For one group of people in the US, the election results offer more promise than disappointment: pro- vaping groups are hoping Trump can roll back regulations that threaten the industry.
Vaping advocates have been scrambling for answers after the FDA announced tough new regulations for the industry this year. Many in the industry have said the rules would threaten thousands of businesses, but legal efforts to change them have been slow. Now that Donald Trump has been elected, there’s a renewed sense of optimism that positive change is on the way.
“From a public health perspective, we have a lot of reason to be concerned about the outcome of Tuesday’s election,” said Dr. Michael Siegel, a tobacco researcher at Boston University who runs a blog that fact-checks agency areas about vaping. “However, with President Trump, and with Republican control of Congress, we have a tremendous opportunity to create a sensible regulatory strategy for e-cigarettes and related products.”
While we still don't know the long-term effects of vaping, all recent studies have shown that they are much safer than cigarettes, and there is evidence that they are an extremely effective smoking cessation tool.
Throughout the election, advocacy groups have asked candidates to share their views on vaping regulation. Many of the FDA’s regulations are moderate and well-received by the industry, like the ban on sales to minors. But the FDA also requires vaping businesses to go through a process that is extremely onerous, time-consuming, and costs thousands of dollars — something many vape manufacturers and stores say would put them out of business.
To counter the threat of stricter regulations, some pro-vaping politicians have advocated for a budget that would help amend FDA rules, reducing the regulatory hoops vape businesses have to jump through. Pro-vaping groups thought the policy was their only hope, said Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association. But with Trump in office and the GOP taking control of Congress, including two pro-vaping candidates who were reelected, the industry suddenly had more room to maneuver.
“The information that has been reported about what Trump is going to do with the Environmental Protection Agency, it looks like an anti-regulatory administration,” Conley said. “That gives us some hope.”
One option, Conley said, would be for Congress to vote to overturn the FDA rules using congressional review. The other option would be to create a new law separate from tobacco laws that would regulate vaping products.
But since President Trump has not touched on the issue of vaping laws since his election, we still cannot predict what will happen. Conley said that with the two biggest political trump cards, Senator Ron Johnson and Representative Duncan Hunter, leading the way, he affirmed that Congress and President Trump will definitely raise the issue soon.
This article was originally published on Motherboard by Kaleigh Rogers and translated by The Vape Club.
