FreedomWorks Signs Coalition Letter Urging Congressional Action to Overturn FDA E-Cigarette Rules

Pro-free-market activist groups, including FreedomWorks, banned together in support of challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s regulations against the e-cigarette industry. These regulations require all e-cigarette and vapor products that came to market after February 15, 2007, undergo a premarket application (PMTA).

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that a single application will take 5,000 hours and cost $330,000, yet new estimates range up to $1 million for each product. A signed letter against the deeming rule urges Congress to lift regulations that will destroy an industry that has helped millions of Americans quit smoking and created thousands of jobs.

The letter includes perspectives from the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association, which estimates that there are as many as 15,000 vape shops, in addition to about 1,200 manufacturers of e-liquid and 22 manufacturers of hardware. Together, these companies have created approximately 70,000 jobs, most of which are in danger thanks to the FDA’s onerous application processes. Nine businesses must make irreversible decisions often based on 5-10 year investment and innovation cycles — not on the pendulum swing of elections.

This is a public health issue, where the federal government is purposely limiting access to options and alternatives for many Americans. Taking away the individual’s choice is not only threatening Americans’ freedom, but in many cases their lives. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. This is nearly one in five deaths. The research organization, Public Health England, estimates that e-cigarettes are 95 percent safer than traditional tobacco cigarettes.

Furthermore, the regulations the FDA has set in place will exceedingly discourage innovation within the e-vapor industry. Passing these regulations is inexcusable; Congress is knowingly preventing Americans access to the benefits of this new and evolving technology.

Coalition Letter Urging Congressional Action to Overturn FDA E-Cigarette Rules