Friday, May 30, 2014

FDA Hearing Part 1

By: Tiffany Davis

Flavor Vapor Media Specialist

On May 15th 2014 the FDA had a hearing examining e-cigs and like devices. The original video can be found on c-span.org. Senator Tom Harkin started the hour and a half hearing stating that combustible tobacco is the 1# preventable cause of cancer. He named the numerous efforts made by the government to get people to quit smoking.

Senator Tom Harkin, watching this video is defiantly one sided on the e-cig subject. As he goes through the multitude of e-juice’s he has in front of him including; Gummy Bear, Rocketpop, Cotton Candy, Strawberry, Cran-Apple, and Cherry Crush.

The main point that Senator Tom Harkin made was that e-cigs are being marketed to children. With the colorful e-cig related games, social media sites, ads on TV and radio, celebrity endorsements, and of course the e-juice flavors. One thing that I believe that we in the vaping community and Senator Harkin can agree on is that e-cigs SHOULD NOT be in the hands of kids. Just like combustible tobacco they should have an age requirements.

Harkin and others at the hearing have expressed concerns that e-cigarettes could attract new smokers and serve as a gateway to traditional cigarettes. This is contradictory to the reports coming from other countries in Europe. “There are reports from countries overseas that some of these new products do not seem to be a gateway to traditional cigarette use. But we don't know that. We don't know that yet.” “What I would like to understand is what research have we done to answer those questions,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the ranking Republican on the committee.

But the FDA admits that e-cigarettes also have the “potential to do good” by weening smokers off of traditional cigarettes. Senator Richard Burr made a few wonderful points about “harm-reduction” and why we don’t need to kill e-cigs before what we know we have. I am now of course a new fan of Sen. Burr in his speech he stated “American people have the right to choose” DARN RIGHT! We as Americans do have the right to choose if we want to vape or not. Our dads, brothers, uncles, cousins, moms, sisters, aunts and friends have all fought for that right.

“If we could get all of those people to switch all of their cigarettes to these products, that would be good for public health,” Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said at the hearing.

“They have the potential to do good, and they have the potential to do harm,” he added.

Because, we do not know yet the long term health effects on humans using e-cigs. Plus, e-juice is not yet regulated to prevent e-juice from being contaminated with other substances. Sen. Burr added that he would like to base the FDA regulations on science. Hopefully this will generate more studies to study e-cigs and the health effects on humans.

This is only the first 30mins from the one hour and a half hearing. Look for tomorrow’s blog where we will cover more subjects from the FDA’s hearing.

Thank you for reading our blogs. We strive to keep you updated with the latest news pertaining to e-cigs and vaping. In each blog we will be including links to sign a petition and also a link on “how to write a letter” to the government.

We would love to read your suggestions, comments, or questions! Please find us on our Facebook, Twitter or website to leave you comment or inspirational story! As always “ Vaping Kicks Ash”!!! “ Vaping Kicks Ash”!!! Remember you can find us on Pinterest and Instagram!!

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Write a Letter to the government. (Instructions)!!

http://blog.casaa.org/2014/05/first-call-to-action-for-fda-proposed.html?spref=tw

Sign a petition to let the government know you care!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/veto-fda-restrictions-e-cigarettes/kdKtpFH4

FDA Hearing Part 2

By: Tiffany Davis

Flavor Vapor Media Specialist

The FDA had a hearing on May 15^th 2014. This hearing lasted an hour and a half. Part two covers only 30mins. Please read ‘FDA Regulations Part 1” for the first 30mins.

Senator Harkin has lead the movement in this particular hearing wanting harsh regulations on e-cigs and possibly the abolishment of e-cigs and like devices. For me personally it was hard watching this part of the hearing because Sen. Harkin just seems like an old man set in his ways and focused on one attribute of the issues at hand.

Sen. Harkin, started out this 30mins exactly how he started the first part of the hearing, focused on the advertising and e-juice flavors he believes is geared at children. Sen. Burr brought up an interesting point if adults are not interested in fruity flavors why is other cessation devices flavored? Like Nicorette? They have flavors like fruit chill, mint, cinnamon, and cherry???

