I always enjoyed it too. But I love vaping way more! The plan is to quit but who knows, right? I won’t force myself if I want to continue. But since I was 12 years old I’ve been on a mission to keep myself stocked with something to inhale. That’s nearly 40 years! It would be nice to know what it’s like to not constantly be puffing away. And I’ve not known that in my entire adult life.
2 Likes
Maybe try and skip a day or two. I bet you can. I’ve been at 1.5mg for so long I know I could go down to zero but I like my 1.5. I may drop to 1…we will see.
For me what pulls me back is the flavor.
5 Likes
I do think the ritual, oral, busy hand, this is sounding more obscene by the second, does fulfill some OCD need for an activity. It can be difficult to find an acceptable substitute for that need to do something. My thoughts, 95% healthier than a cigarette and maybe live a little longer to continue exploring other avenues of entertainment.
1 Like
Kudos. Your awesome to make the change. After a 30 year tobacco habit, changed to Vaping in one moment. It’s been 18+ months, cigarette free. I do occasionally stand near the smokers, that smell can be intoxicating. I just keep pulling on my machine and after a few deep breaths, satisfied.
2 Likes
Love it. You rock.
1 Like
U.S. House bill would exempt e-cigarettes from tobacco regulations
By Toni Clarke and Jilian Mincer
A bill expected this week in the U.S. House of Representatives would weaken a Food and Drug Administration rule governing e-cigarettes and represent a major victory for the $4.4 billion U.S. vaping industry.
The bill, from Republican Representative Duncan Hunter of California, would reverse the Obama administration’s “Deeming Rule” which deems e-cigarettes to be tobacco products, subject to the same strict regulations governing traditional cigarettes. E-cigarettes heat nicotine-laced liquid into vapor but do not contain tobacco.
Hunter’s bill, which was reviewed by Reuters, would exempt vaping devices from many of those rules, including a requirement that new products be reviewed and authorized by the FDA before being sold. E-cigarette makers say the process is too expensive and would prevent smokers from gaining access to the products.
The bill adds momentum to a series of legal and legislative efforts by tobacco and vaping companies to derail the FDA rule, though it is unclear how much support it will garner.
The move comes as President Donald Trump’s administration is cutting regulations across the board and as Congress is poised to confirm Dr. Scott Gottlieb to lead the FDA. Gottlieb, who held a financial interest in the vape shop Kure, said e-cigarettes in certain circumstances may be a good alternative for smokers.
A separate plan from Republican Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma and Democrat Sanford Bishop of Georgia would exempt thousands of vaping devices currently on the market from FDA approval. The Cole-Bishop proposal is expected to be attached as a rider to Trump’s spending plan, which could be voted on as early as this week.
Hunter’s bill would go further, bringing the entire regulatory process to a halt.
“Cole-Bishop is like gaining the inch, and Hunter’s legislation the yard,” said Joe Kasper, Hunter’s chief of staff.
The FDA rule, which went into effect on Aug. 8, requires that any product introduced after Feb. 15, 2007, be submitted to the FDA for review within two years. Products that were on the market prior to that date are grandfathered and do not require premarket authorization.
The FDA said it does not comment on proposed or pending legislation.
Big tobacco companies such as Altria Group Inc and Reynolds American Inc see vaping products as a promising business line and have lobbied alongside their smaller e-cigarette counterparts against the rule.
“We believe that regulation should promote innovation of potentially less risky tobacco products,” said David Sutton, a spokesman for Altria.
To that end Hunter’s bill would formally incorporate the concept of harm reduction into the FDA’s mission by requiring it to support less-dangerous nicotine delivery products. Those philosophically in favor of harm reduction argue that by promoting products considered less harmful than cigarettes, the overall public health will benefit.
Opponents fear that e-cigarettes are dangerous products that could be used by tobacco companies to addict a new generation of children to nicotine, and, they fear, to cigarettes.
“While we’re always going to have some concerns about kids accessing either cigarettes or vaping pens, that should not motivate the federal government to go in the complete opposite direction and say nobody can have them,” Kasper said.
