MIAMI — Six months after forming, the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA) will make its national debut at the 2012 NACS Show. The association in the smoke-free alternatives industry came together in March and represents distributors, manufacturers, retailers, and end users with the goal to address a variety of consumer matters including tobacco regulation and its possible extension to vaporizing devices, according to SFATA.
For its part, SFATA argues that e-cigarettes are vaporizing devices that do not possess the same chemical and physical characteristics as tobacco products and therefore should not be deemed as tobacco products and regulated as such, it added.
Association goals aim to streamline processes, impact free and fair trade through self-regulation, and alleviate misinformation by providing cohesive industry support for consumer affairs. SFATA’s self-regulatory goals are set to:
- provide the tools necessary for regulators, industry specialists and consumers to make informed decisions
- increase interest, education and advocacy for proposed and new legislation, and future Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation
- improve testing, promote uniform manufacturing procedures and established guidelines for the future of the industry.
SFATA Dispels Rumors and Inaccuracies Regarding Mission
The Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association’s (SFATA) recent success has created detractors who have expressed unsubstantiated concerns about SFATA’s mission and objectives. SFATA continues to gain momentum having received nearly half a million dollars in donations in our August fundraising endeavors, increased the number of new member companies, and consulted with the Food and Drug Administration regarding the rapidly developing electronic cigarette industry. To promote greater understanding, SFATA seeks to address the unwarranted comments, dispel rumors, and mitigate misrepresentations regarding SFATA, its message, and its mission.
Simply put, SFATA’s mission is to advocate for and generate interest in the electronic cigarette industry and the international vaping community through research and education. As an advocacy group, SFATA cannot and will not make any direct statements regarding medical or health information, electronic cigarettes and smoking cessation programs. All information released thus far has addressed the organization’s mission to promote self-regulation. Thus, when SFATA recently released an independent study by Environmental Medicine, Inc.–a report which supported general industry claims regarding toxicity of tobacco products versus electronic cigarettes–it did so as a trade association.
SFATA’s message regarding self-regulation is clear: electronic cigarettes are personal vaporizing devices and should be regulated and promoted as such. Their design, patent, and definition do not make them tobacco products and do not raise the same safety issues. They are structurally and chemically distinct from tobacco products such as combustible cigarettes and chewables such as snuff and snus. Therefore, SFATA opposes any FDA-regulation that would categorize electronic cigarettes as tobacco products. In other words, SFATA believes it is inappropriate to apply regulations designed for tobacco products to electronic cigarettes/personal vaporizing devices.
In addition, SFATA advocates for effective self-regulation by setting high quality standards for manufacturing and quality control for its members. SFATA believes these rigorous standards should form the basis of a reasonable regulatory scheme to ensure the broad availability of these safe consumer products.
Presently, SFATA is the only association that represents a wide cross section of all segments of the electronic cigarette/personal vaporizing device industry including distributors, manufacturers, retailers, and end users. This vertically comprehensive approach to membership allows SFATA to address a wide variety of consumer matters. While founded by industry leaders Green Smoke, Johnson Creek, and V2 Cigs, SFATA represents the collective membership and the industry as a whole, not the individual interests of these founders.
To learn more about SFATA or about the electronic cigarette industry and personal vaporizing device community please go to http://www.SFATA.org or call 218.22.SFATA (73282).