Senator Harking then then started on the combined efforts of the FDA and CDC to get people to quit smoking and scared to even try a combustible cigarette. The Stop Smoking Campaigns many of us has seen on TV include- “The real Cost” and “Tips from a Former Smoker”. These of course have made some progress since 2003 the calls and visits to the FDA and CDCs website has increased up to five fold. This does show that Americans want to quit but, still the current cessation devices do not work for some people.

Mr. Zeller stated that the FDA is also funding dozens of studies into the good and bad of electronic cigarettes. So, far the FDA has more questions than answers right now. They want to know who is using them, how they are using them, and what chemical composite is the vapor made of? One study will be following e-cig users of all ages over time to see what effects that the e-cigs have on their bodies.

One statement the FDA is hoping will hold in court is the claim that e-cigs are cessation devices. This one statement will give the FDA its power to further regulate the market. In 2008 the FDA tried to stop the shipment of e-cig devices into the US but, because the e-cig market DID NOT claim that they were cessation device the FDA lost their case in court. Also, an overseas supplier sued the FDA and won their case because, the FDA was confiscating e-cig shipments and not permitting their distribution.

If you read “Part 1” then you know I am now a fan of Senator Burr. Sen. Burr posed many questions to Mr. Zeller (FDA) and received many startling answers. Sen. Burr during this entire hearing has been speaking about “harm reduction” and the science of the technology. Even Mr. Zeller made the statement that if we could get everyone in the US that smokes combustible cigarettes to switch to electronic cigarettes it would be GOOD for public health!! This honestly made my mouth fall open in shock! I couldn’t believe it he agreed with Sen. Burr!

Quotes from Senator Burr-----

“If we kill technology and innovation, which is, in essence, what some are attempting to do at the beginning; it’s not going to play a role in reducing the amount of Americans who smoke,”

“I can remember when opportunities for harm reduction were the goal, but the technology wasn’t there … well now, the technology is there, and how quickly we’ve moved to the point where harm reduction is no longer a goal.”

One other statement Sen. Burr made was diabetes is an American epidemic you don’t see the FDA stopping people from getting their “Big Macs” at McDonalds then why should we stop Americans from buying e-cigs because smoking/smoking related cancer is also an America epidemic.

This has been a powerful hearing to watch you almost want to slap one guy and hug the other. This is going to be a long struggle for the vaping community so, we need to combine and create a voice louder than the FDA can ignore.

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Get INVOLVED!!

Write a Letter to the government. (Instructions)!!

http://blog.casaa.org/2014/05/second-call-to-action-for-fda-proposed.html

Sign a petition to let the government know you care!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/veto-fda-restrictions-e-cigarettes/kdKtpFH4

FDA Hearing Part 3

By: Tiffany Davis

Flavor Vapor Media Specialist

This is part 3 of the FDA hearing about e-cigs and other tobacco products. The hearing was held on May 15^th 2014. You can find this video on c-span. Please, if you haven’t read part 1 & 2 please read those before. The whole hearing is one hour and a half long this part only covers the last 30 minutes of the hearing.

This hearing not only covers e-cigs but, other tobacco products. In the beginning of this part is about premium cigars. Many of us have seen these tiny little cigars they are cheap, flavored, and easy to get ahold of. The CDC and FDA are proposing that not only raise the price of these little cigars but, also to only allow tobacco flavoring. This may sound way off the path of e-cigs but, according to many peoples beliefs are that flavors are only marketed towards kids. This also includes e-cigs, cigars, and traditional cigarettes.

If the CDC and FDA gets their way with these little cigars this could mean bad news because this would just allow these government agency’s to expand the definition to e-cigs to banish flavors from our favorite e-juice flavors. So, no more bumble bee, pixie dust, fruit ninja, or even panda’s blood. L

Dr. Tim McAfee from the CDC expressed his concern that e-cigs are gateway drugs. Dr. McAfee even went as far as comparing e-cigs to marijuana and cocaine!! I understand that we don’t want our youth to get their hands on anything but, as adults we can look back on our own childhood and know that it would be impossible to stop every kid from getting something they weren’t supposed to. We did a poll on Facebook and the results were startling. Many moms and dads would rather their kid’s pick up an e-cig than a traditional cigarette. We didn’t have any decisive “no’s”. Being a new mom myself I can’t even fathom giving or even seeing my son with ANY under aged product this includes EVERYTHING!

