Late last month, President Obama’s administration announced that they were further delaying the timetable to regulate ecigs, eliquid and nicotine exposure warnings, providing consumers an extra month to weigh in with their thoughts.
According to an article posted last month by The Hill, the D.C. newspaper focusing on activities on Capitol Hill and at the White House, the Food and Drug Administration has extended its open comment period on ecigs and will now accept input from the public through Sept. 30th. The agency is looking for input on what warning labels should include and what the message should convey. The FDA is also looking for thoughts/concerns that citizens may have about the packaging of both hardware and eliquid, to prevent children from gaining access to devices and potentially hazardous levels of nicotine.
This is an important opportunity for you to write to the FDA to let them know what you think and how the ecigarette industry should be regulated. Currently, little restriction exists on vaping products at the federal level, which has had both positive and negative effects. On one hand, ideas and opportunities have been endless and helped to drive innovation and creativity in the marketplace. Customers have been able to enjoy countless flavors by numerous ejuice companies and new hardware is released almost daily, with cutting-edge technology. On the other hand, many of these numerous ejuice companies are not always looking to provide the best product to consumers, but instead to make a quick buck on cheap ejuice and clone hardware. Cheap ingredients/hardware and unsafe bottling is the culprit of many accidents that have been reported in the news. Manufacturers of clone hardware take short cuts to produce a cheaper product; remember, safety is extremely important when it comes to ecig hardware.
At local levels around the country, efforts are under way to address some of these concerns in advance of any potential regulatory action the FDA will take. Here at Pink Spot Vapors, we – and many of our peers – have worked to ensure that all of our eliquid bottles have childproof and tamper evident caps, providing our customers additional protection for their favorite flavors and preventing small children from gaining access to nicotine. We also require that all of our customers are 18 or older, both online and in our bricks and mortar shops. Providing appropriate warning labels is very important to us at PSV; not only do we indicate if nicotine is included in the ejuice but we also adhere to other countries label requirements when shipping overseas. Being proactive is always best practice! Certificates are now available online and in-store, specifying levels of diacetyl and acetyl propionyl for our 100+ flavors.
To let the FDA know where you stand, you can easily file comments online through the Regulations.gov web portal. This link will take you directly to the comments page where you can enter your information and your remarks to be submitted for consideration while the administration to devise regulations for the industry.
Instructions are also available on the site if you prefer to submit written comments, as well.
At Pink Spot Vapors, we encourage you to let your officials know where you stand on ecigarette regulations and safety practices. Let your voice be heard! Visit the Regulations.gov site or write your comments in today, and let the FDA know how you would like the ecig and eliquid market to look like going forward.
