FOIA Request Results (Open Government Advocacy by CASAA members)

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Background: Government agencies, whether at the federal, state, or local level, are all subject to relevant laws regarding the required disclosure of information. E-mails to and from government officials are included in these acts.

I've always considered myself an open government advocate, and when I realized that I could apply my passion to the e-cigarette issue, I decided to file a series of requests with state and local governments that have banned e-cigarettes indoors, or attacked other smoke-free alternatives. The requests generally seek e-mails from certain employees pertaining to, relating to, or concerning e-cigarettes.

I'll be releasing the results of these FOIA requests in this thread.

UP FIRST: Bullitt County, Kentucky, which banned the use of e-cigarettes indoors earlier this year.

Total Cost: $0, although I was initially told that I would need to pay $8.50 for paper copies of these electronic documents, which is a violation of Kentucky law.

 

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Snippets from the Bullitt County results:

E-mail sent from Carol Riker of the University of Kentucky's Center for Smoke-Free Policy to employees of the Bullitt County Health Department on December 14, 2010.

Snippet from the December 2010 newsletter of the KY Center for Smoke-free Policy.

Snippet from the February 2010 newsletter of the KY Center for Smoke-free Policy, in which a BS claim is made about PG being a carcinogen.

Inter-office e-mail, written by 'Health Education Coordinator' Cynthia G. Brown. Shockingly, this educator thinks that nicotine is implicated as a danger in secondhand smoke studies.

 

[garyinco]

formaldehyde? Now that's a new one...

 

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SECOND: The University of Tennessee

Background: The Times Free Press published a report on a university student's testing of e-cigarettes. Smoke and mirrors: UTC student finding out what's in e-cigarettes | timesfreepress.com The article had several inaccuracies, and worse, the student researcher tried to make a story out of the fact that she found a chemical (2-butanol) that is actually used in hundreds of food flavorings.

Tennessee requires that you be an in-state resident to make a request, so thanks to Steve from PureSmoker.com, as well as other CASAA members in TN who post on ECF, for sending in this request.

Initially, the request had the student researcher's phone number. The school asked that this information be redacted, which I complied with. Additionally, while not required to do so, I redacted the student's address.

 

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Some snippets from the University of Tennessee results:

The professor ordered supplies from ECigarettesChoice.com, Vapor4Life.com, Greensmoke.com, and VeppoCig.com.

E-mails from Professor Christopher R. Dockery of Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Mr. Dockery first presented Professor Gretchen Potts with the idea of studying e-cigs. As you see here, his tests found nothing concerning, which surprised him.

Portion of the student research funding application.

 

[rothenbj]

"At the very least users will send nicotine and other components back into the indoor air through exhalation, where the whole third hand smoke dangers begin." Oh yes, that third, fourth and fifth hand smoke.

I love the organized effort of the E Cig industry statement, I wonder what company is funding it, perhaps CASAA is missing the gravy train? Perhaps the E cig industry donated a billion bucks in stock to start up CASAA to provide smokers and legislators the information needed to increase E Cig industry profits? Perhaps pigs fly?

 

[sqirl1]

nothing surprising here. all the stuff we need is probably sent via personal e-mails and discussed under the table between the FDA/WHO/etc. and the drug companies. I'd love to see the day somebody gets their hands on that stuff. I bet they discuss ways to ensure that NRT sales aren't threatened and that tax revenue keeps flowing.

 

[Vap0rJay]

I love the contradictions LITERALLY back to back. Paragraph one states “we don’t know we don’t know we don’t know” then goes on to talk about smoke which of course we all know it isn’t smoke but regardless the second then goes going from “we don’t know we don’t know we don’t know” to state “…behavior that is known to be harmful to others.”

WTF? I don’t know – but I do know it’s harmful.

No. You don’t know. You said it 3 times yourself. You DON’T know. GRRR.

formaldehyde? Now that's a new one...

I occasionally would get into itching fits if I chain smoked 2 or 3 analogs back to back. I had to sit in the office at school when in science class we did dissections (i would break out in hives all over my body). In a brand new home that treats the new walls w/ formaldehyde I have trouble breathing. I am ALERGIC to formaldehyde. If e-cigs have formaldehyde, it must be the “kind” I’m not allergic to?

 

[Vocalek]

Question to anyone in the audience with a chemistry background. Is nicotine a "particulate"? I always thought of a particulate as a very small piece of a solid -- like the particles of partially burned wood in fireplace smoke. I tend to think of nicotine as a liquid. Is this just the amateur interpretation. What exactly is a "particulate"?

Also, I have ever seen any research that specified nicotine as a harmful ingredient in side-stream smoke or exhaled smoke. I don't think that even in smoke, which contains at least 10 times more nicotine per puff, there is sufficient quantities to even present the least little adverse effect on a bystander.

 

[rolygate]

Perhaps 'particulates' is the right way of describing the individual groups of molecules in a visible vapor cloud. Even clumps of water molecules would qualify as particulates then. The size of any individual grouping could then be measured in microns. Apparently, vapor particles are about ten times larger than smoke particles, and this would need to include the water content as well - so a 'particle' here can consist of anything, although I'm a bit hazy (sorry) about the difference between a particle and a particulate.

