Advocacy

Lately, the vaping industry has really been struggling to get a few wins in the press. For years now, we’ve been facing an underage vaping epidemic that’s made the entire industry look like a bunch of sleazeballs even though it’s quite obvious that the kids are all using just one product from one company.

This year, though, things have taken a few major turns for the worse – and it looks like those controversies are going to result in a ban on all flavored e-liquids. How will the ban affect you, how much time do you have and how in the world did things come to this? Those are the things we’ll discuss in this article.

Major Vaping Controversies of 2019

For every company in the vaping industry not named JUUL, 2019 has been a terrible year. We’ve spent this year dealing with one serious controversy after another.

• A federal court has ordered the FDA to step up its timetable for e-cigarette regulations. While vaping manufacturers previously had until August 2022 to submit premarket applications for their products and gain FDA approval, the FDA has now moved the PMTA deadline to May 2020. Unless something changes, the vaping industry as we know it is toast in about seven months.
• Preliminary results from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey have been released, and the number of underage vapers has skyrocketed yet again. A reported 5 percent of high school students now vape. That’s more than 5 million kids now using nicotine regularly, and since they’re all using the most addictive e-cigarette on the market, many of them will be hooked for life. It’s likely that the majority of those kids have never used – and would never have used – tobacco.
• A mysterious lung illness has swept across the country, with at least 530 sickened and eight people killed by the disease. The cause of the vaping lung illness appears to be Vitamin E acetate, which is used as a cutting agent for marijuana oil in illicit THC vaping cartridges. No nicotine e-liquid has been implicated as a cause of the illness, but that hasn’t stopped the mainstream media from reporting about the illness as if THC vaping and e-liquid vaping was the same thing.

President Trump Announces E-Juice Flavor Ban

On September 11, President Trump shocked U.S. vapers by announcing his intention to ban all flavored e-liquids with the exception of tobacco flavors. The announcement came on the heels of the preliminary data from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey indicating that more than a quarter of U.S. high school students now vape.

President Trump also mentioned during his press conference that people are getting sick and dying from vaping, suggesting that the vaping lung illness played a role in his decision despite the fact that the illness appears to have nothing to do with any commercial e-liquid product.

The proposed flavor ban will cover all e-liquid flavors except tobacco. Although the ban is mainly intended to cover sweet e-liquids mimicking the flavors of kid-friendly foods such as cereals, sodas and candies, mint and menthol e-liquids will also be banned because research shows that underage vapers like those flavors as well.

How Can the FDA Ban All E-Juice Flavors?

As far as the vaping industry is concerned, the FDA has ultimate power because the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gives the agency that power. The Act established a “grandfather date” of February 15, 2007 for all tobacco products.

Any tobacco product on the market as of that date could remain on the market as long as it complied with the Act’s other requirements and restrictions. To release a new tobacco product after that date, the manufacturer would need to file a PMTA and have that application approved by the FDA.

When the FDA announced its vaping regulations on August 8, 2016, the agency stated that it deemed all vaping products to be tobacco products and intended to regulate them as such.

No vaping product sold in the United States was on the market on February 15, 2007. Therefore, every vaping product is a “new tobacco product” being sold without an approved PMTA. When the FDA deemed all vaping products to be tobacco products, the agency gave itself the authority to pull all products from the market pending PMTA approval. Instead, they allowed the products to remain on the market temporarily.

The FDA repeatedly warned, however, that they could remove any product at any time if the industry couldn’t get itself under control and figure out how to stop underage vaping. That didn’t happen.

When Will the E-Liquid Flavor Ban Begin?

The e-liquid flavor ban is likely to begin before the end of 2019. During President Trump’s press conference, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that it would take the FDA “several weeks” to solidify the rule change in writing.

In addition, any new FDA regulation has a 30-day grace period before it takes effect. The grace period gives consumers a chance to adjust and allows manufacturers and retailers to clear out their stocks of unapproved products.

After the flavor ban begins, it’s likely that many of your favorite e-liquids will no longer be available to buy.

