Email - Please Forward

[Vocalek]

I have drafted an email that I plan to send to all of my friends and relatives, asking them to forward.

Comments welcome:


Are there people in your life who are tobacco smokers? Have they tried time and again to quit, without success? Do you wish there was some way you could help them stop?

What if there was an invention that would allow many, if not most, of the 45 million American smokers to quit—without any desire to go back to tobacco?

And what if very powerful groups were trying to force this product off the market by inaccurate accusations and deceptive claims about potential harm? Is that ethical? Is that in the best interests of public health?

The invention is known by many names, the most common of which is the “electronic cigarette”. It is a battery-operated mechanism that produces vaporized nicotine. There is no tar, no particulates, no ash, no carbon monoxide, no risk of passive smoking, and no unpleasant odor.

The electronic cigarette is marketed to current smokers, not as a smoking cessation product, but as an alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes, for occasional use where smoking is not permitted. But many are finding that this is an acceptable substitute for all of their tobacco cigarettes. In one survey on an electronic cigarettes forum, 73% of voters reported that they have completely quit using tobacco cigarettes.

This is an amazing success rate. To date, nearly 13,000 people have signed The Electronic Cigarette Petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keep-life-saving-electronic-cigarettes-available. Go to the site. Read the comments. People who smoked for decades and tried over and over to quit have finally been able to stop smoking tobacco, thanks to these products. They are reporting remarkable improvements in their health, many of which have been verified by their doctors.

These products work because they provide adequate levels of nicotine. When people who are dependent reduce or eliminate their intake of nicotine, they become moody, depressed, anxious, and irritable. They start making mistakes no matter how hard they try to concentrate. They have problems remembering things. Given these circumstances, is it any wonder that most people resume smoking within the first two weeks after quitting? How long would most of us be able to get away with moodiness, forgetfulness, and making mistakes on the job? And how do such symptoms affect the performance of every-day tasks such as balancing the checkbook, taking medications, shopping, driving the car, or supervising children?

Many researchers suspect that people who are highly dependent on nicotine are using it to self-treat underlying disorders. Nicotine is being studied as a potential treatment for such conditions as attention deficits, Alzheimer’s, depression, anxiety, pain relief, Tourette Syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, schizophrenia, and epilepsy, as well as both treatment and prevention of Parkinson’s. Nicotine has none of the serious adverse effects that prescription antidepressants, corticosteroids, anti-seizure, anti-anxiety, and schizophrenia medications can cause.

Nicotine is not a carcinogen. Nicotine is not proven to cause heart attacks and strokes. Nicotine does not cause lung disease. Smoking can cause all of these, and it is the SMOKE--the product of combustion of the tobacco and paper, along with the thousands of additional carcinogens and toxins--that is the culprit.

The smoker you love may not be able to function without adequate levels of nicotine. And yet the attitude of the health organizations, anti-smoking groups, and even the FDA seems to be, “you should just quit or die.”

You may have heard that the FDA announced that it found harmful substances in some of the electronic cigarette cartridges it tested. What you did not hear is that most of these same substances are in their own approved nicotine-replacement products. And what you also did not hear is that all of the substances they found are in tobacco cigarettes in quantities that are orders-of-magnitude higher.

So if you care about the life and the health of someone who smokes, please help.

· Visit the Electronic Cigarette Petition site and add your name to nearly 13,000 others who have signed.

· Write to your elected federal officials, including President Obama, and ask them to take action to keep these life-saving devices available. You can find contact information for government officials here: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
· Tell the FDA how you feel about their ethics and their distorted, incomplete, and misleading statement. Tell Commissioner Hamburg that these products need to be kept on the market for the health and safety of those who might go back to tobacco without them. margaret.hamburg@fda.hhs.gov

· If you contribute to the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, and/or the American Heart Association, tell them you believe that their “quit or die” approach is heartless and unethical.

· If you support anti-smoking groups, make sure they know that your beef is with tobacco, not with any product that helps people get off and stay off tobacco.

