Attempt to rescue e-cigs

Legislation was introduced in the US’ House of Representatives on Thursday that, if adopted, might prevent the electronic cigarette business from falling into a state of de facto prohibition, according to a story by Guy Bentley for the Washington Examiner.

The bipartisan legislation would alter Food and Drug Administration rules requiring products deemed to be tobacco products that came on the market after February 15, 2007 (the ‘grandfather’ date), to undergo a prohibitively expensive and complex approval process.

The grandfather date is especially damaging for electronic cigarette businesses because almost all vapor products were launched after February 2007.

There have been various and varying estimates of the cost of the premarket tobacco application process but all those estimates suggest that the small- and medium-sized companies that have pioneered the electronic cigarette revolution would not be able to afford it.

The only players that would be left in the electronic cigarette space would be major tobacco companies that could afford to comply with the FDA regulations, Bentley wrote.

Not only would a change in the grandfather date keep different product options open for those trying to quit smoking, it would save tens of thousands of jobs and thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses from closing.

But while the proposed legislation would give vital breathing space to the electronic cigarette industry, the two congressmen who introduced the legislation were eager to stress consumer safety and reducing tobacco-related harms as the primary objectives of their reforms.