 

[Thulium]

Perhaps 'particulates' is the right way of describing the individual groups of molecules in a visible vapor cloud. Even clumps of water molecules would qualify as particulates then. The size of any individual grouping could then be measured in microns. Apparently, vapor particles are about ten times larger than smoke particles, and this would need to include the water content as well - so a 'particle' here can consist of anything, although I'm a bit hazy (sorry) about the difference between a particle and a particulate.

Referring to e-cig vapor as containing "particulate" is a MAJOR equivocation. Although technically a group of microfine propylene glycol and and water droplets suspended in air could technicallly be labeled a "particulate", this is NOT what is meant by "particulates" when referring to SMOKE which contains SOLID particulate matter including completely (ash) and partially (tar) burnt organic material that is most certainly NOT present in vapor.

According to Wikipedia's definition, e-cig vapor is an AEROSOL:

Particulates – also known as particulate matter (PM), fine particles, and soot – are tiny subdivisions of solid matter suspended in a gas or liquid. In contrast, aerosol refers to particles and/or liquid droplets and the gas together. Sources of particulate matter can be man made or natural. Air pollution and water pollution can take the form of solid particulate matter, or be dissolved.[1] Salt is an example of a dissolved contaminant in water, while sand is generally a solid particulate.

From http://www.epa.gov/ncer/science/pm/:

PM represents a broad class of chemically and physically diverse substances. Particles can be described by size, formation mechanism, origin, chemical composition, atmospheric behavior and method of measurement. The concentration of particles in the air varies across space and time, and is related to the source of the particles and the transformations that occur in the atmosphere.

PM can be principally characterized as discrete particles spanning several orders of magnitude in size, with inhalable particles falling into the following general size fractions:
•PM10 (generally defined as all particles equal to and less than 10 microns in aerodynamic diameter; particles larger than this are not generally deposited in the lung);
•PM2.5, also known as fine fraction particles (generally defined as those particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 microns or less)
•PM10-2.5, also known as coarse fraction particles (generally defined as those particles with an aerodynamic diameter greater than 2.5 microns, but equal to or less than a nominal 10 microns); and
•Ultrafine particles generally defined as those less than 0.1 microns.

 

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Preview of the results of the Madison County Health Department FOIA request.

Dr. Ellen Hahn of the University of Kentucky arguably libels Dr. Brad Rodu by falsely stating that he is on the Board of Directors of U.S. Tobacco. Dr. Rodu is of course a Professor of Medicine in Tobacco Harm Reduction at the University of Louisville.

I'm sure the University of Louisville will be thrilled to know that a professor at a competing college is saying that one of their professors is on the Board of Directors of a multi-million dollar tobacco company.

 

[Ande]

I don't think you could say that she has committed libel, as there was no intent to publish this.

What she has committed is slander, though- has someone told Dr Rodu about this? perhaps someone should.

I don't know the man, but his email address is readily available.

Best,
Ande

 

[JustJulie]

I don't think you could say that she has committed libel, as there was no intent to publish this.

What she has committed is slander, though- has someone told Dr Rodu about this? perhaps someone should.

I don't know the man, but his email address is readily available.

Best,
Ande

Slander is verbal; libel is written.

"Publication" and "publish" have very specific meanings in connection with libel laws. And, yes, in some cases, private emails can be libelous . . . sending an email with a libelous statement to someone other than the person being defamed can constitute "publication."

I am shocked at how little regard for the truth some of these people have.

 

[rothenbj]

Slader is verbal; libel is written.

"Publication" and "publish" have very specific meanings in connection with libel laws. And, yes, in some cases, private emails can be libelous . . . sending an email with a libelous statement to someone other than the person being defamed can constitute "publication."

I am shocked at how little regard for the truth some of these people have.

For once I managed to read ahead after reading the original post or I would have duplicated your comment, but spell checker might have caught "slader", unless I had my urban dictionary plugged in.

 

[JustJulie]

LOL. I'm doing this on an Android tablet, and I'm still trying to figure out the swype-like typing feature. I'm getting better, though . . . only took me 5 minutes to correct my post to add that pesky "n."

 

[CJsKee]

Carl Phillips wrote about this...EP-ology by Carl V. Phillips: Ellen J. Hahn does not libel Brad Rodu so much as expose the ignorance of anti-tobacco "researchers"

 

[rothenbj]

LOL. I'm doing this on an Android tablet, and I'm still trying to figure out the swype-like typing feature. I'm getting better, though . . . only took me 5 minutes to correct my post to add that pesky "n."

Julie, I loved Swype on my Moto Droid when I got their leaked version well over a year ago (I'm assuming that's the product you have). There were a few quirky ways of handling things, but easier than typing on small devises. Unfortunately I lost it when I rooted my Droid and that has minimized Droid entry for me.

 

[Vocalek]

You "rooted" your Droid? What does that mean? (I know what a Droid is).

 

[Thulium]

You "rooted" your Droid? What does that mean? (I know what a Droid is).

Elaine, when dealing with *nix based systems (Android is built on Linux) "root" means full system authority (like on a DOS system if you have admin access to the root directory, you'll have access to all sub-directories) so "rooting" is the Android equivalent of "JailBreaking" an iPhone--giving yourself authority to make any changes since many carriers disable certain features like the ability to "tether" or install unapproved apps.

In some cases, Jailbreaking or Rooting your phone voids the warranty, and of course the cell phone companies are using any political clout they can find to try and make it illegal to "root" or "jailbreak" so it is certainly something that should be done at your own risk; but being able to decide for yourself what you will or won't install on your smartphone has definite advantages.