The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently delivered a potentially lethal blow to the vapor industry. While vapor products represent the first game-changing technology in the ongoing campaign to reduce cigarette smoking, proposed U.S. regulatory policy threatens to eliminate e-cigarettes as a smoking alternative, ultimately harming public health.
How? FDA’s one-size-fits-all approach would regulate vapor products like traditional combustible tobacco cigarettes, a move that neither adequately addresses the need for responsible regulation in the vapor industry nor does anything to promote harm reduction among the public.
In fact, FDA’s misguided approach would do nothing other than put all but the biggest tobacco companies out of business, punishing small business owners and employers across the country. The application process that companies will have to go through just to remain in business is so onerous that no small or midsized vapor technology companies will be able to afford the staggering amounts of money that it will cost to file such an application. And, even if a company could pour money into filing these submissions, the unpredictable nature of the filing process would make investments in the type of technological innovation that has been making vapor products better, safer and more desirable than tobacco cigarettes untenable. In the end, FDA is preparing to throttle years of technological innovation by simply defining a truly innovative piece of technology as something that it is not: tobacco.
Just last month, Representatives Tom Cole (R-OK) and Sanford Bishop (DGA) offered a bipartisan legislative approach that would accomplish the goal of protecting small businesses and preserving the industry, while setting the stage for commonsense regulations that will protect youth and ensure the safety of consumers. This is exactly the type of solution that we need—and one that VTA will continue to pursue.
However, all is not lost. We still have time to change the public discourse around the vapor industry and preserve quality vapor products for those seeking a healthier alternative to tobacco cigarettes. That is why the Vapor Technology Association (VTA) is issuing a call to action for everyone operating in every segment of our growing industry. You are the entrepreneurs, the visionaries and the small business owners. You are the ones who are at the forefront of technological innovation in our industry. You have made this happen; now it is time to tell your story. At VTA, we are doing the same. We are speaking truth to power the federal and state levels, educating members of Congress and state legislators on the benefits of quality vapor products, and supporting anyone who is willing to speak up and change the debate on vapor.
There has never been a more critical time for our innovative, fledgling industry.
Special interests with power and money are threatening to use subversive tactics and misleading information to cut us off at the knees, but together we can win this battle.
Tony Abboud is national legislative director of the Vapor Technology Association. He will be participating in a panel at Vapor Expo International in June.
