American Heartless Association

[CJsKee]

An excellent letter, as usual, Elaine!

I would bet that any response from the alphabet zealots that are "friends of the court" is a form drafted by their attorneys. They will all say the same thing.

 

[CES]

Great letter Elaine. Mind if i plagiarize it a bit when i write back? I sent them a snail mail letter, and got one in return today. The response is slightly different. The substance is mostly the same, but the last paragraph is seriously annoying. The picture quality isn't great but here it is

"I am pleased you quit smoking" ARGH. your 7 safe and effective therapies did not help me to quit. That's the point.

 

[DC2]

I'd like to say I'm shocked, but really, I'm not.

 

[Kate51]

I have written to the Office of the Surgeon General for a statement of her position on e-cigs. Would be very surprised if I don't get the same form letter every other Governmental Branch or Social Anti-smoking Organization uses. The nearly word-for-word points of contention would be amusing if it weren't for the fact that we know a bit about the subject. It's much too painful to be amusing.
I would like to know where they held that "let's all get on the same page" meeting. I have a feeling it wasn't in Vegas! This is like dealing with a mind-control victim. Washington Syndrome?
Yes, write back and present 'the rest of the story', and good luck.

 

[ezmoose]

A breath of hope emerges amidst the bizarre (anti-vaping) mindset of public health agencies bound and determined to kill us all!

E-cigarette sanity > Facts & Fears > ACSH

 

[Unperson]

These groups need to keep receiving one simple message. That being:

A day will come when the truth on electronic cigarettes irrefutably proves their safety and benefits to existing tobacco smokers. On that day, organizations such as yours will be shown to be the enemy of everyone seeking an escape from the prison of tobacco addiction. Additionally, your reputation as an organization that truly cares about the health and well-being of others will be irreversibly tarnished. This is not a probability; it is a certainty. Remember these words because they will come back to haunt you.

Place that in the body of an email and send it to the FDA, ALA, A.S.H., et al.

 

[Bobnoxious]

Email received from AHA

Comments? Observations?

Hmmm. My first thought was, I'm surprised they don't know who you are by now. Very odd.

 

[mwa102464]

I think we should put together a mass emailing daily to these kind of groups that are big fakes taking peoples donations and paying there ceo's big money as well as the other exec's that work for them, lets add them to the list along with the FDA and have every member of ECF enail them daily and load em up with all out thousands of emails to keep em busy all day everyday. hahahahah lets do it whatya think????

 

[mpetva]

See what Dr. Siegel is saying about this:

IN MY VIEW: American Lung Association Urges Thousands of Ex-Smokers to Return to Smoking
The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary

You can DIGG his blog at the bottom of the article!

 

[bassnut]

It seems to me that Dr Elizabeth Whelan could be a really good ally. Is she known around here?

""The ACS is basically saying, 'Just stick with the real thing — cigarettes','" says Dr. Whelan, who praised Cuccinelli for his ruling. "Someone with scientific knowledge got to him and explained the facts."

Check out this vid:

YouTube - Dr. Elizabeth Whelan on CNN Debates Chemicals in the Environment

 

[bassnut]

It seems to me that Dr Elizabeth Whelan could be a really good ally. Is she known around here?

""The ACS is basically saying, 'Just stick with the real thing — cigarettes','" says Dr. Whelan, who praised Cuccinelli for his ruling. "Someone with scientific knowledge got to him and explained the facts."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA7aa-1-tDoOoops! I see that she is known here..

Dr. Whelan Speaks Out

 

[DC2]

These groups need to keep receiving one simple message. That being:

A day will come when the truth on electronic cigarettes irrefutably proves their safety and benefits to existing tobacco smokers. On that day, organizations such as yours will be shown to be the enemy of everyone seeking an escape from the prison of tobacco addiction. Additionally, your reputation as an organization that truly cares about the health and well-being of others will be irreversibly tarnished. This is not a probability; it is a certainty. Remember these words because they will come back to haunt you.

Place that in the body of an email and send it to the FDA, ALA, A.S.H., et al.

This is full of win.

 

[Vocalek]

Great letter Elaine. Mind if i plagiarize it a bit when i write back? I sent them a snail mail letter, and got one in return today. The response is slightly different. The substance is mostly the same, but the last paragraph is seriously annoying. The picture quality isn't great but here it is



"I am pleased you quit smoking" ARGH. your 7 safe and effective therapies did not help me to quit. That's the point.

I don't see any reason why we shouldn't send them back a "form letter." It's what we keep getting from them. Plagiarize away, my frend.

 

[bassnut]

Ooops-double post

 

[bassnut]

I dunno...
Activism has never been my thing. Activist have usually turned me off because they always come off as irrational and emotional. Great slogans but no substance.
This is the first issue that I've felt passionate enough about to take even the minimal amount of action...but my gut-reaction to the other is still intact.

