Smokefree Pennsylvania sent the following letter to the Utah Senate Committee members yesterday. The Senate committee meeting is occurring now.
Dear Senator
As one who has campaigned to ban smoking in public places for 25 years, I strongly urge you to OPPOSE HB 245 S3 "Amendment to Definition of Smoking in Utah Indoor Clean Air Act"
http://le.utah.gov/~2012/bills/hbillint/hb0245s03.pdf because it would falsely redefine "smoking" to include the use of smokefree electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and because it would unjustifiably ban the use of these nonpolluting lifesaving products in every private workplace in Utah.
In sharp contrast to combustible tobacco products, e-cigarettes don't burn and emit no smoke or pollutants. Redefining "smoking" to include the use of e-cigarettes is as insincere and absurd as redefining "smoking" to include the use of smokeless tobacco, gums or lozenges, drinking coffee or tea, or using a cellphone or a laptop.
In 2006, I coauthored a comprehensive scientific report "Tobacco harm reduction: an alternative cessation strategy for inveterate smokers" at
HRJ | Full text | Tobacco harm reduction: an alternative cessation strategy for inveterate smokers and in 2007 the Royal College of Physicians issued a similar report "Harm reduction in nicotine addiction; Helping people who can't quit" at
http://www.tobaccoprogram.org/pdf/4fc74817-64c5-4105-951e-38239b09c5db.pdf.
Scientific evidence has consistently found that cigarette smoking poses 100 times greater morbidity and mortality risks than use of smokeless tobacco products in the US and Sweden, and indicate that all noncombustible tobacco/nicotine products (including e-cigarettes, nicotine gums, lozenges, patches) are about 99% less hazardous alternatives to cigarettes. Smokers who switch to e-cigarettes and other smokefree tobacco/nicotine products reduce their health risks nearly as much as those who quit all tobacco/nicotine use. Several million smokers in the US have already quit by switching to smokeless tobacco products, and about one million smokers have quit by switching to e-cigarettes in the past five years.
While e-cigarettes emit no smoke nor air pollution, they do emit a similar amount of nicotine to the user as do nicotine gums and lozenges.
http://www.healthnz.co.nz/2010 Bullen ECig.pdf
http://www.casaa.org/files/Virgiania Commonwealth University Study.pdf.
E-cigarettes emit enough nicotine to satisfy a smoker's cravings, but there are no known cases of a nonsmoker becoming a daily user of e-cigarettes.
Unfortunately, the Utah Health Department has made many false and misleading fear-mongering claims about the health risks of e-cigarettes during the past two years in its intolorant zeal to ban the sales of e-cigarettes to adults (in 2009 and 2010) and to now ban adults from using e-cigarettes in all public places. The Utah Health Department has also misrepresented the results of its 2011 Utah youth survey at
http://www.dsamh.utah.gov/docs/State of Utah Profile Report.pdf, which found that Utah has the lowest youth tobacco use rate in the nation (less than half the national average) and that e-cigarettes have been used by fewer 12th graders than any other tobacco product, and at significantly lower levels than of cigarettes, hookah and cigars.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...e-ecigs-definition-smoking-4.html#post5124130 Besides, its illegal to sell an e-cigarette to any minor under the age of 19 years in Utah.
Many published surveys have confirmed that e-cigarettes satisfy the cravings of smokers, help many smokers quit and/or sharply reduce cigarette consumption, and provide perceived health benefits to users who switched from cigarettes.
http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/05/12/ntr.ntr088.full.pdf+html
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-10-231.pdf
THR2010. (tobaccoharmreduction.org) (see chapter 9)
http://ectoh.org/documents/3B.5 Ett...ation satisfaction and perceived efficacy.pdf
http://www.ajpmonline.org/webfiles/images/journals/AMEPRE/AMEPRE3013.pdf
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs): views of af... [Int J Clin Pract. 2011] - PubMed - NCBI
Electronic Cigarettes
A recently published e-cigarette study at
CASAA.org found that 22.5% of participating smokers remained smokefree after 24 weeks and another 32.5% of participants reduced daily cigarette consumption by 50%, including 12.5% who reduced daily cigarette consumption by 80%. A Japanese study similarly found e-cigarettes effective for decreasing cigarette consumption
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/seikatsueisei/55/1/55_59/_article, while a recent case study found e-cigarettes effective for smoking cessation among depressed patients
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=6134&publishStatus=2.
