Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deeming Authority Clarification Act of 2015 (H.R. 2058). While we may disagree on the policy merits of this legislation, I appreciate the opportunity to share my perspective.
1. Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009 to address tobacco's impact on public health, with a special emphasis on protecting children. The act requires that any tobacco product that was introduced, or modified, after February 15, 2007, must be reviewed by the FDA before it can be sold. Tobacco products that predate February 15, 2007 would be exempt from this process and "grandfathered" in.
2. The FDA Deeming Authority Clarification Act of 2015 would change the grandfather date from February of 2007 to the date that the FDA's final deeming regulation is published, which is expected to be released sometime later this year. Moving the grandfather date would exempt all tobacco products currently on the market from review by the FDA, including the vast majority of e-cigarette products.
3. I have heard from many Oregonians who rely on e-cigarettes as a smoke-free alternative to traditional tobacco, and are worried that FDA review means these products will immediately be pulled from the market. However, these products will remain available to consumers throughout the FDA's review process. While I understand concerns about access, I am deeply troubled by the skyrocketing rates of e-cigarette usage by teens and think that it is critical that the FDA have the authority to limit sales and marketing targeted to children, so I do not support exempting e-cigarettes from FDA review.
Again, I appreciate you sharing your views and giving me the opportunity to respond. I hope you continue to send your thoughts and observations my way.
All my best,
Jeffrey A. Merkley
United States Senator
ok lets go with
1. The PACT act... not a damned bit was aimed at children, it was the states getting twisted that the raised taxes were going up in smoke faster than they were coming in. Since 100% of the states in the tobacco settlement spent and bonded monies they did not have in hand... and since the raised taxes were not there any longer with more quitting or stopped buying mass produced cigs and went RYO in which taxes were then raised into obscene levels. Since the pact outright gutted the online retail businesses, the local places were not getting tax money off the Reservations at all.
Now for the grandfathering since zero decent working equiment or tech was on the market then, it becomes a defacto ban. Since 07 exactly zero products have been approved. In fact some have been removed.
2. With as forthright and transparent the FDA has been currently and past I hold no faith about their honesty let alone their credibility.
3. In Oregon and the vast majority of states it is regulated. Shops here were requiring ID well before the government got their greedy crooked noses into it.
1. Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009 to address tobacco's impact on public health, with a special emphasis on protecting children. The act requires that any tobacco product that was introduced, or modified, after February 15, 2007, must be reviewed by the FDA before it can be sold. Tobacco products that predate February 15, 2007 would be exempt from this process and "grandfathered" in.
2. The FDA Deeming Authority Clarification Act of 2015 would change the grandfather date from February of 2007 to the date that the FDA's final deeming regulation is published, which is expected to be released sometime later this year. Moving the grandfather date would exempt all tobacco products currently on the market from review by the FDA, including the vast majority of e-cigarette products.
3. I have heard from many Oregonians who rely on e-cigarettes as a smoke-free alternative to traditional tobacco, and are worried that FDA review means these products will immediately be pulled from the market. However, these products will remain available to consumers throughout the FDA's review process. While I understand concerns about access, I am deeply troubled by the skyrocketing rates of e-cigarette usage by teens and think that it is critical that the FDA have the authority to limit sales and marketing targeted to children, so I do not support exempting e-cigarettes from FDA review.
Again, I appreciate you sharing your views and giving me the opportunity to respond. I hope you continue to send your thoughts and observations my way.
All my best,
Jeffrey A. Merkley
United States Senator
ok lets go with
1. The PACT act... not a damned bit was aimed at children, it was the states getting twisted that the raised taxes were going up in smoke faster than they were coming in. Since 100% of the states in the tobacco settlement spent and bonded monies they did not have in hand... and since the raised taxes were not there any longer with more quitting or stopped buying mass produced cigs and went RYO in which taxes were then raised into obscene levels. Since the pact outright gutted the online retail businesses, the local places were not getting tax money off the Reservations at all.
Now for the grandfathering since zero decent working equiment or tech was on the market then, it becomes a defacto ban. Since 07 exactly zero products have been approved. In fact some have been removed.
2. With as forthright and transparent the FDA has been currently and past I hold no faith about their honesty let alone their credibility.
3. In Oregon and the vast majority of states it is regulated. Shops here were requiring ID well before the government got their greedy crooked noses into it.
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and to think I am a really optimistic person usually.
