Vaping Regulations will Kill The Industry
The vaping industry in America is going down a fast moving pathway, with an uncertain future ahead. In October 2015, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) had filed its final regulations to the White House Office of Management and Budget, the 8th step in a 9 step process to regulate electronic cigarettes.
Although the final regulations have not been published, vapers are worried that if the rules are anything like the proposed regulations that the FDA had put out the previous year, the industry could be in major trouble. With America proudly incorporating the largest number of vapers worldwide, the vaping industry alone in the U.S.A is worth billions of dollars, and these regulations will affect plenty of people. Many vaping advocates are saying that the new regulations which are coming soon will definitely kill the whole industry. Gregory Conley, the president of the American Vaping Association, had been worried that the grandfathering date would definitely destroy the industry.
A few possibilities exist that could alter the future of the vaping world: the beginning of a new and more structured market for e-cigarettes or the death of vaping on US soil. The FDA had made many moves to stifle the budding vaping industry through attempts in seizing imported e-cigarettes at the border whilst dubbing them as “unapproved drug delivery devices”, and warning most of the public not to vape. After a major legal battle conducted by a handful of the most powerful and renowned vaping companies that existed at the time, a federal appellate court had stated that the FDA could not just simply ban and seize e-cigs and vape products. If the agency had wanted to regulate vaping, it would have to approach e-cigarettes similar to any other newly introduced tobacco product, which is pretty much going through the 9 steps of acceptance process.
However, in April 2014, the vaping industry had gotten a glimpse of the FDA’s future plans. The FDA had proposed many regulations which included warning labels on vaping devices, prohibiting sales to minors and such. After that, the FDA had then opened up a public comment period. Many comments from vaping advocates had stated that almost if not all vape retailers had already imposed these rules themselves and in their shops, and new regulations are not necessary. The regulation stating that no free samples are to be provided will definitely harm the retailers badly, as most vapers usually sample the liquids first before buying it.
The proposed regulations had dictate that tobacco products that were commercially marketed in the US before February 15 2007 will be allowed to stay on the marking without taking any significant actions, maybe just adding labels and such. However, this rule is deemed to be unfair as vaping literally did not exist before 2007, but rather started booming in the recent 3-4 years.
The FDA had also estimated that there are about 1600 products on the market and that it would receive 25 to 75 permits, which totals up to about 98.5 of the market being banned after the first two years. Of course, for small business would definitely not stand a chance at all, and most of them would die out.
Many vaping advocates are arguing that conventional tobacco will definitely kill you, but other alternatives such as vaping are definitely helping people to be healthier. It is of course not healthy, but reduces the harm significantly, they argue.
For now, the vaping industry in America is hanging on a thin thread, and could only hope that the FDA would change the grandfather date. Being the country with the highest amount of vapers, many of them are worried what holds for them in the future.