You would be wise to begin stocking up on those e-liquids now.

The Trump administration has been known to reverse course on certain issues, and many vapers are single-issue voters who will refuse to re-elect President Trump for a second term in 2020 if the flavor ban proceeds as planned.

For now, though, you should make your purchasing decisions with the assumption that the flavor ban will proceed as described in Trump’s press conference.

Will I Have Any Way to Get Flavored E-Liquid After the Ban?

After the e-liquid flavor ban begins, you’ll still have five possible ways to buy flavored e-liquid. Some of them, however, are of questionable legality.

• Around the time that the ban begins, your local vape shops may sell any remaining stocks of flavored e-liquids at extremely low prices. Ask around and be prepared to buy in bulk.
• It is possible that the FDA will exempt mint and menthol e-liquids from the ban since menthol cigarettes are still on the market. At this time, the government is planning to ban mint and menthol along with other flavors, but you can expect the industry to lobby strongly against that.
• You can attempt to buy flavored e-liquid from overseas sellers. In doing that, though, you’ll take the risk that your shipments will be seized by customs agents upon entering the country. In addition, many overseas vape shops will stop shipping to the United States when the ban commences.
• You can buy unflavored e-liquid and add flavors to it yourself.
• The flavor ban isn’t necessarily permanent for all products. If an e-liquid manufacturer submits a PMTA for a product – and that application is approved – the product will be legal to sell again.

Does vaping cause your lungs to collapse? If you read the Daily Mail, you’re probably convinced it does – but is there more to it? Let’s investigate…

First, however, we have to start from the genesis of this story. A few weeks back, a guy posted on social media that vaping his JUUL had caused one of his lungs to collapse. He had surgery to sort him out and, as far as I’m aware, he’s made a full recovery, which is great.

The man in question believed it was his JUUL habit that had caused his collapsed lung, a point the Daily Mail was quick to jump on. The Mail Online, as ever, did not check its sources, and it’s not entirely clear whether vaping had any role in his collapsed lung. More on that in a bit, though.

The Mail Online is a HUGE site, commanding tens of millions of visitors every week. The story of the man with the collapsed lung from “JUULing” quickly went viral and the anti-vaping zealots in the US had a field day with it. In fact, this story couldn’t have come at a better time for those looking to get vaping products banned from the market in the US.

So… Did Vaping Cause This Man’s Lung To Collapse?

It’s not entirely impossible that it didn’t, but careful research shows that it isn’t likely the JUUL played any part in the man’s collapsed lung. Why? Because the cause of the collapse, most likely, was a pre-existing and fairly common condition called spontaneous pneumothorax.

“Primary spontaneous pneumothorax is likely due to the formation of small sacs of air (blebs) in lung tissue that rupture, causing air to leak into the pleural space. The air in the pleural space creates pressure on the lung and can lead to its collapse,” said The National Institute of Health.

It added: “Blebs may be present on an individual’s lung (or lungs) for a long time before they rupture. Many things can cause a bleb to rupture, such as changes in air pressure or a very sudden deep breath. Often, people who experience a primary spontaneous pneumothorax have no prior sign of illness; the blebs themselves typically do not cause any symptoms and are visible only on medical imaging. Affected individuals may have one bleb to more than thirty blebs.”

Could vaping have played a factor? Possibly. But when you consider that there are over 42 million vapers worldwide and there hasn’t been another case of this documented, it stands to reason that the collapsed lung was most likely the result of a pre-existing condition that was already in play, regardless of the JUUL.

How common is spontaneous pneumothorax? According to NHI, each year, on average, 7.4 to 18 per 100,000 men, and 1.2 to 6 per 100,000 women are affected by the condition. Taking this into account, wouldn’t be seeing A LOT more of this kind of thing if vaping caused spontaneous pneumothorax? Like hundreds of thousands of cases a year? And big spikes in incidences that track alongside the rise of the vaping during the past several years?

