Calif. rep asks Trump to repeal or delay e-cig rule

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is asking President Trump to repeal, or at least delay in part, first-ever rules for cigars and electronic cigarettes.

In a letter to the president on his fifth day in office, Duncan told Trump the Food and Drug Administration burdened the vape industry by finalizing rules in May requiring all products that hit stores after February 2007 to apply retroactively for approval — a process companies claim is prohibitively expensive.

The FDA gave manufactures 90 days to submit applications for products that were already on the market, 18 months to prove the product has a substantial equivalent already being sold and two years to submit pre-market approval applications for new products.

{mosads}

Duncan is now asking Trump to move that filing deadline for new products from Aug. 8, 2018, to Aug. 8, 2020.

“Continuous innovation is key to a successful strategy for tobacco harm reduction policy,” he wrote.

“Public health officials understand that adults smoke for the nicotine, but it is the byproducts of combustion that causes the vast majority of tobacco-related disease.”

Duncan asked Trump to consider repealing or suspending the rule or at minimum moving the deadline for filing pre-market approval applications.