Category: Latest News

CASAA petition August8th FDA Deeming regs

CASAA’s May 2016 Newsletter is coming soon, but, we wanted to make sure our members had some important information and engagement opportunities at their fingertips while we work out the finishing touches.

Here’s what you need to know for Friday, May 20th, 2016:

A real petition that needs your participation:

Del. Larry Faircloth (R-WV) has proven himself as a valuable and effective advocate for vapor products in West Virginia. Now, in the wake of the FDA deeming regulations, he is taking his talent and legislative experience to lawmakers in D.C.

Please take action NOW by signing Del. Faircloth’s petition — which will be hand delivered to specific lawmakers — and support his effort to stand up to the FDA’s overreaching and disastrous regulations on vapor products.

Take Action – Sign the Petition

Survey – Centre for Substance Use Research

Last month, we alerted members to a survey produced by Dr. Christopher Russell, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Substance Use Research. The information gathered will help present to regulators, academics, and medical professionals a more accurate picture about how people are using vapor products and contribute to the conversation about how vaping can benefit public health. Dr. Russell is still collecting data and hopes to make this the largest survey of its kind — the more data the better!

Take Action – Complete the Survey

Change the predicate date for vapor products!

This week, CASAA updated our engagement in support of a change to the predicate date for products newly deemed to be tobacco by the FDA. We have made a slight adjustment to the letter we are asking members to send lawmakers to include support for both HR 2058 and the Cole-Bishop amendment. Please see our updated post here for more details. If you have not already taken action on this issue, please take a moment today to send a message to your lawmakers urging them to update the predicate date for vapor products.

Take Action – Send an Email

Update on the Deeming Regulations

Since the FDA deeming regulations were published for public inspection on May 5th, we’ve been reviewing multiple legislative and legal challenges to the rules. CASAA has joined with other groups in a coalition to explore all of these options as well as PR strategies. We are committed to combining our efforts to fight this battle on multiple fronts. This is an intensive process and, given the high stakes, we are thoroughly considering all viable pathways to challenging the FDA’s deeming regulations.

We are all aware of the desire for quick and decisive action in this matter. However, one hasty decision or poorly worded statement can create problems down the line. It is vital that any action is fully considered before being executed.  A well-crafted and focused effort has the best chance for success. It is time to act with purpose, not react emotionally.

Some Good News

On Wednesday, May 18th, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf raising concerns about the agency’s recent e-cigarette regulation, which could create undue burdens on small businesses and lead to negative unintended health consequences. We will continue to update you as this effort progresses. You can view the letter here.

If you are on Twitter, please also take a moment to retweet Sen. Johnson’s message to the FDA. Feel free to ask the @US_FDA and @FDAtobacco to respond in your own words — politely — and use the hashtag #AnswerRonJohnson

AbillionLivesFilm World Premiere a Huge Success!!!

World Premiere Recap What an amazing night. Wow. Thank you to DocEdge for hosting us. Thank you to AlfaLiquid for the fantastic after-party & publicity help. Thank you to NZVapor.com for supporting the red carpet pre-party. Wow. Red Carpet Coverage Chantal TV on the Red Carpet Sydney & Frederick Biebert’s video blog Ohm Kiwis Interview Reactions to the Movie Ryan Jay (Syndicated Film Critic) Lucire Magazine Stuff Magazine Kurt Loeblich The Hits (#1 Top 40 Radio in NZ) One angry lady emailed members of parliament to complain that we were up partying until 3AM and that a vapor liquid company (AlfaLiquid) sponsored a party. Now that our film is done, we’ll celebrate with anyone…especially those using vapor technology to save their life. There is nothing wrong with celebrating our film bringing the truth to millions. It’s time for “health leaders” to focus on the facts and stop diverting attention away from the truth. Moving Forward The world premiere went so well, we just got an invitation from the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival to host our Australian Premiere on July 10th. We’re thrilled! Contact MDFF for tickets. Next stop on our premiere tour, we’ll be heading to Warsaw’s Palace of Culture on June 16th for our European Premiere before the Global Forum on Nicotine. We’re really honored to show the movie to leading scientists, policy makers, health leaders, and media. Contact GFN for tickets. What about North America? People have contacted us to support large-scale premieres in Los Angeles, Dallas, Milwaukee, Paris, Toronto, Washington DC, and St. Louis. A premiere event that will attract the attention of media and policy makers is very expensive, so we appreciate all the help. We don’t have the billions like Big Pharma. We need to do this together…and we need to do it the right way. Talk soon, – Aaron Biebert & the team

