Attorneys & Advocates Team Up to Fight Proposed Flavor Ban
The Vapor Technology Association (VTA) and Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association (CASAA) have launched an impressive campaign, ultimately sending a message to federal regulators.
These two leading groups, the VTA & CASAA have been joining forces as of recent to launch some very effective and inspiring movements for the vape community to connect with and participate in industry level events.
By joining forces, a strong collaboration between an industry trade group where the members are businesses and consumer advocacy group where the members are the customers brings together a powerful dynamic.
On the save flavors campaign website, it is explained how these two groups “are organizing the tens of thousands of smokers and former smokers like you to tell your story to FDA in connection with the FDA’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on flavors.”
CASAA and the VTA have once again combined their tremendous influence together in a Call-To-Action to deliver a necessary message. This message is meaningful and large in scope. Their message begins by directly informing the community by saying, “Vapers! WE NEED YOUR HELP.”
In all honesty, then again I don’t believe I’ve ever attempted to analyze, interpret and communicate my writing dishonestly, but back to the matter at hand — when vapers hear that perhaps they may have an opportunity to help out with supporting anything vape-related, then it is without hesitation nor is it with reluctance, vapers will rise to the occasion and gladly participate.
Considering this point, the naysayers, player-haters, truth-slayers and basically, the unapologetic vape-haters may disagree, since they often enjoy debating thoughtlessly. However, it has not gone unnoticed that all across the vapor-sphere, vapers and vape advocates especially are rising up and speaking out more so now than ever before.
Taking this into account, rising to speak out is exactly what the VTA & CASAA are requesting in their joint campaign cleverly titled “I Am Not An Anecdote.” It is a strong possibility that some could be thinking, “how exactly is that a clever title for this particular call-to-action?” This would be entirely logical to think of such an inquiry, but it’s all part of the meaningful message to their brilliant platform.
Furthermore, CASAA & VTA reveal that FDA Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb has admitted and been directly quoted as saying, “personal stories are important to me.” However, he also refers to vaper’s stories of quitting cigarettes with vapor products as “anecdotes.” Get it? The title of this campaign seems pretty clever now, right? This message is essentially a response as well.
To illustrate this anecdotal theme further, the site clarifies that an “anecdote” is defined as “an account regarded as unreliable or hearsay.” So, in a sense, this is to say, your vape testimonial or the story about how you were able to quit smoking is an invalid fairytale that wouldn’t be considered as legal proof that flavored vape products assist with harm reduction. Henceforth, VTA & CASAA remind vapers that one way to change that is to offer your own “sworn testimony” via Declaration to the Food and Drug Administration.
Additionally, the website reads, “Vapor Technology Association (VTA) & Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association (CASAA) are organizing the tens of thousands of smokers and former smokers like you to tell your story to the FDA in connection with the FDA’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on flavors.
VTA & CASAA reiterate how it is critical that Dr. Gottlieb and his staff at the FDA hear from consumers who rely on flavors when vaping. Altogether, it is safe to say that the majority of vapers and one hundred percent of vape advocates would undoubtedly agree. Perhaps 100% of any vaper, advocates or not relies on a wide collection of various flavorful eliquids as a major contribution to their vapelife.
Imagine a Federally Regulated Flavor Ban
A nationwide, Federally regulated flavor ban would be absolutely unacceptable and devastating to millions of Americans as well as global citizens who have been fortunate enough to experience the unprecedented and in some cases, blissfully overwhelming sensation felt after defeating decades of tobacco abuse with the aid of harm reducing vapor products.
So why and how exactly would this be a devastating scenario for the global community? The answer is quite simple and that is because the majority of vape products bought and sold worldwide occur in United States.
With the mass amount of products being manufactured in China to supplement the American Vapor market, imagine if that American Market we’re no longer a major contributor to the commerce facilitated on a global scale. Would the rest of the global VPN community be able to sustain itself after losing the largest consumer?