Who’s most susceptible to spontaneous pneumothorax? Tall dudes, apparently, tall, skinny guys ages between 10 and 30 years old, according to Shi-ping Luh of the Department of Surgery at St. Martin de Porres Hospital in Taiwan. And guess what? Chance Ammirata is tall, skinny, and fits perfectly into this model.

I’m not down-playing the guy’s experience, so please, do not think that. Nor am I calling him a liar. Most likely, Ammirata put two and two together and got five – it was an easy mistake. It makes sense too; I mean, if I’d just started vaping and my lung collapsed, I’d sure as hell probably blame my vaping device. It’s a knee-jerk reaction that I guarantee 99.9% of us would make if put in the same situation.

The Problem With Viral Tweets

Chance’s tweet has been seen by millions of people now, and a good chunk of them will simply take what he’s saying as gospel – that vaping does cause your lungs to collapse. No one will have bothered to look into it properly. No one will have researched whether or not Ammirata had an existing condition. Instead, a conclusion, likely a false one, is drawn and disseminated to millions of people.

How many people went back to smoking after seeing this tweet? It’s impossible to track empirically, but I bet there’s a fair few thousand that saw it and immediately stopped vaping. And who can blame them? The Mail Online did such a good hatchet-job on the story. Did it mention spontaneous pneumothorax in its post? Of course, it didn’t. Instead, it used emotive words like “KILLED” rather than a more measured approach.

Granted, the Mail Online is a tabloid. It doesn’t deal with facts. But even so, the very fact that it basically blamed JUUL for an established medical condition that affects men of Chance’s age without even mentioning it in passing as a potential cause for what happened illustrates just how poor the standard of journalism is at the Mail Online.

Moral of the story? Don’t believe ANYTHING you read in the Mail Online. That kind of goes without saying these days. More importantly, make sure you do your own research around the subject of vaping. The MSM will not tell you the truth, so you’ll have to look elsewhere. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent researchers and places online to do this.

Take ALL these studies, for instance: 10 Pro Vaping Studies The FDA Doesn’t Want You To Know About.

The IQOS by Phillip Morris has been tested by Dr. Farsilinos to see how it compares to more traditional vape tanks and E Juice. Is it safer?

The IQOS is coming to America, and it’s FDA approved. Created by Big Tobacco giant Phillip Morris, the IQOS system runs on Marlboro tobacco sticks and will be sold in the USA via ALTRIA.

The IQOS is a heat-not-burn system, making it kind of a hybrid device. The tobacco is heated up and vapor is produced. It does not use E Juice like traditional vape devices.

The FDA has approved this device for sale. But as Dr. Farsilinos’ new study reveals, the IQOS is not as safe as traditional vape devices. In a study conducted using the Aspire Nautilus vape tank, Dr. Farsilinos found that the normal vape tank emitted substantially lower levels of carbonyls than the IQOS system.

IQOS vs Vape – Study Suggests Vape Tank & E Juice is Safer…

Here are the exact findings from the study:

“At the Health Canada Intense regimen, heated tobacco products emitted 5.0–6.4 μg/stick formaldehyde, 144.1–176.7 μg/stick acetaldehyde, 10.4–10.8 μg/stick acrolein, 11.0–12.8 μg/stick propionaldehyde and 1.9–2.0 μg/stick crotonaldehyde. Compared with the tobacco cigarette, levels were on average 91.6% lower for formaldehyde, 84.9% lower for acetaldehyde, 90.6% lower for acrolein, 89.0% lower for propionaldehyde and 95.3% lower for crotonaldehyde. The e‐cigarette emitted 0.5–1.0 μg/12 puffs formaldehyde, 0.8–1.5 μg/12 puffs acetaldehyde and 0.3–0.4 μg/12 puffs acrolein, but no propionaldehyde and crotonaldehyde. At more intense puffing regimens, formaldehyde was increased in heated tobacco products, but levels were three–fourfold lower compared with the tobacco cigarette.”

It is worth pointing out, however, that the IQOS system is still VASTLY safer than traditional cigarette smoking – over 90% in most cases. What’s odd, though, is that this study shows that the ONLY FDA approved vape on the market isn’t quite as safe as the ones the FDA is hellbent on removing from the market.

