Vaping Reflections: 2014 & 2015

December 26, 2014

It’s time to reflect on Vaping activism and the regulatory landscape during 2014 and rub my crystal ball for 2015. Unlike some people, I begin with some introspection. That’s ME! What worked and what failed. My Mission statement remains valid and I remain committed to it’s purpose. Since I have “no skin in the game” and will not and would not accept any form of advertisement or “in kind” on this site, I continue to enjoy the freedom this provides me to express my candid thoughts directly and in some cases use inflammatory language.

2014

I was naïve with respect to the FDA. I assumed they were driven by a passionate and genuine concern for public health. The deeper I got into my research the more I realized that the FDA’s primary concern is to obliterate vaping of the face of the planet, which would certainly result in more deaths from smoking. Their “mantra” of protecting our children is simply a guise to “sell” their draconian desires to the general public, politicians, and the media. They have no concern for public health with respect to Vaping.

I anticipated that the Vaping Community would rise to the occasion and actively and passionately engage in activism and push back with respect to the FDA deeming regulations. I expected large numbers of Vapers joining together and also supporting scientific studies which would benefit all of us. I was wrong. This was my own wishful thinking. Some painful examples: The FDA Deeming docket only received around 6K vaper comments. The Dr. Farsalinos crowdfunded campaign languished for months and then for some unknown reason finally met it’s funding goal when in fact it should have raised significantly more money. Some of the biggest players in the industry never donated.  Currently, CASAA has issued a Call to Action titled “Ask Your Legislators to Support a Change to the Tobacco Control Act” and the support for this critical opportunity has only garnered around 3K of member participation. I spent two days at my computer recording the entire FDA Workshops on Electronic Cigarettes and the Public Health. I anticipated at least a thousand Vapers would be interested in hearing these workshops and I even offered the Public Comments audio recording for downloading. I was wrong. With only about 245 unique visits to my recording page it was a disappointing engagement.  While their are certainly exceptions which I will continue to credit and praise, I currently view the Vaping community as apathetic, self centered, and myopic.

I assumed that the “Leadership” faction of the Vaping community would encourage all of us “consumers’ to actively engage, provide an outstanding example, and set the high bar for moral and ethical behavior. I was wrong.  I was also very naïve in my thinking. At the top of the list is the pathetic and self serving actions of most US based grass roots Vaping Organization and Vaping Trade Association. Politics, egos, and their “favorites” were their primary concern and not a genuine concern for the vaping community. I witnessed first hand some “Scinetists” throwing their collegues under the bus. Bloviating and innuendos for their own deprived purpose. Vaping vendors were a mixed bag. Some responded for my plea for support and others simply ignored my requests. Finally, the well known and influential YouTube Professional reviewers were, for the most part, apathetic and MIA. Failing to encourage their huge number of viewers to engage.

I spend a significant amount of time on ECF. Most of this time is reading but I also engage. My experiences were about what I expected. A small number of dedicated and intelligent activists who were genuinely interested in helping others and the entire vaping community. Of course, many threads were also filled with Vapers who were only interested in hearing themselves bloviate, sticking their head in the sand, trying to be the “big man” on the Forum, and always trying to turn the discussion to their own misguided purposes.

Finally, 2014 was for the most part filled with peaks and valleys with respect to my own activism. It only took a single complimentary comment every few weeks to keep me going but at times I was deeply discouraged and pessimistic about the future of Vaping. I remain commited and very cautiously optimistic.

2015

In the last quarter of 2015 the FDA will release their final rule. Their primary goal is to place Vaping under the TCA. That’s the “foundation” which Zeller refers to. If he accomplishes this, then in subsequent years (not 2015) the FDA can and will severely regulate “flavors’ and “component parts”. You wont see any specifics on these two issues in their final rule. Next, the final rule will be reviewed by OMB and I don’t exspect any significant changes. The final step is Congressional review and the ability to change or nulify the FDA’s final rule. This last step is a rare opportunity for the Vaping Community to influence politicians with the goal of ideally rejecting the FDA’s regulatory authority for Vaping or modify the final rules in a significant fashion to insure the survival of vaping. Currently, I think that Congressional rejection of the FDA’s authority to regulate vaping has zero chance of succeeding. I hope I’m wrong but that’s the way I see it. I am cautiously optimistic that Congress will modify the final rule with favorable terms that to some degree will insure the survival of vaping.

Their won’t be any final rule law suits or court cases in 2015. That’s wishful thinking and legal action won’t occur until 2017 or 2018. I expect “Panic” in the Vaping community the day the final rule becomes the law of the land which may occur in the last quarter of 2015 or the first quarter of 2016. Panic in this case means a huge number of purchases for hardware, juice, and DIY supplies. Vendors will be unable to meet this spike so I suggest you plan ahead. A small number of the bloviaters and head in the sand vapers will finally realize what is going to happen. Others will remain myopic and self serving in their attempts to convince us that nothing has changed, the ‘black market” is the perfect solution, or the magic bullet known as an injunction will stop the demise of Vaping.

Dr. Farsalinos  will release his findings from his scientific studies. Some of which will show that dry hits and super high watts produces nasty chemicals at levels that pose health risks. I expect more scientific studies to emerge which are fair and balanced. They will help all of us make informed decisions. The FDA via their “chosen few” will also release scientific results, all of which will be lies, half truths, or designed to insure the Deeming becomes the law od the land.

Evolv (DNA40) will continue to innovate with new products that make Vaping safer (think public health) and more enjoyable for all of us. The ProVari P3 from ProVape will continue to be a viable solution for safety (public health) and industrial strength reliability. The “Chinese” vendors will continue to steal IP via “counterfit” products and vapers will continue to engage in this crime via their purhcases. Unfortunately, some of these high watts Chinese products will be the source of vaping accidents. Although the Vaping community has enjoyed a modest improvement in public perception via the media, I don’t expect this to substantially improve in 2015. At the local (City and State) level, restrictive Vaping regulations and “sin taxes” will increase in 2015. In spite of the best efforts of grass roots Vaping Organization and Vaping Trade Association. After all, none of these groups can force participation by vapers.

Finally, these are only my own thoughts and I encourage you to research these issues and reach your own conclusions. I have written about almost every detail in this article so I suggest you use the Search feature at the top of the page to find my posts. I remain passionate, far more realistic, and will continue to provide you with candid posts with no conflicts. Please engage today! I encourage you to use and or join as many resources or organizations as you wish or don’t join any and communicate directly.