All things considered, the process being offered to vapers is quite simple and does not even require you to have a captivating writing tone with an unlimited amount of words to provide. The procedure is user-friendly and not at all time-consuming
This is a brilliant platform that includes a series of consecutive fill-in-the-blank and short answer options requesting answers about your experience as a vaper and how crucial the feature to freely choose flavors is for quitting the participation in the smoking epidemic.
Overall, this easy-to-use submission form with your personal vape history serving as the main content can be used as the evidence needed for convincing the skeptical regulators. Thus, the information a vaper would be providing will be transformed into a sworn testimony which is then considered as an official document being submitted to the FDA.
This is a monumental opportunity and therefore perhaps one of the most rewarding scenarios for everyday consumers to take part in a campaign to make a real difference. It may just be the most impressive response the FDA has ever received from the vape industry.
Lastly, these specific Federal bureaucrats will likely accept the sworn testimonies as official documentation, due to the relentless relationship building and overall track record VTA has with producing valid results. , so please check your spelling and punctuation.
CASAA & VTA “I Am NOT An Anecdote” Information
The information following this brief paragraph is a sample directly from the website http://actnow.io/saveflavors — it is highly recommended to check it out and participate. Once again, your purposeful statements will be issued as a sworn testimony and official document to the FDA — ultimately proving your life experience as valid and reliable evidence that flavors are a necessary piece of the regulator’s puzzled understanding of the components that facilitate vaping.
How it works: Below is an example of what your Declaration would look like. All you need to do is enter all the information in the boxes accurately and truthfully. Remember, this is an official document being submitted to FDA, so please check your spelling and punctuation.
DECLARATION OF [INSERT FULL NAME]
I, [insert full name], declare and state as follows:
1) I am over the age of 18 years and have personal knowledge of the facts set forth below such that I would be competent to testify as a witness to the same if called.
2) I am submitting this declaration in response to the FDA’s request for public comments on the above-referenced docket regarding a proposed rule on the regulation of flavors in tobacco products, including electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS), or vapor products.
3) I am a resident of [insert city], [insert state] and am [insert age] years of age.
4) I started smoking cigarettes when I was [insert age] years old and smoked them for more than [insert number of years].
5) I have been using vapor products for [insert number of years] and [insert number of months].
6) The categories of flavors of nicotine-containing e-liquid that I have used include [insert complete list of all flavors]. Of these, the flavor category that I use most often is [insert flavor used most often].
7) Before I started using flavored e-liquid products, I typically smoked [insert number of packs] of cigarettes per day.
8) [If, BEFORE USING VAPOR PRODUCTS, you previously tried to quit cigarettes but were unable to do so, describe in a few sentences your previous unsuccessful attempts to quit.]
9) Since I began using flavored e-liquid products, I have been able to [reduce or quit] smoking cigarettes.
10) [Insert description of how you used flavored e-liquid products to reduce your cigarette smoking and/or quit altogether].
11) If I did not have access to flavored e-liquid products, I would not have been able to [reduce or quit] smoking cigarettes.
12) [State whether you believe you would have been able to achieve the same results if only tobacco or menthol flavors had been available to you AND why].
13) If the FDA bans flavors or limits flavors to tobacco and menthol, I would likely [make flavored e-liquids myself; turn to unauthorized sources; return to smoking cigarettes; use other tobacco products].
14) For these reasons, I believe it is important that FDA not restrict the availability of flavored e-liquids for vaping products.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Dated: [insert month and day], 2018
By filling out this information and submitting your declaration you: (1) understand and agree to create and submit an official Declaration swearing under the penalties of perjury that the facts you provide are true and correct; (2) authorize VTA and CASAA to attach your electronic signature to a printed version of your sworn Declaration for use in connection with VTA’s and CASAA’s public and private advocacy campaigns; and (3) agree that the declaration, information and data you provide will be shared by and between VTA and CASAA and with other third parties, including without limitation the FDA and media outlets, on either an aggregated or non-aggregated basis, and will be used for other purposes in connection with VTA’s and CASAA’s public and private advocacy campaigns.
