FDA CLOSE-HOLD EMBARGO on Deeming Regulations

Is the FDA Hiding Information Again?

Greetings and salutations my friends, before I get into the subject of the FDA and their Close-Hold Embargo on scientific data (Read This) on vaping, it has been a shitty month to be sure.  Again I must apologize for my lack of an article over the past month.  With Hurricane Matthew hitting our area on the 7th of Oct. even though we here in my town were spared the full wrath of the storm we still had some significant damage.  Here on my street approximately 100 yards from my house about two thirds of a 100-year-old or older Oak tree came down slap in the middle of the street!  On its way down it took out one of the major east/west power lines along with phone and cable TV lines as well.  Fortunately, I have DISH Network, so once we had the generator up and running we could watch TV or a movie, news, etc.  A lot of other folks weren’t so lucky, no phones, no TV, no power, and it could have been a hell of a lot worse.  Our city works department really dropped the ball on this event.  The storm as here the night of the 6th on into the early morning hours of the 7th.  When we got up the next morning we had bright sunshine a bit cooler and breezy than usual all in all it was a pretty nice day.  The oak tree that came down laid in the middle of our street until late Saturday afternoon, it wasn’t until 3:30-4:00 o’clock in the afternoon before they came to take out the remains of the tree.  Still that was only one thing, we were still without power, something had city works/utilities department had been on the ball and not had their “normal” business hours of 7a-3p….REALLY!  I’m still not happy about that but what are ya gonna do, we finally did get our power restored sometime afternoon Monday the 10th.

That Monday evening as I was getting out of our hot tub after enjoying a long hot well-earned soak, I get a call from my buddy Ralph’s wife.  If you remember he is one of my best friends on the subject of my last article.  Well his wife called “snottin & bawlin” saying she was gonna have to put Ralph in hospice in the morning.  Hospice….what hospice, the last time I saw my friend he was in the rehab center doing well, he was lonely which is why I went up and visited with him for 2 hours on the 1st. of this month.  It was 2 days before our 35th wedding anniversary, fact that I brought up to my friend and he said that that was great.  So to go from doing well in rehab to going to hospice was a hell of a shock to say the least.  From what his wife told me then he had been taken from rehab back to our hospital’s ICU, he had contracted an infection throughout his body and was put back in ICU and then on Tuesday morning the 11th of this month he went into the care of our local hospice group.  Then around 6:00 pm that same evening as I was about to head to Orlando to pick up their daughter, my friend passed away.  I didn’t know he had died until I was at the airport and found his daughter who I could tell had been crying.  I knew then that it couldn’t be good, that’s when she told me that her “daddy” had died.  Felt like I had been kicked in the balls…. again the first was when I found out he was in the hospital after his triple bypass.

So my friends, it has been a busy and a very saddening month.  First the storm and subsequent clean up, then loosing one of my best friends and then helping the family with any of the little and not so little things that come up in these events.  Now, it is time to get back into the swing of things get writing again, and to that end here is what I’ve got for y’all.  It’s interesting, I knew nothing of this until stopping in this brand new vape shop here in town just about a mile and a half west of my house. The owner David and his wife are now very, very good friends of mine and it was David who had said something about the FDA and their embargo on the deeming regulations with the media.  In this article I am just touching on the subject, I just might do a Part II on this delving a bit more into it perhaps, we shall see where it leads us.  Here we go, and I hope you enjoy the article.

According to a recent article, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may be engaging in the previously banned practice of manipulating popular news coverage, a tactic that many in the vaping community believe occurs rather frequently.  Many of the top science journalists in the United States are finally beginning to express their anger against the FDA out of utter disgust and frustration.  One journalist in particular is even filing a lawsuit against the government agency in an attempt to correct the situation once and for all.

A Professor of Journalism at New York University, alleges that the FDA is engaging in a unique form of media manipulation called a “close-hold embargo.”  A close-hold embargo involves the release of new scientific research to only a preselected group of preferred journalists.  In exchange for the exclusive news story, the reporters must agree to never contact another scientific expert to verify the validity of the data.

THE FDA AND THE CLOSE-HOLD EMBARGO

Close-hold embargoes were banned by the FDA back in 2011 because officials believed that the practice eliminated the journalist’s ability to perform due diligence on the related subject material.  This type of media manipulation resulted in the same unsubstantiated, often bullshit, news reports hitting a lot of the popular news outlets at the very same time. The information is simply reprinted without independent experts having the opportunity to poke holes in the research.

For the FDA to again be engaging in this type of behavior is being looked at by top scientists as rather strange and perhaps a bit devious.  Why would such a powerful government organization insist that their scientific research go unchecked by the American public unless they have something to hide?  According to some, the FDA is engaging in close-hold embargoes more frequently than many people might think.

What does this have to do with vaping you ask?  Everything I say; why else are we only hearing the negative about e-cigarettes and vaping.  Why are we not hearing anything at all, why is it when we do hear a little bit of information is it skewed against rather than for vaping?  What is it that the FDA is, or wants, to hide?  Only the FDA can answer that, and I doubt that other than a rather sudden change in conscience will we if ever hear the real truth.  Hey….it’s a government agency, since when has the truth EVER been told to we the people by the government?

Anyway, as I said, I am just touching upon this subject, there is a lot, a whole hell of a lot more about this Close-Hold Embargo.  Maybe I will do a Part Duex about this disturbing chain of events that is going on as we speak.  So ends another column, it is Sunday afternoon, think I will fill my Stentorian Steam Engine tank with some more of my Deez Waffles from Jacked sit back, watch some TV and just chill.  I do once again offer my most profuse and sincere apologies at my lack of producing a column for y’all, everything has been just a bit…. overwhelming this month.  Thank you all for being patient with me and hopefully staying with me, I pray I didn’t lose too many of y’all in my absence, it was not intentional believe me, I….well, we’ll just leave it at I was overwhelmed by everything.  Tanks again for reading, be well, stay safe, God bless, and….VAPE ON!

Tim Timblin