FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb

AEMSA President urges FDA Commissioner to suspend Deeming Regulation

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The American E-liquid Manufacturing Standards Association urges FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to suspend the deeming regulation that will decimate 99% of the entire industry

Today, AEMSA President, Scott Eley, sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb highlighting the need for immediate action to suspend the Deeming Regulation as it applies to e-vapor products.

“The deeming regulation is so fundamentally flawed as it applies to vaping products that it will not only decimate 99% of the entire industry, most of which are small and micro businesses, and, in doing so, will further promote the continued use of combustible tobacco cigarettes by denying smokers far less harmful electronic vaping alternative products. As a result, the deeming regulation, and its treatment of electronic vaping products, is detrimental to public health.” Eley writes in his letter to the FDA Commissioner.

“AEMSA believes the Tobacco Control Act and the deeming regulation are both so fatally flawed when applied to vaping products that there is an immediate need to suspend the deeming regulation implementation indefinitely and, concurrently, begin a process to engage in a comprehensive and constructive dialogue with industry, consumers, public health scientists, public health advocates, and members of Congress to develop and enact a completely new, modern, reasoned tobacco and nicotine-delivery-products harm reduction regime. This comprehensive regime, if properly crafted, must be premised on the continuum of risk for all tobacco and nicotine delivery products with combustible cigarettes being a 100 out of 100 on the scale of most harmful and deadly products.”

“HR 2194, The Cigarette Smoking Reduction and Electronic Vapor Alternatives Act of 2017 introduced by Congressman Duncan Hunter, establishes a national policy of Tobacco Harm Reduction and requires FDA to develop the tobacco and nicotine continuum of risk spectrum, changes the name of the Center for Tobacco Products to the Center for Tobacco Products and Tobacco Harm Reduction, removes electronic nicotine vaping products from the tobacco products definition, and regulates the e-liquid and batteries on a standards-based safe manufacturing basis to ensure quality control and consumer protections. This legislation will allow for continued innovation, relies on private sector consumer controls, protects children and youth by prohibiting the sale or marketing of vaping products to minors, and will not cost millions, or billions, in compliance and shutter 99% of the industry”. AEMSA urges Commissioner Gottlieb in its letter to closely review this legislation which seeks to address all the major issues in the comprehensive debate over tobacco control, vaping and tobacco harm reduction.

About AEMSA:
The American E-liquid Manufacturers Standards Association, AEMSA, is the first and only non-profit manufacturers’ trade association completely dedicated to creating responsible and sustainable standards for the safe manufacturing of “e-liquids” used in e-vapor products. AEMSA is an all-volunteer organization, co-founded by consumers and American manufacturers of e-liquids, to promote safety and responsibility through self-regulation. Our members believe we have a responsibility to self-regulate the e-liquid manufacturing process based on professional criteria. AEMSA has accomplished this by creating, implementing, verifying, and upholding standards for the manufacture of e-liquids.