Tom Cole’s E-vapor Efforts Backed By Retailers
Published: April 18th, 2017
Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Rep. Tom Cole of Moore continued to advance his legislation efforts, with U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Georgia, to update the predicate date used by the Food and Drug Administration to ensure e-vapor products are available to consumers.
The “FDA Deeming Authority Clarification Act of 2017”, or H.R. 1136, would change the retroactive predicate date from February 15, 2007 to August 8. 2016. The date set through rule by the FDA would require all e-vapor products brought to market after the predicate date to be recalled and reapproved by the FDA (http://www.www.capitolbeatok.com/reports/regulation-stops-the-vape-cole-s-proposal-to-guard-alternative-from-retroactive-regs).
“Without this legislation, the FDA effectively is making it more difficult for vapor products to come to market than cigarettes,” stated a press release from Rep. Cole’s office.
Interested parties in Oklahoma have taken notice as well. The Oklahoma Retail Merchants Association wrote a letter to Cole’s Senate counterpart, U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City.
“Many members of the Oklahoma Retailers Merchants Association could be negatively impacted if this bill is not enacted,” ORMA stated in the letter. The group’s letter contends that “changing the rule protects creation and innovation, and this is done through pro-business and pro-consumer regulation.”
This bill builds on the Cole-Bishop Amendment, which was included in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2017 Agriculture Appropriations Bill.