Letter to your MP (UK)

[QuietDave]

I am preparing to send a letter to my MP to try and raise awareness of electronic cigarettes and the possible life-saving benefits. I also wish to raise concerns about the lack of regulation in how the consumables are produced. If anybody has any good points that would be worth adding, post them here. Once we have a good set of ideas it may be worth us all contacting our local MPs about this.

Currently the points I wish to get across are:

o Potential benefits of this brilliant invention - Could save many lives

o Could become socially acceptable (no second hand smoke etc.) and replace a large
proportion of traditional tobacco smoking, but this is at risk if rumoured plan to
ban e-cigarettes in pubs goes ahead.
In fact, I think it's important to not stigmatise/ostracise e-smokers from the get-go if
this device is to succeed in getting people off tobacco products.

o Thorough investigation into potential dangers of regularly inhaling vapourised propylene glycol is needed

o Regulation on supplied e-liquid and cartridges would be helpful.
As others have posted, I have a couple of bottles of e-liquid, with no labels, and nothing
indicating the ingredients at all. I have no idea how much nicotine is in either of them
(just that one is "medium" and the other is "strong"), and I don't know what other chemicals
it is mixed up with and whether they are safe or not.
I don't know how careful I need to be with regard to getting the liquid in my mouth, and all
over my hands, and what other risks there might be in keeping the stuff in my house.


Does anyone have any experience yet of discussing any of this with their MPs?
Are there any other points which would be worth bringing up?
Is anybody concerned with the possible outcome of trying to involve the goverment?
Does anybody have any suggestions for the best way to approach writing this kind of letter?

Cheers!

[Mr.Darcy]

this is a tricky one...
its a tightrope walk between the need for properly regulated ecigs and liquid,and the fear of bringing awareness of e-smoking to this nanny state government,which will--on past form anyway--probably just ban them entirely,or at least tax them heavily and place bans on using them in public places equivalent to the cigarette laws.

some pubs and clubs in the uk are already banning their use,because of the "impression they create"...a courthouse in holland recently banned e-cigs from use on court premises...i dont think most airlines appreciate their use...now,is this down to ignorance?or is it just easier to ban,rather than compromise...when ecigs become more mainstream,i fear their use will be restricted more,not less...

if i thought the government would take a rational,balanced view,and try to improve safety of use for us,while letting us continue to use our ecigs in public places where normal cigs cant be smoked,as they pose no risk to others-or at least let individual businesses decide if they allow esmoking or not,then fine..but i dont trust our government to deal fairly with this issue...

some think we need to lobby support before esmoking becomes more mainstream,and we certainly do need regulated,safe products...that will come with an inevitable cost...the waters are muddy for us im afraid,but one things for sure-this wont stay as underground as it presently is forever,so change is coming soon one way or another.

we need regulation,but we also want the freedom to esmoke where and when we like...i sure hope thats do-able...but i doubt it.
so im really at a loss as to what the best course of action should be...i think we all are.

[sanneke]

What does "MP" stand for?

[NerdyCinderella]

Mounted Police, no Military Police, nah.. Mamas & Papas

PS You beat me to the question sanneke - lol

[Mr.Darcy]

Member of Parliament...like a congressman

[NerdyCinderella]

[sanneke]

Mounted Police, no Military Police, nah.. Mamas & Papas

PS You beat me to the question sanneke - lol

LOL, cute guesses

[QuietDave]

we need regulation,but we also want the freedom to esmoke where and when we like...

Yep, those were my thoughts exactly. I will have to think about this, as you are right, we don't want them to just ban e-liquid etc. before these become mainstream.

I have a pretty good MP*, but normally I am writing to her about helping with global poverty or the environment. Not sure how she will feel about electronic cigarettes. It may be easy for people to just dismiss them as being for "dirty common smokers who we have no time for."

Perhaps I'll try and get a meeting rather than sending a letter and I can express my concerns in person.

I suppose I do have a bit of a mixed message just now which probably doesn't help. On one hand I want to say "Please help e-fags to be accepted and not banned from pubs and bars, etc. We need to create a positive image!" and then right after that I'm saying that they might be dangerous and we really need to regulate them. Hmm.
I guess I would go for the angle that they are clearly a lot better for people than tobacco cigarettes, lets just do what we can to make sure they are as safe as possible.


* Maker of Peas

[TropicalBob]

There are quite a few of us on this forum who are E-Smoke Sneaks.

We're "lanyard sippers" in public places. We would never think of whipping out a cigarette-lookalike and blowing vapor into shared air! Horrors. The wrath of The Antis will descend on such a foolish person. But we get our fix. We just make sure no one is watching. You can e-smoke in a theater by keeping the thing in a lanyard so the red light doesn't glow (and just hold in the vapor). I e-smoke in a lounge chair at my favorite book store. I e-smoke in public restrooms!!

In many ways, the e-cat is out of the e-bag. The problem now for public acceptance is that the things look like cursed tobacco devices. Note that Dr. Loi has gone so far as to invent a plastic tube so motorcycle riders in Malaysia can e-sip their e-cig while zooming down a road. If I have to, I'll invent more e-sip systems.

We have the (flawed) hardware. We know how to make liquid. E-smoking is a reality. The later the government gets involved, the better for us, even as we gamble with Chinese unknowns. If the devices just didn't fail so quickly, I'd stock up enough spare parts to last the rest of my life. But just how many atomizers would I need? :roll:

[Mr.Darcy]

personally,if it came to a choice,id rather continue to take my chances with the lack of regulation rather than face a ban.

i prefer to sneak a few hits through choice,rather than because i have to because its against the law...our government at the moment wont be reasoned with,as you know-remember the recent ........ debacle?they ignored the expert panels opinions and did their own thing regardless...while im not directly comparing esmoking to ........,i think the same knee-jerk reaction will happen-it usually does these days...

in my opinion they'll smother e-smoking...and if they do,we'll probably end up back on the fags...so for now it might be better to keep quietdave(you see what i did there?)