Surprising by the end of this hearing I don’t hate Mr. Zeller with the FDA like I thought I was going to. Mr. Zeller, isn’t trying to kill e-cigs he even said it himself it could be a benefit for the population if all switched from combustible tobacco. I still don’t like the government trying to regulate a product that has given so many jobs (like me), and has created a new source of revenue for our community’s. Now on my “SHIT LIST” is Senator Tom Harkin if he had it his way e-cigs would be abolished. I don’t think I ever just wanted to reach through the screen and slap someone.

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https://flavorvaporwholesale.com/flavorvapor/index.php

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Get INVOLVED!!

Write a Letter to the government. (Instructions)!!

http://blog.casaa.org/2014/05/second-call-to-action-for-fda-proposed.html

Sign a petition to let the government know you care!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/veto-fda-restrictions-e-cigarettes/kdKtpFH4

Link for the video-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvk13JPJvqo

Cease-and Desist

Cease-and-Desist

By: Tiffany Davis

Flavor Vapor Media Specialist

There has been a huge debate whether or not e-juice flavors are marketed towards kids. This week a several huge food company is taking part to keep their flavors off the shelves of vape stores.

You might have seen names of e-juice that make you think back to a candy bar flavor or even you’re favorite Girl Scout Cookie. Several huge companies’ like The Girl Scouts of America are teaming up with General Mills and Tootsie Roll to serve cease-and-desist letters to makers of e-juice. This is the first warning their letters also threaten further legal action if they ignore this letter.

“Using the Thin Mint name — which is synonymous with Girl Scouts and everything we do to enrich the lives of girls — to market e-cigarettes to youth is deceitful and shameless,” Girl Scouts spokeswoman Kelly Parisi said in a statement.

With e-juice manufactures growing by the day whether it is in a lab, in someone’s business or even made overseas it will almost be impossible to protect their intellectual property. Even close to home there have been names like “Tigers Blood” that we’ve had to change the name of because of people wanting to protect their intellectual property. The name change is easy many companies can get creative instead of leaning on the branding of products marketed towards kids. This is a young industry and we as an industry will learn and change for the better.

“Unfortunately it’s not going to change unless companies come in and assert their intellectual property,” said Linc Williams, board member of the American E-liquid Manufacturing Standards Association.

The Food and Drug Administration last month proposed regulating electronic cigarettes but didn’t ban fruit or candy flavors. Some fear kid-friendly flavors like Rocket Pop, Cran-Apple and Strawberry will lure young people into the nicotine habit, even though it’s illegal for minors to buy them. I personally love the fruity flavors of my e-juice. The flavors may sound like candy but, what adult will only buy ice flavored snow cones or gum tree flavored pieces of gum?

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https://flavorvaporwholesale.com/flavorvapor/index.php

https://twitter.com/FlavorVaporOk

Get INVOLVED!!

Write a Letter to the government. (Instructions)!!

http://blog.casaa.org/2014/05/second-call-to-action-for-fda-proposed.html

Sign a petition to let the government know you care!

Flavor Vapor Blog

Friday, May 30, 2014

FDA Hearing Part 1

FDA Hearing Part 2

FDA Hearing Part 3

Cease-and Desist

https://www.facebook.com/FlavorVapor

https://flavorvaporwholesale.com/flavorvapor/index.php

https://twitter.com/FlavorVaporOk

Get INVOLVED!!

Write a Letter to the government. (Instructions)!!

http://blog.casaa.org/2014/05/second-call-to-action-for-fda-proposed.html

Sign a petition to let the government know you care!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/veto-fda-restrictions-e-cigarettes/kdKtpFH4

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