Tag: American Vapor Manufacturers Association

  • AVM to Hold Public Forum With CTP Director King

    AVM to Hold Public Forum With CTP Director King

    Brian King / Credit: FDA

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products Director Brian King will participate in an open discussion with the vaping industry in late February.

    The virtual event will be moderated by American Vapor Manufacturers Association (AVM) legislative director Gregory Conley and newly-named AVM vice president Allison Boughner.

    “The Future of Vaping in the US: A Conversation with FDA’s Dr. Brian King” will be held on Feb. 24 at 1:00 p.m. EST, and is open to the public. Participants must register in advance, and AVM has provided an opportunity to submit questions for King.

    King has been quiet since memos recently submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit show that he reversed a recommended marketing approval of Logic Technology’s menthol vaping products, ignoring the advice of FDA scientists, according to Logic’s lawyers. 

  • AVM Asks for Ethics Investigation Into Dick Durbin

    AVM Asks for Ethics Investigation Into Dick Durbin

    Dick Durbin and Center for Tobacco Products Director Brian King (Photo: The office of Senator Dick Durbin)

    The American Vapor Manufacturers Association (AVM) has requested that the Senate Ethics Committee investigate Illinois Senator Dick Durbin for allegedly violating Senate rules by attempting to improperly influence U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientific decisions about vaping products, according to Vaping360.

    On Oct. 14, the AVM delivered a letter to the chair and vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics that alleged Durbin pressured the FDA to ban all vaping products despite the agency’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) review process.

    Citing Durbin’s track record (urging the FDA to ban vapor products via letters, Senate floor speeches, press releases and private meetings) the AVM says it believes Durbin attempted “to interfere with and influence the outcome of an ongoing executive branch agency review process in violation of Senate Ethics rules.”

    “Senator Durbin’s arrogant bullying has now become a grave threat to public health.”

    Amanda Wheeler, president, AVM

    “Senator Durbin’s arrogant bullying has now become a grave threat to public health,” AVM President Amanda Wheeler said in a press release. “At a time when trust in public health authorities is already shaky, Durbin’s shameful campaign to hijack federal policy on this crucial health issue should come to an immediate end.”

    The letter to the Senate committee marks the second time this year that the AVM has asked a government body to investigate corruption of the FDA PMTA review process.

    According to Vaping360, the ethics committee is unlikely to seriously investigate Durbin or cite him for misconduct; Durbin is Senate Majority Whip, making him the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Democratic-led body.

  • ‘We Vape, We Vote’ Bus Tour Kicks Off in Arizona

    ‘We Vape, We Vote’ Bus Tour Kicks Off in Arizona

    Credit: AVM

    A new bus tour to promote vaping in the U.S. began on Oct. 8. The event kicked off at American Vapor Manufacturers (AVM) president Amanda Wheeler’s vape shop, Jvapes Vape & Smoke Shop in Prescott, Arizona.

    “Every American should have the right to use vaping to quit cigarettes. Critical health decisions should be up to the individual. Not the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration]. Not the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]. And certainly not nanny-state politicians in Congress,” the We Vape, We vote website states. “This fundamental belief underlies our entire effort. That’s why we need leaders who recognize vaping as a powerful harm reduction tool and the single most effective smoking cessation device ever created.”

    The tour is designed to coincide with the midterm elections, and is intended to “amplify the voices of vapers in the 2022 elections,” according to Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), the Washington, D.C.-based organization sponsoring the tour. Events will include “rallies at vape shops, voter registration drives, discussions with lawmakers” and more, says ATR.

    Alongside ATR and the AVM, the U.S. vape trade groups joining the tour are the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA) and the Iowa Vape Association.

    “Events will be covered by local media and promoted on our social media accounts, sending a clear message to lawmakers in state and federal legislatures that vaping saves lives and America’s vapers vote accordingly,” says ATR.

    The tour will make 13 stops in 13 states, including Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

    The entire schedule can be found at WeVapeWeVote.org website.

  • Wheeler: FDA Understates PMTA Acceptance Numbers

    Wheeler: FDA Understates PMTA Acceptance Numbers

    Amanda Wheeler (Credit: AVM)

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is understating the number of non-tobacco nicotine (NTN)-related premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) it has accepted for review in order to avoid criticism from tobacco control groups that seek prohibition of all vaping products, reports Vaping360, citing American Vapor Manufacturers Association (AVM) President Amanda Wheeler.

    On Sept. 8, the FDA announced it has accepted over 350 PMTAs (out of nearly 1 million applications) for NTN products. Wheeler insists that AVM member companies alone have received acceptance letters for 4,700 PMTA submissions.

    “Once again the FDA and its Center for Tobacco Products are misleading the public and press on crucial data and methods in its approval process for vaping products,” Wheeler said in a statement. “The figures stated in its press release today on synthetic nicotine applications are demonstrably inconsistent with FDA letters to our own members indicating many thousands more applications successfully filed than FDA now claims.”

    An acceptance letter indicates that the application has met the basic requirements to move forward in the review process. It does not authorize the applicant to market the product.

    The AVM also says the FDA altered required PMTA forms close to the submission deadline to disqualify already-submitted applications. According to Wheeler, the application forms were “abruptly altered” without public notice, “apparently as a means to disqualify wide swaths of already-filed applications.”

    In March, U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation authorizing the FDA to regulate synthetic nicotine products. Manufacturers had until May 14 to submit PMTAs, and were given two additional months to continue selling products with pending PMTAs. When the grace period ended July 13, all synthetic nicotine-based products became subject to FDA enforcement.