Most importantly, PASS THIS MESSAGE ON. Send it to everyone you know who is a smoker or who cares about someone who smokes.

[laurieok]

Excellent!! I will send it to everyone I know and ask them to forward it to everyone they know.

[Talen]

Nicotine is not a carcinogen. Nicotine is not proven to cause heart attacks and strokes. Nicotine does not cause lung disease. Smoking can cause all of these, and it is the SMOKE--the product of combustion of the tobacco and paper, along with the thousands of additional carcinogens and toxins--that is the culprit.

Not exactly true. Nicotine has definitely been proven to be an artery hardening agent...hardened arteries lead to blockages and heart attacks. This is scientific fact.

[vjnnc]

Very well written - excellent, indeed. Now for the criticism - a bit lengthy; most (even friends and family) won't take the time to read all of it.

In the 4th paragraph where most will stop reading (not being harsh - it's reality), I would try to incorporate your 9th paragraph - it's one of the most important benefits of the E-cigarette.

Just my two cents worth.

[Superstargoddess]

Not exactly true. Nicotine has definitely been proven to be an artery hardening agent...hardened arteries lead to blockages and heart attacks. This is scientific fact.

First of all, very nice letter, though it is a bit long and I agree that it should be very much so condensed while still somehow keeping the posterity of the whole thing.

As for Talen- Heck, everything out there can give you hardened arteries, maybe they should ban McDonalds! But I understand what you are saying, when people write these types of things, they really need to be sure of the facts before they post something as a fact.

[Vocalek]

To my knowledge, this is the only study done on humans regarding the topic:

"To investigate, the researchers administered 1 milligram of nicotine via a nasal spray or cigarette smoke to 16 healthy long-term smokers, and then used ultrasound to examine the endothelium after 20 minutes. Nicotine-containing nasal spray was less damaging than cigarette smoke but still reduced blood flow inside the artery, the study found.

It is not clear how nicotine damages the endothelium but studies in animals indicate that chronic exposure to the compound leads to oxidative stress, or damage by free radicals. Other compounds in cigarette smoke may contribute to damage, however.

``The findings of this study demonstrate that nicotine causes acute endothelial dysfunction in long-term smokers and suggest that there may be other constituents of cigarette smoke that contribute to this adverse effect,'' Neunteufl and colleagues conclude."

I don't consider this proof that nicotine alone causes strokes and heart attacks. The nicotine gum has been on the market OTC for 20 years. We don't see any higher incidence of heart attacks and strokes among long-term users compared with former smokers who did not continue using the gum.

I was already aware of this one study and I chose my wording very carefully. I did not state "nicotine does not cause..." I worded it that "nicotine is not proven to cause..."

Could it? Possibly, but it is not proven to a scientific certainty.

[SLDS181]

Not exactly true. Nicotine has definitely been proven to be an artery hardening agent...hardened arteries lead to blockages and heart attacks. This is scientific fact.

Pretty sure its simply a vasoconstrictor - contracting the arteries, not hardening them, causing an increase in blood pressure, actually making it good for cases of hypotension.

I haven't had sudden dizziness since I started smoking, and my blood pressure is right where it should be, so I'm ok with it. YMMV. IANAD.

[Talen]

Pretty major studies of the subject have been done by Daniel Catanzaro, PhD, of Cornell University's Weill Medical College and Dr. Benowitz chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of California. Both have shown evidence of artery hardening as well as lipid level changes and stress on the heart and blood vessels.

Dr. Benowitz is most likely the leading authority on Nicotine in the United States and he has studied it through every delivery device that comes out including patches.

[SLDS181]

I thought his studies in atherosclerosis focused on smoking not nicotine? I'd love to take a peek (I'm odd, I like reading dry, informative, altogether boring stuff ), know where I could find it? I only recall seeing that it was being investigated as a possibility.

[vjnnc]

It seems even vapers are missing it - yes, we know nicotine isn't "good" for us - but if it's the only REAL drawback to e-cigarettes as opposed to tobacco, and the KNOWN nastiness.....