Look. Waving a Mexican flag at an immigration reform demonstration is just plain (fill in the blank). I don't want to see this same strategy employed in this fight. I have too much at stake. Maybe those who have fought and won on similar issues have better insight, but so far nobody here has claimed that experience that I know of. Illinois? I'm too new to know exactly what happened and how that went down. Anyway, thank you.
Signing petitions and writing letters etc. is all well and good, I suppose but I get the feeling nobody is listening with the form letters parroting the FDA come back in return.

I crave to see more support from professionals in the field of medicine. This issue needs to be not only directed at politicians but also at "reasoning" scientists. Let them go out on a limb and be heard too. The quote by Dr Elizabeth Whelan regarding the recent victory in Virginia:

"The ACS is basically saying, 'Just stick with the real thing' ...Someone with scientific knowledge got to him and explained the facts."

This got me excited. It's simple. It's logical. It works.

So far I see from my vantage point at ECF (which admittedly isn't far reaching) only 3 women (and a guy, you know who you are, SV) leading this whole campaign from ECF and CASAA and Dr. Whelan is the least of them in input and energy but possibly superior in effectiveness by her station in the scientific community. I doubt that she's even aware of her influence on this issue (or even aware of ECF or CASAA for that matter) but at least she makes the news. I almost hesitated to name her in the same league with Kristin and Elaine (Vocalek) in commitment and energy (work done). I forgot to mention our resident attorney yvilla sorry, I don't know her name . That makes 4 women and probably many others of both sexes but less conspicuous.

The point being that I don't believe the strategy should be to go around verbally throwing rocks, burning cars and banks etc like during the Summer of Love.
Get these medical professionals and politicians in front of a camera or microphone and have them simply answer the question "Do you think it's better for smokers who haven't had success with the FDA approved smoking cessation products to continue smoking or is it better for them to use E-Cigs in the meantime until proven otherwise?" Or some such question.

I think a lot about how to get local media won over to present this simple question in their programing.

What's with the men here? "Let the women take care of it as long as I get what I want"?

 

[v1John]

These groups need to keep receiving one simple message. That being:

A day will come when the truth on electronic cigarettes irrefutably proves their safety and benefits to existing tobacco smokers. On that day, organizations such as yours will be shown to be the enemy of everyone seeking an escape from the prison of tobacco addiction. Additionally, your reputation as an organization that truly cares about the health and well-being of others will be irreversibly tarnished. This is not a probability; it is a certainty. Remember these words because they will come back to haunt you.

Place that in the body of an email and send it to the FDA, ALA, A.S.H., et al.

Ok. Emails? No. Definitely not. But somebody here PLEASE write a letter for us ALL to send to them, and not just the ALA Ceo, but every single ALA as well . And please post it here in ECF, I have been waiting and waiting for someone to post whatever it is I (or we, actually) should write (and print, sign, and mail) to them.

And include this paragraph that Unperson has provided!

And post it very soon, please. Can it be posted within the next day or two please?

Also, PLEASE mail to each ALA, there are many of them, not just the CEO, please look in this link, and find at least your very own state, vaper friends!

Associations - American Lung Association

Please don't delay!

 

[D103]

bassnut, if you get a chance, please read the daily blogs posted by Dr. Michael Siegel - sorry I don't have a link to his blog right now - but he has been out in front of this issue for some time now and has been VERY Vocal about not only his views as a doctor and specialist in the field of Tobacco Harm Reduction but about 'the existing science' regarding electronic cigarettes; he routinely has been "calling out" the FDA, ALA, AHA, ASH and ACS as well as others for their continuous practice of either distorting or ignoring the available science and their highly questionable policies on this issue given their financial relationships with the pharmaceutical companies. Also, Dr. Joel Nitzkin sent two petitions to the FDA requesting they 1) amend their current policy stand on electronic cigarettes and other smoke-less tobacco products and 2) that the FDA publicly retract previous statements they made regarding a study they completed in June 2009 where they distorted the findings, omitted important, pertinent information and failed to meet widely accepted scientific standards in their testing procedures. Additionally, there is Dr. Brad Rodu and Dr. Carl Phillips, both have spoken out publicly in favor of allowing this technology to remain in the marketplace, to include further and extensive testing. I'm sure there are others I've forgotten, but in particular I feel if you read Dr. Siegel's blog you will feel encouraged.

 

[FlyerTom]

Dr. Siegel's blog is here:
The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary

 

[bassnut]

Thank's D103 and FlyerYom.
I'll delve right into it.
I had been pointed to Dr. Siegel's blog last night. He certainly goes out on a limb there. It is encouraging.