Intense regulations are likely to take hold in the near future in the world of vaping. The regulation would be so costly that it would likely kill 90% of the companies that produce vapes, e-cigarettes and mods. This would leave the major players of the tobacco industry left standing, as well as possibly a few larger vape distributors.
Vapes, e-cigarettes and mods are all terms for electronic smoking devices that allow a person to inhale levels of nicotine the user chooses with an assortment of flavors. This is now a three billion dollar industry worldwide, 2.5 billion in the United States alone. Though you may already know about it, considering a new study shows that 79.7% of adults are aware of e-cigarettes.
How did this happen?
In 2009 the FDA tried to ban vaping, considering it a dangerous drug, even going so far as stopping the entry of vapes into the country at the border. A 2010 legal decision by an appulate court declared that vaping was not an illegal drug and that the FDA couldn’t seize vapes. But, the court suggested that if the FDA did want to regulate e-cigarettes then they would have to treat it just like any other tobacco product. Which is what the FDA is in the process of doing.
The requirements to meet the regulatory standards, however, go beyond simple fixes such as warning labels and would require each flavor and inhalation device to be FDA approved unless it came out before 2007. Though it remains unclear as to why this grandfather date has been set to the date that it has, what is known is that the recent years has shown a surge of people moving off of tobacco and onto smokeless inhalers.
The number of active cigarette smokers who have used an e-cigarette was 9.8% in 2010 and rose to 36.5% in 2013.
Former smokers who have ever used an e-cigarette was 2.5% in 2010, which rose to 9.6% according to the CDC. This could show that people who have quit are trying to find an alternative to smoking again.
The problem with vaping and e-cigarettes is that intensive studies haven’t been done to find out exactly what harmful side effects they may have. However, a new study as well as 50 respected scientists who wrote a letter to the World Health Organization all agree, vaping is not as bad as smoking.
Though some controversy has arisen as to some of the ingredients used for some of the flavors. Ingredients such as Diacetyl and a comparable chemical, acetyl propionyl, which are used for the creamy, buttery flavor of some products have been shown to be harmful in alternative methods of consumption. Definitive research remains unclear, just like a lot of this industry because there are not any regulations or standards.
While most people are onboard with regulation on some level, the process that the FDA would require these companies to go through is so expensive that nearly none of them would be able to survive the change. There has been no mention if the FDA could offer some kind of financial assistance for small business owners to meet these guidelines. Nor has there been any publication of a “safe ingredient” list that companies could use in combination of nicotine to make their flavors.
A member of congress, Representative Cole (R-Ok) has initiated legislation that would change the grandfather clause to the day of the FDA’s initiation of standards rather than 2007. Again, this is because of the massive developments in the industry that have occurred in the industry for small businesses. The bill has 41 co-sponsors and has yet to be voted on in the House, though it was introduced in April of 2015. This bill would need to become an overnight emergency to make it through the House, the Senate and be signed by the President to make it in time before the FDA completes its process.
The FDA and other groups advocating for keep children away from vapes and smoking, claim that because so little is known about vaping it is not safe for consumption. They also believe that e-cigarettes do not offer a safe alternative to smoking. The question, though is that if that is what they believe then
Why are they not moving to outlaw e-cigarettes and vapes?
Instead there has been a lot of traction to remove all startup companies that have developed in the recent years.
Cigarette smokers have decreased from 2005 to 2014 by 3 million people despite the increase of population.
It’s estimated that in ten years vaping will be more popular than smoking, essentially putting big tobacco out of business. Unless, of course, there was some kind of extreme regulatory process that eliminated all of the competition. Even the FDA has estimated that the process would cost millions.
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