

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, 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.

E-cigarettes have greatly improved my entire family's quality of life. For me, it is the only tobacco harm reduction product that has helped me quit smoking. For years, nothing else would work. I have been using e-cigarettes for only a few months and already I have seen a positive change in my health. My breathing has been easier, I don't get winded going up a flight of stairs. My family's health has improved. I have lost many family members to lung cancer, but now there is a safer alternative. E-cigarettes are literally a life and death matter. To make regulations based on incomplete data and studies could cost thousands of lives. All of the ingredients in the nicotine solution vaporized by e-cigarettes are generally regard as safe by the FDA, but somehow in combination, they supposedly are hazardous. Increased regulation or taxes can make it more difficult for the consumer to get them. We should be making quitting smoking as easy as possible, not making it more difficult via unfair regulation and taxes. As our elected officials, please please do not make regulations based on one-sided data. Please listen to both sides. No one would deny that some regulation would be beneficial as far as quality control, etc. Unfair regulations and bans would only push the consumer back to smoking which is something no one wants.

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