VANGO VAPES NEEDS YOUR HELP!

In the US, March 22 is a critical deadline for what vapers have come to know as the Cole-Bishop Amendment. Otherwise known as HR 1136, this piece of legislation will change the predicate date of the FDA deeming regulations from February 15, 2007 to August 8, 2016 should the bill pass congress..

This legislation has passed through the House Appropriations Committee, and is in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee right now awaiting review.

We urge our senators to pass the Cole-Bishop Amendment. In doing so, the Appropriations Committee would be forced to change the predicate date in the 2018 budget automatically.

LEADING THE WAY
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Simply travel to the [CASAA Call to Action webpage] [casaa1], type in your name and address, and the email addresses of your local congressperson and two state senators will automatically appear in a pre-written, CASAA-created message. The email will state the following, but you can also edit it or add to it, if you like.

Dear Official,
Please support the inclusion of Section 753 (aka the Cole-Bishop Amendment) in the House Agricultural Appropriations Bill in the final appropriations package for the 2018 US budget. This provision would modernize the 2007 predicate date that vapor products will be subject to once the FDA deeming rule takes full effect in 2022. If the predicate date is not changed, nearly all vapor products will be taken off the market as no one except a few large companies can afford the premarket application process.
Opponents to a predicate date change — many of whom were instrumental in creating the original grandfather date that protected tobacco companies from certain collapse — claim that changing the predicate date will take away FDA’s ability to regulate e-cigarettes, but that is simply not true. This will not impact the FDA’s current authority to regulate these products, nor will it prevent the agency from implementing useful guidelines and regulations in the future.
The Cole-Bishop amendment makes a reasonable accommodation for products newly deemed to be tobacco to serve as predicate products based on the date they are brought under FDA’s jurisdiction. This simple clarification of FDA’s authority will allow millions of consumers continued access to a less harmful alternative to combustible tobacco and ensure that thousands of small businesses across the country will be able to continue to contribute to the economy.
As a vapor products consumer, it is vitally important to me that the diversity of quality products currently on the market is maintained. Millions of Americans like me have experienced remarkable and important health benefits by switching to these very low-risk, smoke-free products. (You can read thousands of testimonials here: testimonials.casaa.org.) It should be a public health priority that millions more have access to the same experience.
I look forward to your response on this issue. I, along with my fellow members of CASAA (Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association), thank you for considering these comments and urge you to support including a provision to modernize the predicate date for vapor products in the final 2018 appropriations bill.”

If you haven’t already, please visit the Vapor Technology Association Twitter  and Facebook accounts, and then share the videos and posts to your pages. Here is a useful link to encourage people through email or social media to take action now:  [http://actnow.io/Cole-Bishop]

https://twitter.com/VaporTechAssoc "Vapor Technology Association on Twitter"
https://www.facebook.com/VaporTechAssoc/ "Vapor Technology Association on Facebook"
 http://actnow.io/Cole-Bishop "http://actnow.io/Cole-Bishop"

To find twitter accounts for US Senators, simply click this link and find your state in this list of current Sitting US Senate Twitter Accounts, it couldn't be easier!

US Senator Twitter Accounts, 115th Congress (Updated 1/3/18)]

https://www.socialseer.com/resources/us-senator-twitter-accounts/ "115th US Senate Twitter Accounts"

Here are some sample Social Media posts, this time aimed at Washington Senator Patty Murray. Simply substitute your senators for the twitter handle here.

@PattyMurray please support #ColeBishop to create products standards for vaping – we want safety and clarity in our products

@PattyMurray Congress should support Cole-Bishop and support smoke-free options

@PattyMurray Support Cole-Bishop and protect kids from vaping! #ColeBishop

@PattyMurray #colebishop makes it harder for minors to get their hands on vapor products. Why wouldn’t you support it? #commonsense

@PattyMurray I smoked for years – vaping saved my life. Protect access to smoke-free options with #ColeBishop

@PattyMurray vaping helps adult smokers, like me, quit smoking. Now we need sensible regulation of the growing vapor industry. I ask you to support Cole-Bishop Amendment

@PattyMurray support #ColeBishop and require "keep out of Reach of Children" and Underage Sale prohibited language on labeling 

 Way to go VanGo VAPEFAM! And thanks to the folks at CASAA for preparing so much background material! Getting involved in the War on Vaping has never been easier. We urge all of our readers to travel to the CASAA Call to Action page and contact your elected officials. The entire process only takes about 5-seconds! Please urge Congress to support the Cole-Bishop Amendment. March 22 may be our last chance!