NicoPure is leading the way in a landmark lawsuit against the new regulations implemented by the FDA. Read below to find out more.
If you haven’t heard about NicoPure Labs LLC, you’ve got to come out from under the shell you’ve been hiding as these guys are one of the most renowned e-liquids manufacturer in America. Established in 2009 and a founding member of the Vapor Trade Association, NicoPure filed their very first lawsuit in the Federal District Court in Washington D.C. with allegations that the FDA’s actions to imposing regulations and creating authoritative purview over the vaping industry pursuant to the 2009 Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act is unconstitutional.
The latest ruling which was handed down recently has given authority to the FDA putting the entire vaping industry under its purview. It has further been reported by The Hill that vaping companies such as NicoPure have viewed that the rule-making process is in violation of both the First Amendment of the United States as well as the Administrative Procedure Act, the latter of which is a federal statute which dictates the process in which administrative agencies the like of the FDA may propose laws and regulations which shall fall within their ambit.
“We are committed to responsible manufacturing based on superior product standards and stringent quality requirements. FDA’s rule does not protect the consumer from low-quality products; instead, it places a disproportionate and unjustified regulatory burden on compliant companies such as ourselves, who are determined to drive the industry to the highest standards of quality and innovation,” advocated the co-founder of NicoPure, Jason del Giudice.
The majority of the provisions contained within the proposed regulations have been welcomed by the overall vaping industry as these proposals include for health warnings on product pages (many of which have already been implemented by individual vaping companies), ingredients lists for e-liquids and the prohibition of supply and sale of any vape goods (including mods) to persons below the age of 18 years old (which has already been quite a standard practice throughout the industry and in individual retail shops).
The main rule which has saw lash back from the vaping industry (which is also the key reason as to why NicoPure issued the lawsuit against the FDA), is a rule that stipulates how any vape goods (including the mods) which was sold after 15 February 2007 must undergo a costly approval process for which the review period may take up to 2 years and may cost up to $2 million USD or more.
As the vaping industry was not fully established until around the year 2009, what this rule implies is that almost all products currently being sold on the market will have to go through this tedious and rigid process which causes a huge and damaging issue especially on small businesses that are unable to afford the approval costs especially when taking into consideration the variety of products a single brand may sell (the FDA requires that each and every individual product must be approved and reviewed).
Internal vaping industry experts as well as the FDA’s very own analysis issued in 2014 has estimated that a near 99% of the products that are currently being sold in the market will not even make it through the review process and will be removed from the market within 2 years.
Although NicoPure’s lawsuit against the FDA is the first of its kind so far, there is a high possibility that other vape companies may join in the lawsuit such as Fortem Ventures.
“Today we turn to the justice system to protect our rights and the rights of our customers because we believe in its fairness”, added Patricia Kovacevic, who is Nicopure Labs’ general in-house counsel as well as their Chief Compliance Officer. She further added that “The government’s role is not to regulate for the sake of regulation; regulation must be based on sound science and robust procedure, and it must accomplish certain public health goals.”