

Comment Info: =================

General Comment:Dear Mr. Zeller:

I am writing as an individual consumer to request an extension of the comment period for the Food and Drug Administration's ("FDA") Proposed Rule Deeming Tobacco Products to be Subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as amended by the Family Smoking and Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (the "Proposed Rule") published at 79 Fed. Reg. 23,142 and Federal Register No. 2014-09491. On behalf of myself, I am requesting that the comment period for the Proposed Rule be extended by the FDA for an additional 105 days, from its current 75-day period, to 180 days.

The Proposed Rule raises a number of significant issues and questions that are important and relevant to me, as a consumer of products that are proposed for regulation under the Proposed Rule. The Proposed Rule asks about a hundred different questions I might want to respond to. I want to provide my thoughts and comments on many of these issues, but my time to devote to researching and providing thoughtful comments on these important questions is limited. I have already spent many hours researching and dissecting these issues, but they take time. I know that the FDA took many years to even come up with the Proposed Rule, so I do not think it is at all unreasonable to allow the public a mere six months to comment on it. This is our only opportunity, as consumers, to provide our feedback. 

I feel very strongly about e-cigarettes as an alternative to combustible cigarettes. Quite simply, I firmly believe that they saved my life. I wish to provide you with my personal story; on 11/13/12 I was cut off by a 92yr old driver. I spent 5 weeks in the hospital. I had smoked cigarettes prior to this, and smoked cigarettes during week 4 of hospitalization. I returned to work 2/16/13, the Walgreens I work at is one of the busier stores in Pasco, I found myself very quickly becoming winded talking to the customer I would be ringing up, while greeting customers as they walked into my store, and answering the phone. When we would get deliveries, I would be winded and felt all around bad. Once I ordered an ecig from a friend in NJ, and started vaping, I noticed after a few weeks (time it took my body to expel the carcinogens from combustable cigarettes) I felt better, I wasn't becoming winded as I was before,and now I'm able to make it through a weekly delivery with 3 pallets of 24pk water. (72 cases of water make up 1 pallet)
