From The American Vaping Association:

Michael Chen, managing partner of Beyond Vape, urges U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (R-NY) to support the Cole-Bishop amendment and defend small businesses in New York and across the country. The vaping industry as we know it, and all of the New York jobs created by the industry, may cease to exist by August 2018, unless Rep. Maloney intervenes. The FDA's decision to regulate vapor products as 'tobacco products' will effectively bankrupt small businesses, displace thousands of employees, and harm public health.

"The ammunition we have to fight the tobacco epidemic is being taken away from us," said Chen. "We didn't start in the vaping business to make a lot of money, we wanted to help people find a better alternative to smoking." The Cole-Bishop amendment would modernize the FDA's current standards and stop the agency from banning 99%-plus of vaping products in August 2018. If this amendment is not passed into law, all vaping products that have been released since February 2007 -- every product on the market today – would have to retroactively undergo a potentially multimillion-dollar approvals process.

"If you were writing a regulation with the goal of helping major tobacco companies, destroying small businesses, and eliminating local jobs, this is how you would do it," said Gregory Conley, President of the American Vaping Association, a nonprofit organization that champions vapor products as alternatives to combustible tobacco products. At Beyond Vape, which has two locations in Rep. Maloney's district and fourteen other stores across the country, more than 100 people will lose their jobs and millions of dollars in economic impact will cease to exist. Beyond Vape has been in business since 2013 and has grown exponentially since its creation.

For Chen, his drive to save the vaping industry comes from an emotional standpoint. Chen's grandfather passed away from smoking related cancer. Chen began looking into the vaping industry to help his father, a smoker for 50 years, find an alternative to smoking. Chen's personal goal is to help the industry create better quality products.

Between 9 and 10 million Americans regularly use vaping products, many as an alternative to or a transition away from tobacco products. Earlier this year, the Royal College of Physicians released a landmark report estimating that vaping is at least 95% less hazardous than smoking.

The Cole-Bishop amendment would save local businesses and jobs, while at the same time allowing the FDA to set product standards and uniformly regulate all vapor products. When Congress passes its omnibus funding bill later this year, Rep. Maloney should stand up for these life-changing technology products by fighting to keep the Cole-Bishop amendment in the final package. To learn more about the American Vaping Association, visit: http://vaping.org.