Vaping Advocacy Nov 2015 CASAA
This week, CASAA members have at least three opportunities to take action and stand up for access to vapor products.
1) Support HR 2058
Once again, thanks are in order for all of you that not only participated in our Federal Legislative Call to Action in support of HR.2058, but are also passing the opportunity along to your friends and sharing around the display cases at your local vapor shop.
THANK YOU!
To date, over 15,000 advocates have sent 67,000+ messages to members of Congress urging them to support a change to the grandfather date for newly deemed tobacco products. Certainly, those numbers are impressive and we need to keep the momentum going.
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If you haven’t already, please take action NOW to support HR.2058 – Send an Email
Please support our Vaping Community and respond to these Vaping Calls to action as well as for your state. Links provided are posted from :
NEW PETITION FOR VAPER SIGNING
Takes 1 minute and will save our vaping community!
CASAA – The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association
Current Calls to action for Federal (all states) as follows:
Posted 10/27/15
. . .to help save vaping from burdensome and prohibitive regulation!
National Call to Action: Tell the White House to urge FDA to re-work the deeming regs so that life-saving vapor products can remain on the market!
(Please note: At the time of this writing, changes to the FDA deeming regulations have not been published. CASAA’s assessment of the FDA’s proposed regulations is based on the version that was published in 2014. That having been said, it will take nothing short of a complete overhaul of the proposed deeming rule in order to allow nearly even 10% of vapor products currently on the market to remain on the market.)
Today, Tuesday, October 27th, longtime vaping opponent the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) has organized a call-in action to urge President Obama to put pressure on the FDA to finalize their Tobacco Deeming Regulations. What CTFK and others are failing to mention is that if the deeming regulations are enacted as written, 99.9% of the vapor products currently on the market will be gone within two to four years. Make no mistake, the current proposed regulations will have a devastating impact on consumers and businesses alike; not to mention the obvious damage to public health.
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First, if you have not already done so, it is critical that you send an email to your Congressional representative and Senators asking them to support and co-sponsor HR 2058, a bill that would stop the FDA from banning 99%-plus of vapor products.
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Second, please take a moment, on Wednesday, October 28th, to
Call the White House at 202-456-1111
We have provided talking points below.
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Third, please share this post with your friends.
Talking points:
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I am calling to urge President Obama to protect consumer choice and demand that the FDA re-work its Tobacco Deeming Regulations so that the existing wide variety of e-cigarette and vapor products can remain on the market.
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As written, the FDA’s proposed e-cigarette regulations will remove 99.9% of vapor products from the market.
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Please briefly share your personal story about switching to vapor products. Make sure to include any improvements in health you have experienced or, perhaps, that your doctor has observed. If the variety of flavors are important to you, be sure to mention that too.
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Thank you. I hope we can count on the President to protect adult access to these life-saving products.
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) became law on June 22, 2009. It gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products to protect public health.
FDA Deeming Regulation
The Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act allows the FDA to issue regulations asserting jurisdiction over other tobacco products, such as cigars, cigarillos, e-cigarettes, and hookahs, among others. FDA expects to issue deeming regulation in the Spring of 2013 to cover other tobacco products.
Deeming regulation is proposed regulations that would include products meeting the definition of a “tobacco product” under the Tobacco Control Act to be subject to the FDA’s jurisdiction. The Tobacco Control Act defines a “tobacco product” as meaning “any product made or derived from tobacco that is intended for human consumption, including any component, part, or accessory of a tobacco product (except for raw materials other than tobacco used in manufacturing a component, part, or accessory of a tobacco product).”
See CASAA’s The FDA & Deeming Regulations of E-cigarettes for more detailed information.
See CASAA FDA Actions and Previous FDA Actions by CASAA for more detailed information about what CASAA has been doing and to see the FDA Calls to Action.
Federal Tobacco Taxes
Increasing the cost of smoke-free alternatives decreases incentives for smokers to switch to lower risk products. A 2009 law approved by Congress, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, increased the federal tax rate on moist snuff, the most common form of smokeless tobacco, by 92.5 cents per pound (from 58.5 cents to $1.51 per pound) and on chewing tobacco by 30.83 cents per pound (from 19.5 cents per pound to 50.33 cents.)