Category: Recent News
FROM THE VTA: VTA Meets with FDA on Synthetic Nicotine
Washington, D.C. – April 13, 2022 – After passage of the new law governing synthetic nicotine last month, VTA had to adjust its prior strategy and immediately began working on a strategy to ensure a viable path for companies which are selling products containing synthetic nicotine and which are serious about regulatory compliance. A serious strategy for companies intending to file substantive applications would require at least two critical elements.
First, we knew that it would be critical to engage with FDA to encourage the Agency to take seriously the PMTAs that will be filed. We knew that we had to present to FDA the scientific and public health benefits to the consumer and the Agency of encouraging the development and marketing of products containing synthetic nicotine. We knew that we had to counteract the narrative the synthetic nicotine products exist only to circumvent FDA regulation – a point that has been made by FDA and Members of Congress. We knew that we had to give FDA new reasons to use its enforcement discretion to engage in a full scientific analysis of synthetic nicotine PMTAs. And, we knew that we had to immediately act given the short time frames imposed by the new law.
To that end, last week, VTA’s Board of Directors and members met with the FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). In attendance was a large group of FDA personnel (35+), including senior leaders, representing seven different offices inside CTP dedicated to addressing the issue of synthetic nicotine. Our team included presentations by three Ph.D’s in Organic Chemistry and Physical Analytical Chemistry, enabling us to frame critical scientific and public policy issues that we believe had not previously been presented to or considered by the FDA. We are encouraged by the meeting and are now working on the necessary follow-up.
Second, we knew that it would be critical to educate Members of Congress on synthetic nicotine who have been fed a negative and narrow narrative that synthetic nicotine products are merely an attempt at circumventing regulation. It is clear that Members of Congress know little to nothing about how and why synthetic nicotine was invented or what synthetic nicotine products offer by way of benefits to the public. To that end, VTA’s lobbying team – which has been working to defend the industry and promote a consistent message on harm reduction since 2015 – has developed a strategic plan for taking the same message we shared with FDA to Congress and for that we are going to need your help.
How You Can Help. As with every other major challenge, we know that a sound and strategic approach can reap benefits but only if approached in a thoughtful manner and if supported with adequate resources. VTA is the trade association that has had a continuous seven-year lobbying presence on Capitol Hill. We have been at the center of every major fight on vaping. While we have not won every fight, we played a pivotal role in every victory and, in so doing, dramatically extended the time our industry had to grow. Here are a few key examples:
- getting the PMTA deadline extended from 2018 to 2022 (before it was snapped back to 2020),
- stopping multiple federal and state flavor ban bills,
- stopping Cuomo’s flavor ban executive order in court,
- convincing President Trump to reverse the flavor ban he announced in 2019,
- stopping the PACT Act bill three times before it finally passed, and
- defeating last year’s huge vape tax bill that would have imposed the first federal tax on vaping products which would have been 9 times higher than the cigarette tax.
If your company is manufacturing products containing synthetic nicotine and is serious about regulatory compliance, or if your retail operation wants the ability to continue to diversify its retail offerings with synthetic nicotine products, or if you want to have continued access to innovative products containing synthetic nicotine, we need your help and you need to be plugged into our strategies.
So, please join our team and support our efforts today. Your support has made everything we have done (and are doing) possible and will be critical to future success.
CHOOSE YOUR OPTION BELOW TO ENGAGE!
For Companies
For Consumers
LATEST FROM REGULATOR WATCH: Prison Time? | War on Vaping Goes Criminal
From Brent Stafford at Regulator Watch
It isn’t easy for vapers to secure access and choice to safer nicotine products. It’s enough already dealing with junk science, anti-vaping hysteria, and the constant pummelling by public health prohibitionists and federal regulators.
But now, vapers face a new, more sinister reality.
Strip searches, violent police enforcement, and arrest could result from nicotine vaping or trading in illegal nicotine products.
Joining us today to discuss the dawn of a new prohibition era is Jacob Grier, author of the 2019 book “The Rediscovery of Tobacco: Smoking, Vaping, and the Creative Destruction of the Cigarette” and freelance writer for Reason, a libertarian website and magazine.
