Hey all! Dawn here again! Over the last few weeks, the electronic cigarette summit has taken up a large swath of our time and focus. While it’s a great event that is chalked full of great information, it also means we miss some very important electronic cigarette headlines. Today we are going to look back at the last few weeks in the e-cigarette industry and see what we missed and what we can learn.
Electronic cigarette headlines 1st topic: T21 Law
Web MD
Bill Would Raise U.S. Legal Age to Buy Tobacco to 21
Washington Post
McConnell and Kaine want to raise the federal smoking age to 21
Wall Street Journal
McConnell Pushes to Raise Age for Tobacco Purchases
As you can see this particular issue is not just in some headlines. It’s being reported EVERYWHERE. So what is it all about? Well, Mitch McConnell (R) and Kaine (D) have gotten together to form a bipartisan bill, nicknamed the T21 bill, that would move the current smoking age from 18 to 21 years old. The bill has passed through the House and is on it’s way to the Senate.
Now if you have ever read my blogs (or in rare cases seen my personal FB) then you know that I am absolutely against government overreach and over-regulation of any type.
The T21 bill is not that.
It’s simply an answer to 18-year-old seniors bringing tobacco and vape products to school. Those products then get shared with other kids in their class…. see the operative word? Kids. While still in school the kids in a high school class are kids at school to learn, regardless of their age. Kids share new and cool stuff with each other, as they should. E-Cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes are NOT cool. So why put them into the hands of kids in high schools?
Nicotine:
- Nicotine is addictive regardless of the delivery method
- Addictions last a lifetime regardless of how young, naive and silly we are when we first get addicted.
- Burning tobacco kills. No wait, it does not just kill…it kills on a massive scale. In fact, tobacco-related illness has killed more people then all the wars COMBINED! Google it if you think this is an exaggeration. I did.
The reasons above seem like great reasons to support the T21 bill. What is the worst that will happen? Fewer kids get addicted to nicotine and some 19 and 20-year-olds need to work harder to feed the nicotine addiction that they should be trying to kick as soon as possible? Okay.
Electronic cigarette headlines 2nd topic: FDA vs Public Health Groups
USA Today
Anti-vaping victory? Federal judge orders FDA to speed up review of e-cigarettes
CNBC
Federal judge orders FDA to begin review of e-cigarettes
When it comes to electronic cigarette headlines this is a doozy. The short story is that a handful of public health entities got together to sue the FDA and they won. That win means the FDA must rush forward with their review of all e-cigarettes and vapor products on the market. Seems like a good thing right?
The real story is that in 2016 the FDA came out with a set of rules that are known as the deeming rules. Not only did the document deem electronic cigarettes and vapor products as tobacco products it also included a plan of action for these products to stay on the market.
Unfortunately, that plan required things that most small business just can not company with. Things like a pre-market tobacco application. To give you an idea of how outrageous this process is let me tell you about the most recent product to get through the system. Marlboro’s IQOS device’s final application was over 1 Million Pages in length and cost 10’s of millions to put together and file.
Even the FDA realizes this issue:
Since 2016 they have issued a number of extensions on these processes to give the small businesses that make up most of this market a fighting chance. But those extensions must now come to an end and the FDA must get moving on the review of these products, according to this lawsuit.
Speaking out of both sides of their mouth
The real issue that I have with this lawsuit is with the public health entities. I hear them screaming about how this industry is getting taken over by big tobacco and how big tobacco is going to turn this into tomorrow’s epidemic. But then they do crap like this. All but handing the industry to only the wealthiest companies.
While this topic can seem like a scary one, don’t panic. We here at A Clean Cigarette are not going anywhere. We may not have big tobacco money but we are not going to go down without a hell of a fight.
Electronic cigarette headlines 3rd topic: Not a garbage can
CPR
Vape Pods Are The New Cigarette Butts. For Colorado, That’s A Whole New Trash Problem
CBS
Young E-Cigarette Users Littering: Vape Cartridges Found All Around Boulder High School
In both of these articles, they are talking about pods, like the ones you would see on a Juul. That does not mean it is only a pod problem. The fact is many types of cartridges and pods end up as litter. 
We at A Clean Cigarette we so worried about our cartridges being added to that list that we do things a little different. We buy them back from you. Yep every cartridge you bring back to us earns you .5 cents. That’s 5 cents you can use however you want in store or not.
Here is the kicker, after you turn them in we actually recycle them. Not only don’t we want our cartridges littered on the ground, we don’t even want them in our landfills. Because the earth is not a garbage can.
We do things differently because we are different.
There was a bunch of additional electronic cigarette headlines but most of them talked about things like the individual states and flavor bans. There was also a few more articles regarding nicotine addiction and the youth vaping epidemic. All of which we have covered before. Overall though, the above electronic cigarette headlines pretty much sum up the last few weeks in the e-cig industry, at least as far as the media is concerned.
Thank you for stopping in, you are truly appreciated. Help us and the entire industry by sharing this information around. Every click counts and we can not do it without you.
Bye,
Dawn
I have always admired A Clean Cigarette on their moral values,not selling or marketing to minors or never smokers and recycling.
SMOKING AGE TO 21, NOT A BAD THING. SLIM
Great read Dawn,I do remember before our recycling I would often find cartridges in the parking lot now it is very rare, Im pretty sure when one is found it is usually one that has rolled out of a car. I agree age 21 is not a bad idea.
I remember that too Kathi, I am glad we took the initiative to fix it.