Tag: US Congress

  • U.S. Representative Demands FDA Hand Over CBD Data

    U.S. Representative Demands FDA Hand Over CBD Data

    Credit: Anankkml

    The chairman of a congressional committee is demanding that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration turn over documents relating to the agency’s decision not to regulate CBD products.

    Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf on Monday, announcing an investigation into the agency’s decision and criticizing the “insufficient rationale for inaction” on CBD regulations.

    The agency said in January that, after years of review since hemp and its derivatives like CBD were legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, it determined that there is not a regulatory pathway in place to enact rules allowing the non-intoxicating cannabinoid to be marketed as a food item or dietary supplement.

    It said that congressional action is required to develop CBD regulations, according to Marijuana Moment.

    Prior to that announcement, Comer had pledged to confront FDA over the lack of regulations for cannabidiol in his capacity as Oversight Committee chairman.

    “CBD is an increasingly popular product among adults and has seen an uptick in usage in recent years,” the letter to Califf says, adding that the World Health Organization (WHO) has found CBD to be generally safe and well-tolerated.

    The chairman listed “documents and information” that he’s asking FDA to provide to the committee by May 1:

    • All documents, communications, and drafts related to the January 26 announcement titled “FDA Concludes that Existing Regulatory Frameworks for Foods and Supplements are Not Appropriate for Cannabidiol, Will Work with Congress on a New Way Forward.”
    • All documents and communications relating to the FDA’s assessment of the existing regulatory framework at issue regarding CBD.
    • All scientific data, reports, and research in the possession of the FDA relating to the safety of CBD products for consumption.

    Congressional lawmakers in the U.S. have refiled a pair of bills meant to provide a pathway for the regulation of hemp derivatives like CBD as dietary supplements and food and beverage additives.

  • Congress Seeks to Close E-Cigarette Ad Loophole

    Congress Seeks to Close E-Cigarette Ad Loophole

    For more than five decades, tobacco ads have been prohibited on radio, but advertising for e-cigarettes and other vaping related products have made their way onto the airwaves in recent years.

    In an effort to make such marketing less attractive, the U.S. Congress wants to close a tax loophole that allows manufacturers to claim federal tax deductions for the cost of advertising for e-cigarettes and tobacco products. That includes the ads they buy on the radio.

    Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal have reintroduced the No Tax Subsidies for E-Cigarette and Tobacco Ads Act (S. 464), which if passed would not make the direct-to-consumer ads illegal, but would end the ability for companies to take tax deductions for advertising expenses related to vaping and other tobacco products, according to Insider Radio.

    “Tax breaks for tobacco and e-cigarette giants allow the industry to profit from its manipulative marketing,” Blumenthal said. “Our legislation ends these write-offs to protect kids and other consumers from being lured into lifetimes of addiction.”

    Radio and television advertising for traditional tobacco products has been banned under federal law since January 1971, and certain other forms of tobacco advertising are restricted under the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. However, none of these restrictions apply to e-cigarettes. 

  • Lawmakers Press Acting FDA Chief on Flavored Vapes

    Lawmakers Press Acting FDA Chief on Flavored Vapes

    The acting US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock on Wednesday was pushed by members of the U.S. Congress to ban all flavored e-cigarettes, saying the sweet and fruity flavors are attracting too many children and teens.

    Credit: Kurgu 128

    However, Woodcock would not assure lawmakers on whether the agency plans to ban or otherwise limit the sale of flavored vapes later this year. The agency has until September 9 to decide. When pressed multiple times over the course of the hearing, Woodcock would not commit to denying premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) for flavored vaping products at this time, according to CNN.

    “While I can’t predict the future, I think that might be likely. We also would have to, regardless, limit advertising and sales in targeting children and other practices,” Woodcock said, adding that the FDA will look at the scientific evidence. “As I have said already, I can’t prejudge the scientific,” she said, before being cut off.

    During the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing, Rep. Katie Porter asked if the FDA banned all flavored e-cigarettes, would less kids continue to vape, among those who have started. “If kids have the choices of any tasty flavor, they’re going to go for it, and I’m speaking to you from experience here as a mom of three school-aged kids,” Porter said. “If there were no watermelon snow cones, my kids are happy with blue raspberry. No blue raspberry? They’ll take mango. No mango? They’ll take strawberry. But if their only choice was a brown, tobacco-flavored snow cone, they are going to walk away.”

    Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, said after the hearing he felt Woodcock would do as Democratic members of Congress wished. “I am more optimistic than ever that Commissioner Woodcock will do the right thing and deny the premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA) for all flavored vaping products, and all high-nicotine vaping products,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement.

    Woodcock also suggested at the hearing that e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. played a significant role in creating a youth vaping epidemic. When asked if Juul was “the e-cigarette company most responsible for creating this epidemic.” Woodcock replied that it does “appear” to be the case.

    Woodcock would also not commit to removing menthol-flavored e-cigarette products from the US market, even though she said she believes menthol flavoring could heighten the effects of nicotine.

    “I was so pleased that you banned menthol combustible cigarettes, which was the right thing to do,” Krishnamoorthi said during the hearing. “Will you pledge to clear the market of menthol e-cigarettes?”

    “I can’t prejudge our decisions,” Woodcock replied.

  • Lawmaker Brings Back Bill for Vapor Usage Reporting

    Lawmaker Brings Back Bill for Vapor Usage Reporting

    Utah Rep. Chris Stewart has joined two other members of U.S. Congress to reintroduce a bipartisan bill aimed at providing more accurate information regarding electronic cigarette use. Presently, electronic health records (EHRs) allow doctors to record whether a patient uses traditional cigarettes or cigars, however, there are no options for e-cigarette or other harm reduction products, according to a press release from Stewart’s office.

