

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

General Comment:Dear Mr. Zeller:

I just want to take a moment and inform you on how much my life has been impacted by NOT SMOKING AMERICAN SPIRITS. I have been a smoker for over 15 years and was able to quit smoking because of e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes and Vape Pens have giving everyone in my family a fighting chance against lung cancer as well as many other side effects of smoking tobacco. E-cigarettes have given my self a better sense of taste and feeling as well as many other benefits. I CAN TRULY FEEL THE DIFFERENCE and in such a good way. I have tried smoking a traditional cigarette since and have thrown up they are so disgusting. Smoking e-cigarettes have allowed me to go from 18mg all the way down to 0mg nicotine, and most days I do not even need my e-cigarette. If there is any alteration of the e-cigarette market and where it stands, i feel that most others will not have a fighting chance to quit smoking the way I did. I have tried gum, patches, and many other forms of "Quit Smoking" tactics, and so far the only one that has worked are e-cigarettes. 

Do America a favor and think about the lives e-cigarettes will save from the switch. I cant even believe this is a topic of question, but the only thing I ask is, to ask your self, what you would do if you your mother, father, son, daughter, brother or sister died from smoking cigarettes and there was something they could have done to stop it and that answer was e-cigarettes. 

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.

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

Thank you