That’s odd, right? The IQOS is safer, but not quite as safe as the Aspire Nautilus running tobacco E Juice. You’d think this would be major news for policymakers at the FDA. You know, the guys that are supposedly in charge of public health in the USA.

In concluding the study, Dr. Farsilinos said: “The IQOS heated tobacco product emits substantially lower levels of carbonyls than a commercial tobacco cigarette (Marlboro Red) but higher levels than a Nautilus Mini e‐cigarette.”

Is IQOS Safe?

Big Tobacco’s Heat-Not-Burn IQOS Range of Devices

Yes, compared to cigarettes it is A LOT safer. Around 90% based on Dr. Farsilinos’ findings. But it is still not as safe as traditional vaping devices which not only taste better but are cheaper to run and come with actual flavors (at least for now).

The FDA won’t talk about this study; they probably won’t even acknowledge it. But it is definitely worthy of note given that the IQOS has been officially FDA approved, placing it alongside nicotine patches and gum.

And it’s STILL not as safe as what we’ve been vaping since 2014? Go figure! I think the most interesting thing about this study is that E Juice, when vaped, is less harmful than tobacco when it is heated. If I were a betting man, I’d have put my money on the former.

This kind of research NEEDS to get out into the public domain to quash all the silly, fake science that is being passed around by the FDA and its stooges in alleged anti-tobacco groups. Millions of lives can (and have) been saved by vaping. But we’re losing the battle on information; too many people think vaping is worse than smoking.

And the reason? A slew of fake, malicious, made-up bunk science claims from the FDA, Big Pharma, and Big Tobacco owned “action groups” like Tobacco Free Kids, whose entire existence depends on Big Tobacco profits (see the Master Settlement for more information). It’s all just money, folks. Money, money, money – and tax and excise duty!

When science shows something is safer than something else it should be celebrated and lauded as progression in public health. Instead, in the US, the more dangerous something gets FDA approved and the safer one is facing nation-wide bans. Put in that context, the entire system looks rigged…

Wake up, America. Before it’s too late.

And if you want my advice on what the best vape device is right now, it’s two-fold: #1) it’s definitely not the JUUL and #2) you’ll want to use something that is an open system, so you can use your own E Juice in it. My #1 picks right now for pod mods like JUUL, only much better, are detailed inside our Best Pod Vape Guide. Alternatively, you can use the table below (it’s from that post).

Also, be sure to check out the VapeBeat E Juice Store for all your E Juice and Nic Salts — prices start from as low as $8.99!

The FDA has now released its PTMA guidance and, as expected, it does nothing more than play into the hands of Big Tobacco…

The FDA’s PTMA guidance is now official, following pressure from federal courts to tackle the “issue” of teen vaping. With the PTMA now in place, vape manufacturers now have 10 months to submit their respective PTMA applications or face going out of business.

“The FDA’s ongoing oversight of e-cigarettes and other ENDS products is critical to our public health mission and, especially, to protect kids from the dangers of nicotine and tobacco-related disease and death. The FDA is committed to providing a solid, science-based regulatory foundation to ensure that ENDS products authorized for marketing are appropriate for the protection of public health,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless, M.D.

He added: “The final guidance issued today provides companies seeking to market e-cigarette and ENDS products with recommendations to consider as they prepare a premarket tobacco product application to help the FDA evaluate the public health benefits and harms of a product. There are no authorized e-cigarettes currently on the market and we encourage companies to use this valuable document now as a guide to submit applications. At the same time, the public can be assured that the FDA has been and will continue to take all necessary actions to protect children as part of our Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan, including maintaining our focus on enforcement actions and policies aimed at ensuring e-cigarettes aren’t being marketed to, sold to or used by kids.”

It’s also worth noting that NO vape companies have ever submitted a PTMA and around 99.9% of them will not inside the next 10 months. Why? Simple: the application process costs millions of dollars, and most vape companies don’t have that kind of cash…

In fact, the ONLY companies that will be able to submit PTMA applications are Big Tobacco – brands like Philip Morris. Furthermore, Philip Morris is the ONLY company to so far submit a PTMA application for its IQOS vaping device. And that thing is terrible.

