Document ID: FDA-2014-N-0189-8551
Agency: fda
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2014-06-18T04:00Z

Comment Info: =================

General Comment:Dear Mr. Zeller:

I am writing as an individual consumer to request an extension of the comment period for the Food and Drug Administration's ("FDA") Proposed Rule Deeming Tobacco Products to be Subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as amended by the Family Smoking and Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (the "Proposed Rule") published at 79 Fed. Reg. 23,142 and Federal Register No. 2014-09491. On behalf of myself, I am requesting that the comment period for the Proposed Rule be extended by the FDA for an additional 105 days, from its current 75-day period, to 180 days.

The Proposed Rule raises a number of significant issues and questions that are important and relevant to me, as a consumer of products that are proposed for regulation under the Proposed Rule. The Proposed Rule asks about a hundred different questions I might want to respond to. I want to provide my thoughts and comments on many of these issues, but my time to devote to researching and providing thoughtful comments on these important questions is limited. I have already spent many hours researching and dissecting these issues, but they take time. I know that the FDA took many years to even come up with the Proposed Rule, so I do not think it is at all unreasonable to allow the public a mere six months to comment on it. This is our only opportunity, as consumers, to provide our feedback. 

As part of the vaping community, I feel that it is very important to fight what we believe in and what is to come. My personal story is that I started smoking cigarettes when I turned 18 and after smoking one cigarette I was addicted, and I couldn't stop. This resulting in after just a few short months of smoking, my bronchial system started to shut down. I had to find an alternative to this, and vaping was it. I started at a very high nicotine level at first with vaping, but now today I am at the lowest nicotine level that there is. I also have noticed that I am not craving the nicotine as much as I was when I was using cigarettes. I have noticed an improvement in my health and my physical appearance. When I was using cigarettes I broke out with a severe case of acne and my lungs hurt all the time. Vaping has helped me quit cigarettes and I haven’t had a cigarette in a little over a year and a half now. Once I knew that amazing affect that vaping did for me, I wanted to get into the business to help other people with an alternative. I am now a head manager for a lab where we make our own e-juice. Vaping has made my life more enjoyable and let alone, saved my life. I am a newly father and with cigarettes there was no guarantee that I would see my child for the first time. So I ask you to give us the time, as a vaping community, to stand up and say our side of the story.

I appreciate your consideration of my request and thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey James Osorio