{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://hunter.house.gov/don%E2%80%99t-stifle-vaping", "Hunter: Dont stifle vaping", "2015-12-09", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Duncan Hunter", "H001048", "hunter.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Yes, I vape. On occasion, I might even smoke a real cigarette.\nThrough my military career, including three combat tours, I even experienced chewing tobacco. \nNow that I vape, does it mean I am one step closer to dying than say, someone who might drink too much, eat too much red meat or live an all-around unhealthy lifestyle?\nNo way.\nTo vape is to smoke an electronic cigarette, for those who dont know. An e-cigarette is different from a regular cigarette, mainly because it does not contain tobacco. E-cigarettes contain a liquid that is vaporizedhence, the word vapeand inhaled. It might taste and smell like tobacco, but its not. \nIts true that vaping isnt as sexy as smoking old-fashioned cigarettes. Generations of Americans were brought up smoking traditional tobacco products and to them, vaping may appear to be nothing more than a fad, set to eventually burn out. Theyre wrong.\nThe reason I vape is simple: Its so I dont smoke cigarettes. I vape knowing that Im not inhaling tobacco. Most importantly, I vape because I believe it could save my life. \nThere are millions of Americans like me, who are choosing e-cigarettes over their traditional counterpart. Now the Food and Drug Administration wants to force me and millions of others to revert to cigarettes through the issuance of new regulations. What the FDA is proposing is a date of February 15, 2007, to require approval for e-cigarettes, even if they are already being sold.\nNot so bad, right? Wrong.\nTo comply, any company that manufactures e-cigarettes must submit an application, to include test results on health risks.\nDoesnt sound so bad, right? Wrong again.\nThe problem is that most e-cigarettes didnt exist before February 15, 2007. So if the FDA gets its way, not only will modern day e-cigarettes, with all their advancements and improvements, no longer be available for purchase, but thousands of small businesses specializing in the sale of vaping pens and accessories will be forced to close their doors.\nAlso, whatever products did exist before 2007which people are sure to continue buyingwill lack all the improvements that have transformed e-cigarettes into a more acceptable alternative. Other consumers may choose to go back to real thing. \nTheres no science behind the FDAs proposed date. Its completely arbitrary. This is not to say that a grandfather date shouldnt exist, maybe one should, but theres no other motive behind the FDAs date than to deny Americans a product that is becoming a suitable replacement to cigarettes.\nIf the FDA wont change the proposed grandfather date then Congress mustat least to the date a regulation is issued. Pertinent legislation has already been introduced in the House and discussions are underway to possibly include a date change in forthcoming omnibus legislation.\nIts hard to imagine images from past, of soldiers storming beachheads with vaping pens in their mouths, men in workshops and factories billowing clouds of vaporized smoke, or men and women in bars and social gatherings talking to each other as they vape. But this is 2015and surely, had the technology been around then, were sure to see much of what we see today: Americans turning to a product that reduces their urge to put a cigarette to their lips and keeps tobacco out of their mouths and lungs.\nThe FDA should wise up. And if their true goal is to reduce cigarette use, then imposing a prohibition of sorts on e-cigarettes is senseless. Then again, maybe the FDA is counting on a surge in lighter sales to account for the costpersonal and financialof their ill-conceived regulation.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://hunter.house.gov/don%E2%80%99t-stifle-vaping"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3709594495594501, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}