The #1 Problem With The PTMA Guidance

The number one issue with the PTMA bill is the cost associated with it; individual applications cost millions. And if you have to do 10 or 20? Yeah, that’s going to cost you around $20 million. And even the biggest vape brands don’t have that kind of cash lying around.

But the fun doesn’t end there; the PTMA application process, while costing millions, can take up to TWO YEARS to process. And even when it’s been processed, there are ZERO guarantees that your product will pass. Oh, and the FDA doesn’t do refunds, either.

The net result of all of this, if it’s allowed to happen, is that hundreds of US vape companies will go out of business; thousands of people will lose their jobs, and America will look utterly stupid in the eyes of nations like the UK that are now actively embracing vaping as the #1 tool for killing smoking within a generation.

Is The FDA Actually On Vaping’s Side?

The knee-jerk reaction to bring forward the PTMA date, a whole two years, thanks to the work of “entities” like the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and Truth Initiative, was recently described by the FDA as “counter-productive”.

What does this mean? Well, it seems as if the FDA is aware of the health benefits associated with vaping and doesn’t want the entire industry killed overnight. The federal courts aren’t playing ball, however, and are pushing for the PTMA rules to take effect in 10 months’ time.

The FDA’s counter to the court was simple, yet effective: shutting down the vaping industry would have dire effects for America’s public health, forcing tens of thousands of vapers back to smoking. Crazy. I never thought the FDA would be fighting in the vaping industry’s corner. But this is now what’s happening; and, I guess, you could maybe call that progress.

And yet, despite all this, it’s looking likely that the PTMA will come into effect as scheduled by the federal court, meaning ALL vape companies will have to submit applications to stay in business.

“Preparing and satisfying a PMTA is no easy task, with applications that are millions of pages long, costing millions in resources, and requiring significant scientific support,” financial analyst Ryan Tompkins said, according to Convenience Store News. “It is highly likely now that, with the PMTA deadline being brought forward further, small vapor manufacturers would not be able to satisfy the requirements and will need to remove their products from the market.”

The Elephant In The Room…

All of this is very depressing, as I’m sure you’re well aware. But the thing that stings the most is that cigarettes have never been scrutinized like this – not once! They were simply grandfathered in and allowed to kills hundreds of thousands of people a year ad infinitum.

But as soon as we have a truly remarkable product that benefits public health, stops decades-long smoking habits overnight, and is 95% safer than smoking, the federal court and FDA step in to REMOVE IT from the market!? You honestly couldn’t make this stuff up…

Why does vaping – and not smoking – have to prove its benefit to public health? How is that EVEN a question? Vaping has been shown time and time again to be 95% safer than smoking. If the federal government ACTUALLY cared about your well-being, and your kid’s well being, it would do what it should have done decades ago – ban cigarettes.

But, no, that’ll never happen. Not while the federal government is actively sharing in the profitability of Big Tobacco. And if that doesn’t make your blood boil, nothing will. Millions of jobs, millions of peoples’ health, sold down the river for nothing more than the fact that the federal government is addicted to Big Tobacco profits.

Will this kill vaping in the USA? Officially, yes. But then there’ll be a black market, powered by imports from China, that the FDA and Feds do not have the resources to police. People will go to jail because of this, and for what? Providing a safer alternative to smoking? Utter insanity.

In the meantime, make sure you check out the VapeBeat Juice Store while you still can! Use VAPEBEAT15 for 15% on your first order!

Law makers and bureaucrats are in the business of peddling lies, and when it comes to vaping they’ve got it all wrong – and the science is there to prove it…

Back in the day, circa 1940s onwards, Big Tobacco decided that in order to market cigarettes to the masses, it needed to make them look cool. To do this, they used simple tactics: get famous people to smoke and the masses will follow.