From our Vape Film Making Warriors – AbiilionlivesFilm

When I prepared my speech to the White House OMB and FDA, I thought they’d listen. When I presented it, they didn’t seem to care. Today I know they didn’t. I used to be naive about how government works. I still think most people are. We’ve known for almost a year now that that this would happen, that the FDA would basically ban 99% of life-saving vapor products out there…leaving only those sold by Big Tobacco. It’s time to wake up smokers. It’s time to wake up vapers. It’s time to wake up the public.We’re being lied to, and people are going to die. How do we fight this? It will be a combination of relationship building at the government level and public relations. You should join or start an association and give them money so they can fight. However, we must also change the public’s perception of vaping. Right now they are cheering on the FDA. Our film will help, but we need to make major noise.Here’s how you can help: A) If you see an article about vaping, please mention our film. B) If you get interviewed about vapor technology, please mention our movie. If you help us get on the air, we will carry the message. We’re not smokers. We’re not vapers. We’re not in the vapor tech business. Here’s a recent radio interview I did. With your help, there will be many more. How are we launching this movie?  That’s the question I get hundreds of times a day. Here’s the plan so far: 1) A proper World Premiere at Oscar-qualifying DocEdge International Film Festival to gain media attention.  This is going well. Alfaliquid just offered to sponsor the after-party to assist with costs and pump it up. NZVapor is sponsoring the red carpet festivities. Hawke’s Bay Vapour and NVC are sponsoring the event photography. I am extremely grateful and this support has allowed us to attract people (media, politicians, etc.) to the movie from many countries, including those who have banned vapor technology. 2) Show politicians, scientists, and doctors the truth at our European Premiere during GFN on June 16th. Preparations are ongoing, but I’m very thankful for the help the Global Forum on Nicotine has provided. Not only did they help us land the Hon Lik interview last year, but they are also helping coordinate VIPs for the big event their hosting at the Palace of Culture in Warsaw. Souvenir programs. Awards show. After-party. It’s coming along nicely. 3) An epic North American Premiere in the US We’re excited to bring the movie home. Many have asked us why we didn’t premiere in the US. The answer is money. We didn’t have the money to throw a proper premiere by ourselves and we needed the help of a world-class film festival. DocEdge invited us and we were very excited to accept. In order to keep momentum rolling and get the attention of the public/media/politicians, we need to keep the level of these events to the highest quality. Few things capture the public’s attention like a red carpet and the festivities surrounding a movie premiere. We only get one chance to premiere a movie in each region, and we’re going to make the most of it. We’ll set a date in the US once we’ve figured out a way to pay for it. Jesse is working on it. 4) A noise-making Canadian Premiere Same as above for the US. Jesse does have one person who’s offered to help sponsor an after-party to cover our costs to throw a special premiere that will make noise. We’ll let you know once that’s been figured out. Jesse is working on it. 5) Tour of North American regional premieres We’re working on renting a bus and planning premiere events around North America. So far, we’re planning events at the IMAX below the Seattle Space Needle (thanks John Conner for the help), Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, Milwaukee, Miami, Philadelphia, Tampa, Phoenix, Orlando, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Calgary, Nashville, Santa Fe, and others. Basically, we need two things to make it happen in your city: 1) someone to help guarantee tickets sold (we don’t have a huge marketing budget) 2) someone to sponsor the after-party to cover our costs (gas, banners, theater rentals, projection costs, food, etc.) If you know anyone with either a large following or a large bank account, please have them contact [email protected]. 6) Other film festivals We are starting to get other film festivals contacting us now that the movie is done. If you have one in your area, please contact them. It worked in Tampa and it worked for New Zealand. It took an organized group of people calling/emailing. It wasn’t easy. 7) Australian Premiere We are getting closer to a plan for a proper Australian Premiere in July. We also have some discussions with distribution companies there. We need New Zealand to go well first. Stay tuned. 8) German Premiere Thanks to the work of Anja, Frank, Ira and a bunch of other really amazing Germans, we have interest in the movie from several theaters and distributors. Anja Jochem Skowronek is managing/translating the A Billion Lives German page and it’s up to almost 2000 people! It’s been mindblowing to see how organized and active they are in Germany. If we keep at this, there will be a wide release throughout all of Germany, possibly Austria and Switzerland too. Our biggest hurdle now is preparing the movie for a German audience. 9) Norwegian Premiere Lisbet Fjølstad has been helping/translating the A Billion Lives Norwegian page. We now have growing interest from movie distributors there. 10) French Premiere We will have a premiere in France, a country that has been so wonderfully supportive. I’ve traveled there three times in the past year and their support has been amazing. Same as all the premieres, our goal will be to put together an event that will capture the attention of the media and public. 11) Swedish Premiere We just launched an A Billion Lives Swedish page after Ubbe Strihagen offered to help translate. He’s also done a lot of work reaching out to movie distributors there as well. There are conversations happening and I’m confident that the Swedish people will get a chance to see A Billion Lives. 12) The United Kingdom We’d really really really like to host a UK Premiere soon. Our friends in Scotland did their best to bring the movie to a film festival in Edinburgh, but we just found out the festival wasn’t interested in the topic. Despite having several prominent UK thinkers in the movie, we are not seeing much other interest at this time from the UK. Hopefully that will change soon. After we finish in theaters and have enough attention, we will release the film digitally, and then on DVD/BluRay in fall. Closing Thoughts I get about 100 requests a day for the movie. In different languages. In different cities. Our message is needed. Hopefully Hollywood will hear your voice, see the potential, and decide to back the film. Then it will be instantly everywhere. Until then, we’re going to do this the best way we can. Step by step. Building an audience. Building momentum. Thanks for your help, – Aaron Biebert & the team

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