Want create site? Find Free WordPress Themes and plugins.

The Huffington Post recently reported that public documents are showing that the White House has weakened the FDA’s proposed regulations by deleting restrictions that might have prevented online sales of e-cigarettes. In addition, the White House also changed detailed health risks from cigars.

According to documents published Tuesday in the Federal Register by The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), said that the rules created by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would keep thousands of people from taking up cigar smoking and have enormous public health benefits. The OMB, which analyzes the potential economic consequences of proposed regulations, also weakened language detailing the FDA’s concerns about the safety of e-cigarettes.

As with any rule, OMB’s office of information and regulatory affairs conducted an interagency review process to ensure that the regulations through which agencies implement policies are efficient, well-designed to achieve their objectives, and based upon the best available evidence. It is routine for agencies to make changes to their draft rules during the course of OMB review. The goal is to maximize the effectiveness and benefit of the rules we complete. – Emily Cain, OMB Spokeswoman

“The FDA does not comment on changes to a proposal during the review process. However, the period for the public to comment on the proposal is still open until August 8th. All of the comments will be carefully considered as the final rule is being developed. As the science base continues to develop for these products, the agency has the ability to take additional regulatory actions designed to further minimize the public health burden of tobacco use in this country.” – said Jennifer Haliski, an FDA spokeswoman.

Here’s a list of what changes the OMB has made:

1. The FDA proposed “prohibition of non-face-to-face sales (vending machines). By keeping this rule, it would have opened the door in the future to ban online sales of e-cigarettes. However, the OMB edited the sentence so that the prohibition refers ONLY to vending machines. This will eliminate any chance of the FDA from using this very sentence as a gateway for other restrictions.

2. OMB turned the FDA’s proposal as it relates to cigars from a two-part rule – one for traditional tobacco products and one for products that have not previously been regulated – into a “two-option” rule, one of which would exempt “premium cigars.”

3. OMB also deleted an FDA analysis showing that exempting premium cigars from a proposal to require large warning labels would save manufacturers $1 million to $3 million but incur costs to public health of $32.6 million to $34.2 million.

4. OMB also deleted an extensive section in which the FDA calculated how many lives would be saved by regulating cigars, as well as the value of those lives. And it deleted a similar analysis for the improvements in health that would come from dissuading people from smoking cigars, such as through warning labels.

5. OMB modified or deleted FDA concerns about the safety of e-cigarettes, including manufacturing quality.

As everyone must understand, the FDA’s proposed federal regulations are only a draft. The draft will undergo many changes and may end up completely different in the final ruling. Right now we’re playing an anxious waiting game, but from the looks of it, the White House may be on our side or they just might have realized the scheming loop holes the FDA has created within the proposal.

What are your thoughts on this matter? – Let us know in the comment section below.