Product placement, a totally unregulated thing in the golden age of cinema, was Big Tobacco’s marketing playground. Nearly every film from the 1950s onwards featured smoking. James Dean? Marlon Brando? Paul Newman? Audrey Hepburn – they all smoked in films and real life.

But it didn’t stop there. Big Tobacco even had doctors on its payroll. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, doctors – meaning your local family physician – would happily recommend smoking as a solution to deal with “chesty coughs” and “stress”. They even used the GIs overseas during WW2, sending them FREE cigarettes as part of the “war effort”.

The net effect? Tens of millions of Americans addicted to cigarettes. And this trend would go unchecked until the mid-to-late 1980s, when tobacco companies were finally ousted for what they were – mongers of death.

Enter Vaping – AKA The #1 Tool For Killing Cigarettes

Since the early 1980s, smoking rates have been on the decline in the UK and USA. The fall has been steady, but it wasn’t exactly rapid. In the UK, upwards of 45% of people smoked in 1974. By 2014, that figure had dropped to just 14%, a huge difference.

But a closer look at the data, tells a rather different story. Between the years 1990 to 2010, the smoking rate amongst UK adults remained more or less flat – around 20%. Then something happened around 2012-2014 which shaved off another couple of percentage points.

And what was that? Most likely the rise of vaping devices. Things didn’t really pick up until around 2013/14. People either didn’t know or didn’t trust ecigs. But since then, attitudes have changed in the UK and this has helped the company achieve record lows for smoking between the years 2014 and 2019.

And In The USA They Want To Ban Vaping – But Not Cigarettes…

In complete contrast to the successes the UK is having with vaping, in America it is now viewed as enemy #1 by state officials and governors. San Francisco has just instigated the first ever, state-wide ban on ALL vape products, and many more will follow suit.

And the reason? Made up stories about teen vaping, which have been debunked numerous times by researchers and public health activists. Their official line is that they don’t want another generation getting addicted to nicotine, which is fine. But the problem is they haven’t banned cigarettes…

Why? Money – US states are addicted to Big Tobacco profits. This is the only reason why you can still buy cigarettes in San Francisco, but not vaping devices. And do not let anyone else tell you different. It’s not about kids. It’s not because they care. It’s because of money and Big Tobacco’s powerful lobbyists in Washington.

Vape Companies Market To Kids (Oh, Really…)

Do vape companies target kids? This is a constant point made by anti-vapers – and in some cases they have a point. But the elephant in the room is that it is ILLEGAL for minors to vape; we have laws for a reason ,after all. But the idea that evil vape companies are actively targeting kids is, frankly, absurd. All they’re doing is following a well-worn marketing playbook.

Case in point: just take a look at how alcohol is marketed… I mean, how does any of the below NOT appeal to kids?

EVERYBODY Markets To Kids. It’s The American Way (Image Source)

According to the FDA’s logic, ALL vapes should taste like cigarettes. Why? No one really knows. It’d be like saying ALL electric cars have to make an engine noise just so no one feels too startled by the shift in technology.

For this reason, and following the FDA’s logic, how come alcohol, a substance that takes many lives every single year, is allowed to be marketed as if it were a soft drink? Ditto fast food, another big killer in America. I mean, where is the consistency?

Even the FDA’s now-defunct leader, Scott Gottlieb, said the following about e-cigarettes: “If you can fully switch every currently addicted adult smoker who is using combustible tobacco products onto e-cigarettes, you will have a profound impact on public health. And some people are able to switch completely. We think that is a public health benefit.”

And yet… we’re now looking at bans in San Francisco? How does this even happen? The FDA has flat-out admitted that ecigs are better for the nation than a smoking habit, and yet it is vaping devices that are being vilified while you can still freely buy cigarettes.

Meanwhile, in the UK, vaping is now being pushed as the #1 tool to kill off smoking inside a generation. And the reason? I guess it’s partly down to the fact that the UK isn’t reliant on Big Tobacco profits to fund its states…

The San Francisco vape ban (and that’s a TOTAL vape ban, by the way) is looking ever more likely, proving once again that nut-job virtue signallers cannot be trusted when it comes to public health…

Get ready. The San Francisco vape ban is starting to take shape. And this isn’t a small ban either. No. It’s a TOTAL ban on all ecigs and vape devices from being sold in B&M stores and online – and it includes hardware as well (so, mods and tanks).