    Credit: Lazy Llama

    The bill, called the Accurate Reporting of Smoking Variants Act, would require the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to ensure that the electronic health records include options for vapor products and other reduced harm variants, such as heat tobacco products.

    According to the press release, the change would allow for health care providers and researchers to better understand the prevalence of e-cigarette usage, understand the long-term health impacts of these products, and develop strategies to curb vaping among young people.

    “Young people in Utah and across the country are using e-cigs at alarming rates,” said Stewart. “I’m proud to reintroduce this bipartisan bill in an effort to take concrete steps to reverse this trend. There’s no denying it: This is a public health crisis that demands action. Let’s give health providers and researches the tools they need to ensure a healthier America for future generations.”

    Co-sponsoring the bill along with Stewart are Reps. David Trone of Maryland and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois.

  • Trump Sends Back Bill With U.S. Post Office Ban on ENDS

    Trump Sends Back Bill With U.S. Post Office Ban on ENDS

    President Donald Trump has sent back to Congress a Covid-19 relief bill that included language to ban the U.S. Post Office (USPO) from mailing vapor products.Trump had the authority to use a line item veto on the provision and still pass the larger bill, however, he sent the bill back to Congress in its entirety saying he would not sign the proposal without $2,000 individual payments to taxpayers.

    Congress banned all electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products from being mailed by the USPS on Monday. The rule change was lumped into the Covid-19/ omnibus budget bill passed yesterday. The proposal, collectively called the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.

    The updated provision redefines the word “cigarette” under the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT Act), which is part of the federal Jenkins Act, to include ENDS products.

    By including ENDS products within the PACT Act, manufacturers and retailers will be banned from shipping vaping products to consumers using the USPS within the next 120 days. All orders of vaping products will be required to ship using an alternate (and considerably more expensive) service that verifies the recipient of a package is at least 21 years old.

    Beginning 90 days after enactment, all online retailers also will be required to file monthly reports with native, state and local governments disclosing the identity, address and product received for all customers, as well as remit any excise taxes owed.

    Many vaping industry advocates are angered by the text of the proposal because legislators used an expansive definition of what qualifies as an “electronic nicotine delivery system” that seems to include products that may not contain nicotine. The term “means any electronic device that, through an aerosolized solution, delivers nicotine, flavor, or any other substance to the user inhaling from the device,” the legislation states.

    Greg Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, said that despite the inclusion of the word “nicotine,” the definition used in the bill is so broad that it appears to capture vaping liquids containing CBD and standalone devices intended for vaping THC or other substances.

    “The sponsors of this legislation repeatedly refused to consider common sense amendments that would have protected youth, while also not needlessly shutting down small businesses. Thanks to their intransigence, the language included in the omnibus is so sloppily drafted that it will also ban the USPS from shipping CBD liquids intended to be vaporized, as well as devices intended for use with THC or other non-nicotine substances,” said Conley. “There are still 36 million American adults smoking combustible cigarettes and over 400,000 will die from smoking-related illnesses this year alone. The American people should start questioning why their government is so intent on making it harder for adults to quit smoking.”

    According to its website, UPS prohibits the shipment of all cigarettes and little cigars to consumers, regardless of destination state. Other tobacco product shipments must be made using the “UPS Delivery Confirmation Adult Signature Required service, requiring the signature of an adult 21 years of age or older upon delivery.”

  • U.S. Congress Bans USPS From Mailing ENDS Products

    U.S. Congress Bans USPS From Mailing ENDS Products

    The U.S. Congress has banned all electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products from being mailed by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The rule change was lumped into the Covid-19/ omnibus budget bill passed yesterday. The proposal, collectively called the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
    2021, now awaits a signature from President Trump to become law. Trump is expected to sign the bill later today.

    US Congress
    Credit: Motion Studios

    The updated provision redefines the word “cigarette” under the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT Act), which is part of the federal Jenkins Act, to include ENDS products. 

    By including ENDS products within the PACT Act, manufacturers and retailers will be banned from shipping vaping products to consumers using the USPS within the next 120 days. All orders of vaping products will be required to ship using an alternate (and considerably more expensive) service that verifies the recipient of a package is at least 21 years old.

    Beginning 90 days after enactment, all online retailers also will be required to file monthly reports with native, state and local governments disclosing the identity, address and product received for all customers, as well as remit any excise taxes owed.

    Many vaping industry advocates are angered by the text of the proposal because legislators used an expansive definition of what qualifies as an “electronic nicotine delivery system” that seems to include products that may not contain nicotine. The term “means any electronic device that, through an aerosolized solution, delivers nicotine, flavor, or any other substance to the user inhaling from the device,” the legislation states.

    Greg Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, said that despite the inclusion of the word “nicotine,” the definition used in the bill is so broad that it appears to capture vaping liquids containing CBD and standalone devices intended for vaping THC or other substances.

    “The sponsors of this legislation repeatedly refused to consider common sense amendments that would have protected youth, while also not needlessly shutting down small businesses. Thanks to their intransigence, the language included in the omnibus is so sloppily drafted that it will also ban the USPS from shipping CBD liquids intended to be vaporized, as well as devices intended for use with THC or other non-nicotine substances,” said Conley. “There are still 36 million American adults smoking combustible cigarettes and over 400,000 will die from smoking-related illnesses this year alone. The American people should start questioning why their government is so intent on making it harder for adults to quit smoking.”

    According to its website, UPS prohibits the shipment of all cigarettes and little cigars to consumers, regardless of destination state. Other tobacco product shipments must be made using the “UPS Delivery Confirmation Adult Signature Required service, requiring the signature of an adult 21 years of age or older upon delivery.”

    Trump has the authority to use a line item veto on the provision and still pass the larger bill, though that is not expected.