Other public health organizations that have extensively studied e-cigarettes have also endorsed their use by smokers, including The American Association of Public Health Physicians
Regulations.gov and the American Council on Science and Health
NEJM editorial: e-cigarette users should resume smoking for their own good > Facts & Fears > ACSH. Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler has also acknowledged the benefits of smokeless tobacco, dissolvables and e-cigarettes as less hazardous alternatives for cigarette smokers at
http://www.westport-news.com/busine...-Commissioner-talks-about-tobacco-1735433.php by stating "there's no doubt that in terms of risk of death there are some advantages to that substitution."
The Utah Health Department also has falsely claimed that people cannot tell the difference between a burning cigarette that emits tobacco smoke pollution and a smokefree e-cigarette. In fact, even ...... can tell the difference between a burning cigarette and a smokefree e-cigarette. Instead of banning the use of e-cigarettes, I suggest that Utah Legislators investigate why staff at the Utah Health Department continue wasting taxpayer's dollars making false and misleading claims about e-cigarettes, and why they have aggressively campaigned to ban the sale and use of e-cigarettes.
In contrast to indoor smokefree policies/laws (which are largely self enforced because nonsmokers don't want exposed to hazardous tobacco smoke), it is impossible to enforce an e-cigarette usage ban (since the products can be used discreetly without anyone else knowing). By simply waiting three seconds after inhaling and before exhaling, there is no visible or otherwise detectable vapor. Nobody can even tell if a person is using an e-cigarette or simply holding a pen (which look like most e-cigarettes) to their mouth. Enacting this unwarranted and unenforceable law would just reduce the public credibility of the Utah State goverment.
All of the dozen plus laboratory tests conducted on e-cigarettes found that e-cigarettes emit no hazardous levels of any constitutents, and that the trace levels of nitrosamines in e-cigarettes are nearly identical to those in nicotine gums and patches.
http://www.healthnz.co.nz/RuyanCartridgeReport30-Oct-08.pdf
http://www.starscientific.com/404/stepanov tsna in.pdf
http://www.healthnz.co.nz/DublinEcigBenchtopHandout.pdf
http://www.casaa.org/files/Study_TSNAs_in_NJOY_Vapor.pdf
Lab Reports / E Liquid Facts / Totally Wicked
http://cdn.johnsoncreeksmokejuice.com/downloads/JCE_GCMS_Report.pdf
http://www.libertystix.com/LibertyStixLabAnalysis072309.pdf
http://truthaboutecigs.com/science/8.pdf
http://www.casaa.org/files/Exponent Response-to-the-FDA-Summary.pdf
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/centers-institutes/population-development/files/article.jphp.pdf
Taylor & Francis Online :: ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE CARTRIDGES, REFILL SOLUTIONS, AND SMOKE FOR NICOTINE AND NICOTINE RELATED IMPURITIES - Journal of Liquid Chromatography & Related Technologies - Volume 34, Issue 14
A Literature Review for Glycerol and Glycols for Entertainment Services & Technology Association also found no health risks to humans
http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/working_groups/FS/docs/HSE.pdf.
Once again, please OPPOSE HB 245 S3 because it falsely redefines "smoking" to include the use of smokefree e-cigarettes bans to unjustifiably ban the use of products that have saved the lives of a million smokers, and that pose no harm to others.
Sincerely,
William T. Godshall, MPH
Executive Director
Smokefree Pennsylvania
1926 Monongahela Avenue
Pittsburgh PA 15218
412-351-5880
smokefree@compuserve.com
