

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

General Comment:

Dear Mr. Zeller:

Leave the e-cigarette industry (and consumers) alone. This industry does not need regulation. All the ingredients in these nicotine liquids have already been deemed safe by the FDA. If there ever were an unsafe product, the market would take care of the one responsible for it, and that would be the end of it. There is too much regulation in this country. And to regulate e-cigarettes, which are 99% safer than tobacco cigarettes, is just absurd. I appreciate your interest in mine and society's personal health and well-being, but I think I/we can manage our own lives just fine on our own, thank you. 

But until then, the point of my letter today, as an individual consumer, is 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, they helped me quit a 35 year smoking addiction and I have never felt better in my life. My health is coming back, I have more energy, I could breathe easier, and the constant sore throat I had has vanished. 

I wish to provide you with my personal story, as well as science- and evidence-based responses to your questions so that you can take my comment into account. I realize that the FDA has the authority under 21 CFR 10.40 to extend this time frame and that the FDA has exercised this authority on numerous occasions in the past. I would therefore ask that you do so here, so that all stakeholders have the opportunity to provide their comments on this proposed regulation.



