A Petition for NON-SMOKERS to sign

[debokey]

I haven't purchased my first PV yet (waiting for payday next Friday), but I work at a MAJOR hospital, and I've been talking about them to coworkers.

None of my coworkers smoke. They all like the idea of PVs. These are doctors and nurses in a neurological intensive care unit, and cigarettes have been blamed for both ischemic and hemoragghic stroke (bleeding into the brain). The only objection they've had is that if I smoked it at the desk, it might trigger the desire for cigarettes in patients or visitors who smoke but only have analogues. (As PVs spread, that objection will probably disappear.) They have NO problems with my vaping in the breakroom, even though they eat there, and certainly none with my vaping in the staff bathroom.

There are certain regulations that we will inevitably face, and they actually would be to our advantage in the long run. The formula of e-liquid needs to be regulated so that unscrulous dealers do not pass off fake or harmful liquid or cartrides on us. We have the right, as vapers, to know that we are getting what we're being sold. Childproof containers are inevitable, and they would protect OUR children, who are in the houses with our e-juice, more than the children of non-smokers. We may as well concede to those regulations because fighting them will make us look stubborn and dangerous. Conceding to them will help us win support on The Hill and among non-smokers.

There are more of non-smokers than there are of us, and it is in their interest for smokers to switch. Try explaining PVs to non-smokers and getting them to sign a petition something like this:

As non-smokers, we urge the United States Congress, President, and FDA to permit the sale of electronic cigarettes (aka personal vaporizers) in the U.S.

We understand that electronic cigarettes do contain nicotine, which is an addictive drug. However, we support their use among those who already smoke for the following reasons:

• The decrease of second-hand smoke resulting from cigarettes smokers changing to electronic cigarettes improves environmental air for non-smokers. It decreases our exposure to the carcinogens of second-hand smoke, which have been shown to be linked to cancer in non-smokers.
• The decrease in the production of cigarette waste, including ashes, butts, and filters, improves environmental cleanliness and landfill use, which affects non-smokers. If the popularity of electronic cigarettes continues to grow, the number of wet dirty cigarette butts on the streets and sidewalks of our communities will decrease. Filters, which do not biodegrade readily and absorb and retain leachate, will decrease in landfills.
• Although nicotine may be harmful to health, the number and amounts of carcinogens inhaled by current smokers will decline. As a result, the health-care resources currently used to treat the illnesses known to be linked to tar, carbon monoxide, and other harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke will be available to treat other illnesses encountered by non-smokers.
• As the aforementioned illnesses decline, insurance rates for non-smokers could, theoretically, decrease.
• Co-workers and other smokers encountered by chance will not carry the unpleasant smell of cigarette smoke into buildings in their hair and clothes.
• Small businesses such as restaurants and bars that have been harmed by non-smoking laws will see the return of some smokers to their establishments, which would help the economy.
• Productivity among smoking workers will increase in workplaces that allow the use of electronic cigarettes. A smaller increase will be seen in even those companies that allow the use of electronic cigarettes in bathrooms or specified areas because smokers will not be required to travel to and from entrances.
• The entrances of public buildings and workplaces could become free of the hazards, smell, and unsightly mess of cigarette smoke, butts, and ashes.

Although we continue to endorse smoking cessation, we the undersigned non-smokers believe that we will benefit by the continued and increasing use of electronic cigarettes among smokers. Instead of banning electronic cigarettes, we urge U.S. representatives to pass legislation specifying the formula of the liquid used and requiring childproof and safe packaging of materials. We then ask that the use of approved electronic cigarettes be distinguised from the use of cigarettes in anti-smoking laws and bans to encourage smokers to convert to the electronic form.

It shouldn't be hard to come up with an even longer list of reasons for non-smokers to support PVs. After all, we hear them day in and day out every time we light an analogue.

If these products have won the support of the nurses and neurosurgeons I work with, it shouldn't be hard for us to win support from other non-smokers we know.

What do you think?

 

[KDMickey]

I love it! Thank you for starting this thread. Unfortunately, I cannot be politically active at my work (stupid freaking union).

 

[debokey]

I love it! Thank you for starting this thread. Unfortunately, I cannot be politically active at my work (stupid freaking union).

A lot of us can't really do this kind of thing openly at work. But we all know people in the community -- family, friends, social groups -- with non-smokers. If we can get them on board (not the anti-smoking I-want-everyone-to-be-a-clone types; they're a lost cause), they could carry some power. Lord knows they've used it against us enough. Let's see if we can harnass it FOR us for a change.

Deb

 

[33432997]

I would hope to see expansion of the issue of the environment and the e-cig. That reason alone should be good reason to suppor them. Get the petition out there heavier. I am a non smoker but am concerned for smokers I know that have switched and found it to have made everyones lives better. I do think strength should be regulated but that is it.... I do not see it as a cessation device but as a healthier delivery (still problems) system and certainly much better for the environment....Much much better for the environment. I do not miss the ashes, smoke and butts.
This is a win, win device. While we may not totally know its direct health effects on the smoker we do know it isn't any worse than the current cigarette. We definitley know it is better for non-smokers and the enviornment. So what is the problem??????Oh yeah...Big tobacco and taxes. Well taxes is easy to solve and I would gladly see it taxed if that will solve the issues. Of course big tobacco can not be solved. I guess we know who the government really cares about.

 

[Sunshyn]

One more benefit might be the lowered risk of fire.

We had a smoldering fire once, started from a dropped cigarette. I'm certainly not sad to see the end of new cigarette burns in the books from when my husband falls asleep while reading.

 

[harmony gardens]

Superbly written!! I can't post links yet, but as soon as I can, I have some articles to share with the group that talk about how nicotine enhances memory and the pharmy companies are looking into developing altzheimer's treatments that are nicotine based.


I unsuccessfully attended a smoking cessession program at our local hospital. The group leader stressed that while smoking cigarettes, we don't get just nicotine, but there were thousands of trace elements that were truely dangerous, that were actually added to cigarettes by the tobacco companies. I don't recall all of them specifically, but when I asked her why nobody tried to stop the tobacco companies from introducing these extra dangerous ingredients to cigarettes, and insisting that cigarettes be made safer, she was pretty speechless.


There is a reason that tobacco was sacred to Native American's, and there's a reason that so many European's adapted the "habit". Nicotine does something to the brain that we addicts can't do without. A safer cigarette is the answer to so many problems. Kudos to your healthcare co-workers for recognizing that a safer delivery method has merit. It only makes good scence to me.