

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

General Comment:Dear Mr. Zeller:

I am an individual consumer of electronic cigarette products, and I would like to request an extension of the comment period for the Food and Drug Administration's 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 published at 79 Fed. Reg. 23,142 and Federal Register No. 2014-09491. On behalf of myself only, as a consumer of these products, 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 total.

The Proposed Rule asks many questions to which I might want to respond, but my time to devote to researching and providing useful comments is limited. I have already spent many hours researching and dissecting many of these issues for my own use as a consumer, but I feel that extra care should be taken to ensure that my research is as complete as possible and that my comments are as useful as they can possibly be, and this takes time. The FDA took over three years to craft the Proposed Rule, and as such I do not think it is at all unreasonable to allow the public a mere six months to provide their comments. This is my only opportunity to provide my feedback and I would like for it to count. I'm sure other consumers feel the same. 

After nearly 20 years of smoking tobacco cigarettes and several unsuccessful quit attempts using more widely approved methods, I have successfully transitioned to electronic cigarettes which I believe is a less harmful alternative to combustible tobacco use, and I have been smoke free for nearly a year. My health has improved, breathing is easier, I sleep better, and I have more energy throughout the day, and I attribute all of these things to quitting the use of tobacco cigarettes, to which I owe thanks to their electronic analogues. I have witnessed dozens of friends and acquaintances successfully transition to electronic cigarette use and experience benefits to their overall health and well-being. For these reasons, I feel very strongly about electronic cigarettes and their continued availability to informed adults who are looking for an alternative to their tobacco use. I believe that electronic cigarettes could be one of the greatest innovations affecting human health in history, and that these products and their successors could be the silver bullet that ends the practice of burning tobacco for personal use. 

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

I appreciate your consideration of my request and would be happy to discuss this issue with you further.
