales, and do not generate the tobacco settlement funds to governments that tobacco sales do.
The aim is to maintain tobacco sales and the resulting flow of dollars to governments.
There is only one threat
the tobacco industry
Look in this world if you still smoke cigarettes I feel sorry for you
And for those in the death grip of nicotine , whether it be cigarettes sniff chew or vaping devices patches gum whatever - it is just learn To free yourself from that evil beast
nicotine is an evil beast and she must be avoided at all costs
‘nicotine is an evil beast and she must be avoided at all costs’
nicotine has a gender (oops, I mean, a sex, for all you grammar nazis out there who think there is a distinction between the terms).and it knows right from wrong, but chooses wrong and thus is evil...?
“The aim is to maintain tobacco sales and the resulting flow of dollars to governments.”
Bingo. If people really cared, instead of “indoor smoking bans”, etc, they would just ban tobacco. The fact that nobody actually attempts this, even though tobacco is a proven deadly addictive drug with zero health benefits, shows that the revenue is what is really setting policy.
Yeah, I’m aware of that. But the Regulators and authoritarians will just come at it from another angle. And they’ll keep trying. And trying. That’s how these sumbitches work - they try to wear you down. Faggots only comprise a tiny percent of the population, but look at the negative cultural impact they’ve had in the last few years. But it’s never enough. Give one inch, they’ll demand you back up and give them another. Now even Chick-fil-A has capitulated, but did they stop there? No, now the coalition of freaks that strong-armed the restaurant into kicking the Salvation Army to the curb wants ‘protected’ status for their ilk if they work for the Cathy family. And they demand a public confesional of their sins against All Things Homo. See how it works? The Frog In The Pot of Water Theory in action. Let’s ban Fruit Loop-flavored vaping oil, ‘cuz the high school kids supposedly like it. Then they go after cherry, grape, then golden tobacco and menthol until there’s nothing left. You’ll need a doctor’s prescription to buy a two-pack of e-cig cartridges. Screw those Borg hive drones. If you’re not vigilant and stand your ground, they inch their way slowly forward until they reach the target. Same with guns. The Electoral College. In fact, just about every liberty and freedom this country has fought for repeatedly. It’s about more than just a vaping device. It goes to the core of what they want to control or destroy, writ large.
That seems a little over the top. Drama queen much?
Anyway we had no idea that you was supposed to inhale the smoke, so we happily puffed away. One day our teacher asked us what we wanted to do when we get out of school and I old her I waned to lay on the couch and smoke a cigarette. Her answer was "Your stupid"
Now fast-forward to where my sister and I were 18 and could legally buy and smoke cigarettes. My sister kneel ed in front of the toilet and forced herself to inhale.
I never did that. My husband and I met in my hometown in Germany. He had come to Germany with his company from Fort Knox during the Berlin crisis. Any we dated and got married several month later. Our son was born in 1963. He was 3 years old when my husband was on orders for Vietnam. He had volunteered for duty as he figured he would have to go go any way.
One evening before his company left for California he came home from work and the three year old little snitch told his dad "Mommy smocked a cigarette"
I still "smocked" occasionally but it got less and lesser.
One day when we were stationed at Fort Riley, KS I said to my self You might as well join them and bought myself a pack of Winston or Marlboro and tried to inhale the smoke.
As soon as I did it went cough, cough. I took immediately the cigarette out of my mouth and threw in and the pack away and said to myself I don't need that.
Now back to my sister. Remember she forced herself to inhale. On March 2 2003 I got a call from my niece who tolled me that her mother had died. She had stopped taking her medicine. She had stopped finally smoking five years earlier and had thought that was enough
Sorry for the long post
Mix your own vape juice! It’s cheaper.
I smoked 2, 3, occasionally 4 packs of cigarettes a day for 40 years. I quit in 1999.
Today I have COPD and attribute it to smoking so heavily for all those years. COPD is a progressive disease meaning it will probably kill me eventually.
I you don’t smoke today, please don’t start. If you smoke today please strongly consider quitting. I quit a number of times, trying various schemes to quit. I finally found the way to quit for me. Just quit, cold turkey. The first 3-4 days will be hell. After that it gets easier and easier.
I only smoked for 4 years (while I was in the USAF in the late 60s), and looking back when I got out, quitting cigs was THE most difficult task I've ever successfully accomplished.
I was lucky, I started college in pre-med, and I was clued into just what cigs did to very nice people. Fear is such an excellent motivator.
I'm glad that you were able to kick the addiction, and I'll wager that your story will help others.
Best - - Seaplaner
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