

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 and extended my life. 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.

I myself have been using electronic cigarettes for 2 years now after smoking for 4 years. In those 4 years I would wake up coughing and weezing and in general feeling sick until I smoked another cigarette. I would have shortness of breath and had a hard time even breathing regularly at times. They even made me tense my body to the point of having sore muscles all the time and that was starting to affect my stomach as I have problems with acid reflux. Since I have made the switch to electronic cigarettes that has all changed. I can now breath freely, I do not wake up coughing (unless I am ill), I no longer have problems with my body being tense and even my acid reflux has calmed down a major amount. Even though I do have other medical issues related to my genetics I can firmly and surely say that I believe electronic cigarettes saved and extended my life. I have so many people in my family who have had lung cancer and heart problems caused by combustible cigarettes and I am thankful to still have a way to use nicotine responsibly and safely and without all the harmful chemicals that are going into combustible tobacco cigarettes. 

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