I know you guys receive thousands of these testimonials but I really do hope this finds its way into somebody’s hands of importance. This is not a testimony about how electronic cigarettes helped me quit smoking (even though it did). It is more about how concerned I am with the industry as a whole. I am currently 25 years old and moved up to the state of Utah from California about 2 years ago where some buddies and I started up a e liquid business. I know what your thinking, another biased testimony about the e-liquid market. I really hope my statements are not perceived this way as I am trying to be as unbiased as possible. I graduated with two degrees, 1 in criminology and the other in sociology and started down a path in law enforcement where I always thought I would end up in life. Life throws many curve balls and what I worked towards so long turned out not to be what I expected it to be. Anyhow I found myself engulfed in this new rapid growing industry with some friends that are also very educated and share the same passion. We have always been very close in life and with entrepreneurial mindsets we thought this would be a great place to get our feet wet. Fortunately enough for us, all of us have quit smoking using our own product. That is how powerful this industry can be. We are doing everything within our power to make sure that our company is always on the forefront of regulations. Pardon my french but we work our dam ass’s off competing in such a big market with people who came from money. Many people in this industry (like big tobacco) can flip turn key operations and gain market-share overnight. Granted that is the way of the world and we understand it, they built empires. I mean who in their right mind would get into an industry where they knew that big tobacco was right around the corner waiting. I guess that is fully on us, but that also show’s our passion in this industry as a whole and how effective we know these products could be on society. We are now nationwide and gaining tremendous traction with our customers on personal levels. Hearing these peoples testimonies how we just might have saved their lives is such a rewarding part of the job that we never would have foreseen. REGULATIONS!!! This is the main focus and main area of concern for politicians, scientists, and skeptics alike, which IT without a doubt should be. There needs to be many laws put into effect to make sure this industry takes all the precautions necessary for the safety of the public. I know the FDA is doing their diligence to make sure this isn’t another dangerous product (like tobacco) that takes off and could potentially kill hundreds of thousands. Which is their job and I am completely fine with. We are nation-wide but still a small company in comparison to companies like blue and johnsons creek. About 4 months ago we were one of the companies referenced on the floor of the capitol in DC. It was when commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg first spoke out on the deeming rule at the congressional hearing. Many of the Senators wanted answers and results right away and didn’t want to wait for the science. There concerns might be valid in the sense that they are scared of the industry as a whole when people spread rumors. It is very unfortunate that anything negative on this industry isn’t compared to what it should be compared to. For example the analogy being thrown around in the community right now is how much worse vaping is then breathing air. This is completely asinine to compare these two extremes, how about we compare them to what we all so often relate them to CIGARETTES, and really reveal the true villain here. Of people who do it right in the industry about 80 percent of the components in e-juice are derived directly from vegetables and or found in your everyday foods. The other 20 percent are natural and artificial flavoring (found in almost every common food) and nicotine. We personally do many things right; ingredients, tamper sleeves, batch numbers, child proof caps, all domestic ingredients, manufacturing standards etc. It is very unfortunate that china and their products weigh so heavily on our domestic products as a whole. For example all the bad press you hear on the news or online are mainly due to the low quality food control acts they have over there and are directly related and grouped with the entirety of the industry. As I stated before we embrace all regulations and manufacturing standards across the board specifically because we share the same values of keeping these products out of the hands of children (average age of our customer base is 38). The thing that irritates me the most and I hope who ever is reading this is still with me as I know this is long, is the DEEMING RULE. We absolutely cannot in anybody’s right mind be grouped as tobacco. The components are completely different, the only relation you have is that nicotine is derived from tobacco. I am sure you guys are aware that nicotine is one of the most studied components in the United States, and yes it is very addictive but many researchers are finding that its not bad for you by itself. It is compared by many scientists to be as bad as coffee. If this is the case you will see many people in this industry switching over to fruit because you can extract nicotine from fruit as well. So therefore if we get nicotine from fruit, are we going to be taxed as tobacco still? I hate to use this comparison but the deeming rule reminds me of obomacare. I know that is a terrible analogy but the underlying issues are very similar in the sense that nobody really knows what it is. The deeming rule basically proposes that e juice will be deemed as tobacco since it is derived from tobacco, synthetically or naturally it still doesn’t matter. Now the majority of people (consumers/customers and business owners) think that this rule means that the e-cig market might get taxed or be required to have quality standards put into place which the majority of us are embracing. But what people don’t know is that the deeming rule actually shuts the free market down and gives it straight to big tobacco. The rule asks that businesses register single skews for around to 500,000 to upwards of a million a skew and limits it to only a handful of companies. The only companies in our industry that could take this kind of hit is Blue and they are owned by lorillard. So basically what this implies is big tobacco now will run the electronic cigarette industry as well. It is surprising to me to find how many lobbyist are really behind the scenes calling the shots. My hopes are that this industry gets hit just as hard as any consumable product does and is giving an actual real chance in a free market. I understand that these are very tough decisions to make in your position as I am sure many of us cannot grasp the big picture. We ask simply for a fair chance in a country that almost makes it impossible to start new business due to the corporate conglomerates that currently run our nation. Before any haste verdicts and or regulations, let us sit back and let the science be our true outlet in a potential life saving market. The last thing we want to do is condemn people to death who otherwise might have lived and absolutely regulate it any way you might like to ensure that it’s not a gateway drug to actual cigarettes. I feel the benefits far out weigh the cons on the macro level. I really do appreciate your time if your were able to bare with me and read through my entire testimonial towards this industry.