What is PMTA?: FDA Vaping Regulations Explained

PMTA FDA vaping regulations are a common topic of conversation in the vaping community. While the threat of a crackdown has long been looming like a dark cloud over vapers’ heads, it seems that the storm is ready to begin, as of November 2019.

Whether you’re a vaper, a vape shop owner, or someone considering entering the market, it’s important that you know about the recent and upcoming changes. The vape industry has often been compared to the Wild West, but those days seem to be on their way out.

Here’s what you should know about the PMTA FDA legislation:

A PMTA Is a Required Application Process

PMTA stands for Premarket Tobacco Product Application. This application must be filled out by any company selling a tobacco product in the U.S. after February of 2007. As you might assume, that covers virtually every vape product on the market today, including juices as well as hardware.

The goal of the PMTA is to determine if products meet the “Appropriate for the Protection of the Public Health” APPH standard. When the FDA evaluates a PMTA FDA application, they will be considering the following:

• The likelihood of non-tobacco users starting to use tobacco products
• The likelihood of tobacco users quitting tobacco products

In other words, in order to meet the APPH standard, vape companies will need to prove that their products provide an overall net benefit—helping more smokers quit while attracting less new tobacco users.

The Main Factors Under Consideration

In order to determine if an application meets the APPH standard and can be approved, the FDA will thoroughly investigate the products and the company operations to ensure that they comply with FDA standards for safety.

The major considerations are listed below, but the FDA may request additional information even after the PMTA FDA application has been submitted.

• Product samples
• Label information
• Scientific studies
• Potential for products to be modified
• How the product is typically used (quantity, frequency, and so on)
• How the product is marketed and its target demographic
• How the product could be abused or dangerous

Other Important Information

The FDA has changed the application’s due date multiple times, but it looks like May 12, 2020 is the final deadline before FDA vaping regulations are enacted. Although submitting the application is free, the FDA estimates that gathering the required data can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately, many companies won’t be able to afford the expenses associated with the PMTA FDA application, even if their products and business operations are otherwise compliant. That’s why the community is in an uproar. The vaping landscape is likely to be very different in 2020 and beyond.

Our Commitment to You

Pod Juice will take the necessary steps to ensure that we’re able to continue providing you with the world’s finest vape products. While the process is expensive, slow, and exhausting, we stand behind our products and will do what it takes to keep them available.

Pod Juice has always been made with the highest quality ingredients—no vitamin E acetate—in our FDA-compliant, ISO laboratory in L.A. We also regularly send our products out for third-party scientific testing. That’s not going to change, regardless of the status of PMTA FDA legislation.

We firmly believe that our products can change lives for the better by helping smokers to quit—it’s why we are one of the only vape companies to offer our juice in three levels of nicotine. Our commitment to producing the highest quality products will remain exactly the same, and our PMTA submission will reflect that.

How the Legislation Affects the Casual Vaper

There’s a lot of misinformation and hyperbole out there. While it’s true that the government is cracking down, that doesn’t mean that vaping is going to be banned outright. Hopefully, these PMTA FDA regulations will make the industry safer. New FDA vaping regulations should weed out businesses with shady manufacturing practices and low-quality products so that reputable companies can continue to provide vape-enthusiasts with high-quality, well-regulated juice and hardware.

Get in Touch to Learn More

If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear what you have to say. Feel free to contact us anytime, and we’ll respond right away. If you’d like to learn more about our practices and products, browse our FAQs. Most importantly, keep enjoying Pod Juice, and we’ll keep making it—both now and after the PMTA FDA regulations have dropped.