And if this sounds crazy to you, well, you’re in good company. Banning vape sales in San Francisco, while allowing cigarettes to still be sold, is utterly insane. I mean, think about it: one kills half a million people a year, the other is known to be 95% safer…

And yet it has been banned. On top of this, you can readily buy marijuana in San Francisco, and heroin users get access to safe injection sites. But for those looking to stop smoking with a safer alternative? No dice…

San Francisco Goes To War With JUUL

JUUL, a native company of San Francisco, is the #1 reason this bill has been instigated. San Francisco, obsessed with made-up facts about teen vaping, sees JUUL as enemy number one. The state-wide ban on vape products is designed to destroy the company, now worth $16 billion.

But JUUL will fight back. According to reports, JUUL is leading a ballot initiative to overturn the vape ban. It has enough signatures to make its case before the bill is decided in November. JUUL wants the bill totally voided, a move that would be a huge win for public health and vapers in the San Francisco area.

The reason this is happening is because of the FDA’s made up “teen vaping epidemic” – a theory that has been debunked more times than the flat earth – is now being peddled as gospel by the autocrats at the top of the greasy pole.

But all it is is rhetoric. They don’t care about harm reduction. In fact, the suits in San Fran are probably just toeing the line, completely unaware that these lies are nothing more than a ploy to protect big Pharma interests like Johnson & Johnson.

Unfortunately for vapers, rhetoric is the language of the gods in the US, and they’re pushing this one hard, so it looks as if millions of people in the San Francisco area will be denied access to life-saving technology.

Why?

Because some kids might have tried a vape…

Also: please keep in mind that should this ban come into effect you will still be able to buy cigarettes all over San Francisco. And lest we forget: cigarettes kill almost 500,000 people in the US every year.

When Will The San Francisco Vape Ban Take Place?

The bill has been proposed  and voted on – San Francisco wants the vape ban. If all goes to plan, vaping products will be banned from November onwards in San Francisco City.

New York and San Francisco are now calling the FDA to expedite its efforts in getting “vapes” reviewed. On top of this, ALL vape products will then have to be FDA approved, you know, like Monsanto’s GMO products that destroy your insides and our soil, before they’re allowed to be sold to the public.

Also: the cost of putting in one of these applications to FDA runs into the millions, meaning pretty much 99.9% of vape companies would go out of business. Even the big tobacco-backed vape companies like JUUL would struggle to get this done because, even if you stump up the cash, there are no guarantees on timeframes or approvals.

Can The FDA Even Regulate Electronic Products!?

Here’s a brain twister for you: can the FDA actually legislate hardware products? I get E Juice, as it’s consumable. But an RDA? A vape mod? What does this have to do with the FDA?

Think about it: a mechanical, electronic product is neither food nor drug. Surely, a device like this cannot fall under the prevue of the FOOD AND DRUG administration?

It’d be like the FDA suddenly regulating iPhones because kids were snorting lines off them. Bad example, I know, but you get the idea.

Want Some Good News?

San Francisco is small. You can walk across the city inside an hour. The effect of this ban would be annoying, but not a total death knell to vaping in the area, as you could simply drive to the next city and buy your stuff there instead.

This should NOT be allowed to happen though.

Denying tax-paying, adult smokers access to life-saving products for no good reason, other than a bald-faced lie, is tantamount to gross misconduct on the part of these city officials.

What right do they have?

And then there’s the 800-pound gorilla in the room: these people don’t give a damn about cigarettes being sold in the area. A product that is known to kill 500,000 people a year.

You honestly couldn’t make this stuff up…

In the meantime, I’d stock up on supplies if you’re in the San Francisco area. Make sure you check out the VapeBeat Juice Store – 30ml bottles for $8.99; 120ml for $19.99.