Are Big Tobacco’s RJ Reynolds, Altria, and Lorillard deliberately killing vaping?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States issued new deeming regulations in May 2016 that effectively classed vaping devices as tobacco products. The FDA was able to regulate vapes in the same way that they control tobacco cigarettes as a result of this move.

This appeared to make sense to the typical American. After all, the white plume of vapour emitted by a JoyeTech vape mod resembles the white cloud of smoke emitted by a Marlboro tobacco cigarette. The FDA can establish greater quality control standards by enacting the same government laws across both businesses, which, in theory, should make vaping devices safer for the American populace to use—right?

Mitch Zeller and Jack Henningfield: The Big Pharma Conspiracy Behind FDA E-Cigarette Regulations

Not so fast, my friend. The American vaping sector cried out almost immediately after the FDA announced the new deeming requirements. Government controls are welcomed by most vapour firms, but they should be considerably less stringent than those imposed on Big Tobacco. Why? Because the e-liquids used in vaping do not contain any tobacco.

A SLOW, PAINFUL, AND EXPENSE DEATH FOR VAPING?

Furthermore, Big Tobacco corporations have had decades to develop their operations and financial resources. This is significant because the FDA's deeming requirements now compel vapour firms to request for FDA clearance of each and every product they sell on the market, using the same FDA approval processes that Big Tobacco has used for decades.

Both e-cigarette and Big Tobacco firms must file an unnecessarily complicated Pre-Market Tobacco Application, or PMTA, to secure FDA clearance. However, completing the application is merely the first step in a long and laborious procedure. Applicants must also present scientific study papers demonstrating that the product they are submitting for FDA clearance is safe for public use.

PMTA approval procedure concluded, according to FDA deeming requirements

EACH OF THESE REPORTS COULD COST THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. The FDA projected that a single PMTA would cost the applicant $335,000 in a 2014 proposal. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, an independent research group estimated that the procedure would cost between $2 and $10 million.

Big Tobacco can afford to pay these exorbitant costs, but small company owners, who make up the vast bulk of the vaping sector in the United States, cannot. As a result, vapour firms were irritated by the FDA's deeming requirements once again.

As a result, the FDA continued to prolong the deadline for submitting these PMTAs.

The submission date was pushed back and forth until the FDA was obliged to set a fixed deadline of September 9, 2020 by the courts.

WAS BIG TOBACCO CONSPIRING TO KILL VAPING WITH THE FDA?

Between May 2016, when the new FDA deeming requirements were initially announced, and the newly approved PMTA deadline, FDA officials allowed vape shops, companies, and advocacy organisations to ask questions and submit comments about how the extra restrictions should be implemented. Many conspiracy theorists feel this is when things started to become a bit shady.

Many think that Big Tobacco corporations RJ Reynolds, Altria, and Lorillard sent comments to the FDA urging the government to prohibit open-system vaping devices, which are popular among vapers. By prohibiting open-system vaping, disposable e-cigarettes such as VUSE (RJ Reynolds), MarkTen (Altria), and Blu (Lorillard) would be able to gain traction in the market.

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Meanwhile, the PMTA taxes and the federal government's unique ability to virtually eliminate an entire industry through over-regulation would obliterate the smaller, Mom and Pop vape businesses nearly overnight.

Big Tobacco would be able to corner a brand-new market—disposable e-cigarettes—as a result of this.

All Big Tobacco would have to do is keep funnelling money to Washington, DC's corrupt politicians through enormous campaign contributions on a virtually monthly basis.

The last trap has been set now that Congress has enacted a new regulation prohibiting the US Postal Service and commercial delivery corporations like UPS, FedEx, and DHL from delivering vaping items to private households.