The Vaping Congressman
Congressman Hunter, the man behind America’s first comprehensive vaping legislation, speaks out.
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by Dave Cross
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Hunter has come to our attention twice, recently. The congressman stepped in when the American navy announced its intention to ban vaping on all vessels – with a view to banning it on bases too. He demanded to know the details of the alleged incidents, and spoke to them with authority as a decorated vaping ex-serviceman.
Then, just over a week ago, we detailed how Bill H.R. 2194 (or The Hunter Bill as it has become known) had been put before the House of Representatives. If passed, it would signify a paradigm shift away from the prohibitionist-style nanny state measures espoused to date and place harm reduction at the forefront of everything the country does in relation to vaping.
This week, Hunter has spoken about his bill and the challenges it faces: “[The bill was needed] because vaping was going to become illegal as the current regulations stand. There’s no stability for the market; retailers are going to go out of business and manufacturers are going to go out of business. And you will probably have millions of people continuing to smoke cigarettes and dying.”
“If you make a new product in 2018 or 2019, it will be illegal…or it will cost you a couple of hundred thousand dollars to get it through the FDA’s process. My legislation sets the framework for decades to come. It’s going to be the regulatory framework for vaping going forward, forever.”
He continues: “[At the moment] there’s no law, there’s nothing set in stone, and the FDA hasn’t put anything into regulation. What we’re saying is ‘FDA, you can’t make this illegal without carrying out any studies whatsoever, and, by the way, we’re going to help you’. What I am putting down into actual law is, one, harm reduction is going into the control act. Number two, we make it safe: we regulate the batteries and how they charge and discharge. We will regulate it so that you can’t buy something off eBay to explode in your pocket.
Hunter stresses how eliquid manufacture will have to be carried out in clean rooms and not done in garages, “even though that’s how it started out, right!”
“We’re just trying to make it safer, make it better, so that we can keep the American dream, for the people that have these stores, alive.”
Duncan Hunter’s full interview with Regulator Watch can be viewed below:
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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