(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington and Jilian Mincer in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
3 Likes
And this is in the news as well
Tobacco Firms Push Congress to Limit FDA E-Cig Oversight
Spending millions in lobbying, recent filings show
by Salynn Boyles
Contributing Writer
April 27, 2017
Tobacco giants Reynolds American and Altria Group were among the biggest corporate donors to President Donald Trump’s inauguration committee, contributing a reported $1 million and $500,000, respectively, to the cause, according to documents filed last week with the Federal Election Commission.
The companies also spent millions on lobbying in the first months of the Trump Administration in an effort to gut key provisions of the law enacted last year which give the FDA regulatory authority over electronic cigarettes and cigars, the anti-tobacco group Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids said.
The group charged in a press release that big tobacco is waging a “multi-pronged assault” to gut the FDA’s ability to regulate the products.
In an interview with MedPage Today, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids president Matthew Myers charged that the tobacco lobbyists and their congressional allies are working to quietly insert legislation that would do this into the budget bill that Congress must pass by Friday to avoid a government shutdown.
At issue is a key provision of the final tobacco “deeming” rule, enacted last August, which mandates that virtually all e-cigarettes being sold in the U.S. undergo extensive FDA review in order to stay on the market.
The proposed “FDA Deeming Authority Clarification Act of 2017,” introduced by Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) would effectively exempt most e-cigarettes from FDA review, as well as certain cigars introduced to the market before August of last year.
Separate legislation that would further limit the FDA’s authority over e-cigarettes was expected to be introduced in the U.S. House this week by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Reuters reported Tuesday.
In a press release issued April 21, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids’ Myers noted that Altria Group, which includes Philip Morris USA and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., spent $2.3 million on lobbying efforts in the first quarter of 2017 and has at least 17 lobbying firms on its payroll. Reynolds American spent $598,848 during the 3-month period and had hired at least 13 lobbying firms, according to the release.
Lobbying disclosure filings show that Philip Morris International spent another $1.3 million on lobbying during the period.
“Spending almost $5 million in this short period and hiring 30 different consulting/lobbying firms represents a massive effort to exert influence by any standard,” Myers said. "It is clear that these companies are placing a high priority on dismantling a critical component of the [2009 Tobacco Control Act], which was enacted with bipartisan support."
Reynolds American Inc. spokesman David Howard confirmed that the organization contributed at least $1 million to the Trump inaugural committee. Reynolds American is the parent company of R.J Reynolds, which markets Camel, Newport, and Pall Mall cigarettes; Santa Fe Natural Tobacco, which markets Natural American Spirit cigarettes; and RJ Reynolds Vapor, which markets the best-selling e-cigarette brand VUSE.
“As a proud American employer for over a century we are pleased to be one of the many organizations that celebrated the inaugural events,” Howard told MedPage Today.
He added that Reynolds has a decade’s long tradition of lobbying Congress “to educate and inform elected officials” about legislation affecting their products, but he declined to say if the tobacco giant has increased lobbying efforts and expenditures in 2017 or to confirm the number of consulting/lobbying firm on the company’s payroll.
Howard said Reynolds American strongly supports the effort to roll back the FDA’s authority on e-cigarettes, while maintaining some regulatory authority over the products.
“The FDA has the authority to regulate e-cigarettes. We are not trying to change that,” he said. "The intent of the Cole-Bishop legislation is to add language that will enable responsible innovation of these products that may present less risk compared to cigarettes."
Howard said the current tobacco deeming law makes no distinction between the largely unknown health risks of e-cigarettes and the clear health risks of traditional cigarettes.
“Our position is that you can’t take a product category that wasn’t even in existence when the [2009 Tobacco Control Act] was passed and put it into the same category as tobacco products that had been on the market for decades,” he said.
3 Likes
Thanx @Dave0 for the updates. Am still gonna take my necessary precautions for that just in case situation. Too much on the table still and we all know politics. Its not about the people but who’s got more cash.
3 Likes