Could people go to prison over nicotine vapes? Find out!
Only on RegWatch by RegulatorWatch.com.
Released: April 8, 2022
Produced by Brent Stafford
This episode is supported by DEMAND VAPE
Make RegWatch happen, go to: support.regulatorwatch.com
CATHING UP WITH REGULATOR WATCH: Clear Thinking | Insights from Harm Reduction Forum
From Brent Stafford at Regulator Watch
Surprising comments on the benefits of nicotine vaping and other safer nicotine products by Canadian pharmacists and a top research scientist, delivered at the Harm Reduction Forum on April 5, 2022, in Vancouver, B.C.
Only on RegWatch by RegulatorWatch.com.
Released: April 7, 2022
Produced by Brent Stafford
Part of our “Last Stand” coverage
Make RegWatch happen, go to: support.regulatorwatch.com
VAPEXPO LILLE – INNOKIN BOOTH C22 – SEE YA THERE!!
Hope to see you at the Innokin booth C22 at VapExpo Lille April 9-11th!
Stop by and see me and Dimitris and check out the newest member of our tank family!
THE DP SHOW REPLAY: LADIES NIGHT WINNERS, UPCOMING EVENTS & MORE!
THE DP SHOW!
In this episode we catch up on the state of Dash Vapes EU, talk about our upcoming events, find out who won the Ladies Night Contest and then have an interesting talk talking about something we really don’t talk about. 😉
The Links:
E-Cig Source
Dash Vapes
The Innokin Store
Element Vape
My Vapor Store
Vapor DNA
VapeExpo Lille
THE DP SHOW:
HOUSTON, TEXAS – Public Vape Ban
“E-cigarettes are officially banned under Houston’s smoking ordinance. Houston City Council voted unanimously Wednesday morning to ban e-cigarettes and vaping devices in places where traditional tobacco products are prohibited. The ordinance will go into effect immediately.”
ARTICLE LINK: Ban on e-cigarettes in indoor places passed by city of Houston
LATEST FROM REGULATOR WATCH: For “All Canadians” | Did Health Canada Miss the Mark on Vaping Regs
From Brent Stafford at Regulator Watch
It’s an original sin of Canada’s federal vaping regulations, the enshrinement of vaping as a health hazard rather than a safer nicotine source for smokers trying to quit.
Every aspect of Health Canada’s approach to vaping regulation and its public health messaging is based on this tenuous assumption.
Health Canada’s authority to regulate vaping products rests in the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act, and the regulator recently kicked off the first official review of the three-year-old legislation.
With the specter of teen vaping all-pervasive and a possible flavour ban around the corner: Is Health Canada failing its mission to protect the health of “all Canadians?”
Today on RegWatch, we are joined by David Lévesque, national vaping activist and founding partner at Digital Smoke Supplies. Get a full rundown of the most pernicious aspects of the TVPA and learn how you can have your say with an easy-to-use website that streamlines submissions to Health Canada.
Don’t miss this episode!
On RegWatch by RegulatorWatch.com.
Released: March 26, 2022
Produced by Brent Stafford
Part of our “Last Stand” coverage
Make RegWatch happen, go to: support.regulatorwatch.com
CATHING UP WITH REGULATOR WATCH: New Powers | FDA Gains Authority Over Synthetic Nicotine
From Brent Stafford at Regulator Watch
Congress granted FDA the authority to regulate synthetic nicotine in a crass attempt to ameliorate the moral panic over teen vaping. A problem that many researchers say is waning if it existed at all.
Joining us today for a special LIVE edition of RegWatch is Amanda Wheeler, president of the American Vapor Manufacturers. Learn what happens next for the U.S. vaping industry as it navigates the treacherous path to keep much-needed safer nicotine products on the market.
Only on RegWatch by RegulatorWatch.com.
Live Streamed: March 18, 2022
Produced by Brent Stafford
This episode is supported by DEMAND VAPE
Make RegWatch happen, go to: support.regulatorwatch.com
Store
