Tag: Taxpayers Protection Alliance

  • Taxpayer Group Files Amicus Brief in Triton Case

    Taxpayer Group Files Amicus Brief in Triton Case

    Image: hafakot

    The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) submitted an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Wages and White Lion Investments case, challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of e-cigarettes under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA). The TPA argues that the FDA’s actions have been arbitrary, capricious and detrimental to public health.

    The brief contends that the TCA’s standard for determining what is “appropriate for the protection of the public health” is unconstitutionally vague, providing insufficient guidance to regulated entities and delegating excessive authority to the FDA. This vagueness has led to unpredictable enforcement, adversely affecting both taxpayers and adults who smoke and are seeking safer alternatives to conventional cigarettes.

    Furthermore, the TPA criticizes the FDA for failing to recognize the significant benefits of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool, as acknowledged by leading health organizations such as Public Health England. According to the TPA, the TCA is clear on the need for the FDA to consider the impact of e-cigarettes on smoking cessation, yet the agency has abjectly failed to undertake this analysis. The TPA highlights the FDA’s stringent regulatory approach and high denial rates for new e-cigarette products, which the group says stifle market diversity and limit consumer choice, particularly harming adults who smoke and who might benefit from less harmful alternatives.

    The TPA also notes the FDA’s disregard for market realities and consumer preferences, particularly the benefits of open-system e-cigarettes that allow for customization and have been shown to be more effective for quitting smoking.

    The TPA urges the Supreme Court to uphold the 5th Circuit’s decision, affirming that the FDA’s regulatory approach under the TCA is arbitrary and capricious and violates due process. The TPA calls for a regulatory framework that adequately considers the benefits of e-cigarettes and gives regulated parties fair notice of how their products will be evaluated.

  • Taxpayers Group Holds ‘Counter COP’ in Panama

    Taxpayers Group Holds ‘Counter COP’ in Panama

    Photo: TPA

    Concurrent with the 10the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which takes place in Panama City this week, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is hosting an event at the Central Hotel Panama under the name “Good Cop/Bad Cop.” The event will be livestreamed on TPA’s YouTube channel.

    Good COP will feature nearly two dozen tobacco harm reduction experts, representing 14 different countries and highlighting some of the leading experts on consumer issues, national and global policies, and the science surrounding harm reduction.

    Throughout the event, TPA and the Good COP participants will be monitoring the WHO’s meeting and providing running commentary via livestreams, media interviews, blogs, and social media.

    “The taxpayer-funded WHO ignores science and puts billions of smokers at risk of not having access to life-saving technology to quit smoking,” said TPA’s President, David William in a statement.

    “The participants of Good COP will hold the WHO accountable for denying life-saving access to tobacco harm reduction products and denying access to the public and media to these meetings. “In real time, harm reduction experts from around the globe will be fact-checking and providing commentary on the WHO’s anti-science agenda at COP10.”

  • New Analysis of Vape Industry Covers All 50 U.S. States

    New Analysis of Vape Industry Covers All 50 U.S. States

    The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has released new data on the vaping industry for all 50 U.S. states. TPA analyst Lindsey Stroud says that the analysis includes state specific information on tobacco and vapor product use among adults and youth in all 50 states, as well as Washington D.C. Each state paper examines smoking rates among adults in the respective, youth use of tobacco and vapor products, and the effectiveness of tobacco settlement payments, taxes, and vapor products on reducing combustible cigarette use, according to the report.

    Credit: Andy M

    One section, Youth Tobacco and Vapor Rates, examines most state level youth vapor and tobacco rates, including identifying ever, current, and daily use. “It also provides an analysis on the reduction of youth combustible cigarette use among the years, which, as identified by this series, is at all time lows,” Stroud states in the report.

    In another section, Vapor Product Emergence and Young Adult Smoking Rates, Stroud examines the efficacy of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool and analyzed smoking rates among 18- to 24-year-old adults in the 10 years after suing tobacco companies and compares it to smoking rates in the 10 years after e-cigarettes’ market emergence, which is identified in the period between 2009 and 2012.

    “In this 50-state analysis, as well as D.C., 46 states and the District of Columbia, saw greater decreases in smoking rates among young adults in the 10 years after e-cigarette market emergence, compared to the 10 years after tobacco settlement lawsuits,” Stroud states. “In the four outliers, smoking rates only increased among 18- to 24-year-old adults after policymakers increased scrutiny over e-cigarettes due to youth use.”

    The TPA is a non-profit non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy, according to its website. The analysis concludes with a section on policy implications, graphs of young adult smoking rates and tobacco monies, and a list of references.