

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

General Comment:Dear Mr. Zeller:

As an e-cig (personal vaporizer) user I am writing 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.

This Rule raises numerous and significant issues and questions that impact me, as a consumer of products that are proposed for regulation. The Proposed Rule has so many different questions I might want to respond to. I would like to respond to many of these issues, but  researching these issues and providing meaningful comments on these important questions takes time, lots and lots of time. I have already spent many hours reading and trying to understand the proposed regulations but I have a career and family that takes up most of my personal time.It took the FDA many years to even come up with the Proposed Rule, so I do not think it is at all unreasonable to allow the public an additional 15 weeks to comment on it. This will be my only opportunity, as a consumer, to provide feedback. 

I truly believe if it were not for my advanced personal vaporizer I would still be smoking combustible cigarettes. Filling my lungs with smoke and tar. I am soon to be 48 years old and had been smoking since I was about 13.  I have been cigarette free for just shy of 2 years. I have also lowered my nicotine level down to a third of what I started at. My cholesterol level has dropped, I breathe easier, and I no longer cough up phlegm. My car and clothes no longer stink and thanks to the yummy flavors I did not experience any weight gain but instead lost 5 pounds without even trying.  I would like  to provide you with more about  my personal story, as well as science- and evidence-based responses to your questions so that you can take my comment into account -I just need more time to do it. 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 and grant an extension, so that I and other interested persons have the opportunity to provide thoughtful comments on this proposed regulation.

Thank you for considering my request.
