Okay, here is what I prepared (some of it has been "stolen" from other places here in the ECF- sorry)....3 different letters- one to the city council in Birmingham, other two to Senators and Representatives- each slightly different as what to change in the bill, etc. I am including what could be sent to the city here- Anyone want to help "clean it up" or stream-line it?
Dear Council Man/Woman_________ :
IE: AN ORDINANCE TO REPEAL TITLE 11, CHAPTER 9, SECTION 10, "SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES" AND ADOPT IN FULL A NEW TITLE 11, CHAPTER 9, SECTION 10, "CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SMOKE FREE ORDINANCE OF 2011".
I am a resident of Birmingham, Alabama (District ______ ).
Although I do not use one, and neither am I a smoker, a personal vaporizer (IE: Electronic Cigarette) has helped my long-time smoking brother to quit smoking. He lives in another state; otherwise, he would be sending you this letter. After decades of trying a great number of expensive programs and pharmaceutical products, not a single one could get him to stop smoking upwards of 2 packs per day for almost 30 years. Since trying a personal vaporizer he has been smoke free for over a year now. As he told me, it wasn’t a week after trying this smoke-free alternative that he completely lost interest in buying and smoking combustible cigarettes- something unheard of, especially if you know how heavily he was addicted to those things.
My brother, David’s health improved drastically within a few months. When he went for his bi-annual dental check-up, his dentist wanted to know what he had done to improve his gums and was amazed at the lack of plaque on his teeth. David showed the dentist what he was using which impressed his doctor to the point of wanting to recommend it to his other smoking patient. Not only that, my brother had been using a CPAP machine for sleep apnea. Only 4 months after he had quit smoking and started using the smoke-free device, he went to his “sleep doctor,” and his doctor told him that his air pressure could be reduced to the minimum amount and most likely he really didn’t even need a CPAP anymore. David says that he feels healthier than he ever has and has thus far reduced his nicotine intake three times. David has ADHD and when he tried to reduce nicotine to zero in his liquids, he responded with trouble concentrating and becoming forgetful in his daily work. This is funny because his work is in evaluating children for psychiatric issues such as ADHD. Evidently, nicotine helps him be “stable,” and work productively, so I do not know if he will ever completely quit his intake of nicotine. In fact, it appears that he needs some, to some degree to function normally. He said that he really didn’t notice the effects of the nicotine until he tried to regulate it, and it all makes sense now as to why he was so addicted to smoking combustible cigarettes in the first place. He also told me that when he started desiring the use of his smoke-free apparatus rather than actually smoking, he was still concerned for his health and began diligently trying to find information on electronic-cigarettes to see what harm they may still be causing. So far, he has not been able to (unlike combustible cigarettes) find anything that would indicate that they are harmful to him or any bystander- in any way. He said that he wished now that he had found this alternative years ago- that the gum, patches, prescribed inhalers and medications he had tried so many times were so much more expensive than even smoking and that they never helped him quit- they were a waste of his time and efforts. He also likes the fact his hair, clothes, car and breath don’t smell like an ashtray and that he doesn’t risk burning himself or others, and the risk to property has been reduced to zero. He feels that if he didn’t get turned on to the electronic cigarette, he would have continued to smoke with is health going down the tubes- most likely developing cancer, heart disease or some other debilitating condition.
Because these devices DO NOT emit any type of SMOKE, his home, clothing, and property are all free of the toxins associated with smoking. The use of smoke-free electronic cigarettes is clearly NOT SMOKING, so it makes no sense to lump them in with smoking. In fact, it’s even a shame that they are referred to as E-Cigarettes as they are nothing like cigarettes. David would like their name changed to SmokeFreE-Cigs or just simply PV (personal vaporizer). So, these devices need to be handled separately from smoking. There is NO smoke! The liquids on the market for these devices only contain FDA approved ingredients. There is NO SMOKE...only water vapor that is completely harmless to anyone around. Strong perfume can be offensive, but these are not, so why ban them along with cigarettes when they have the potential to save people’s lives? According to his research, there is not a single study that has come anywhere close to proving these devices are harmful to the user or bystanders. NOT ONE! Before voting to ban something as smoking that clearly is NOT smoking, please think twice about this potentially life saving device. From what I understand from my brother, the different bans across the country concerning electronic-cigarettes are all political. The “political” part appears to be the big pharmaceutical companies losing money from their unproductive nicotine replacement products because of these effective devices. As you well know, the American Lung Association, Heart Association and even the FDA are largely funded by big Pharmaceutical companies and these are the very groups that appear to supply even the language used in the electronic-cigarette bans- using the reasoning that not enough is known about them. Let me just say that my brother is a member of a very larger on-line group that uses these devices. He has said that not one of thousands of the users of the alternative smoke-free devices have had any health issues- and in fact, almost all of them have a similar story as his- and some have been using this smoke-free alternative since they were brought to the U.S. about 7 years ago (now, many are made in the U.S.- at least the ones he uses). This should speak volumes!
Business owners and not the government should be able to make up their own minds about whether or not they want people to use smoke-free electronic cigarettes inside of their establishments. Hasn’t the government meddled enough? How many more freedoms is the government going to take away, especially based on false predications. This is a device that actually can save smokers from early illness and death and the government wants to tell people where they can be used. I am just appalled at this.
I have watched and experienced being along side my brother when he has used his PV. Electronic cigarette use is easy to distinguish from actual smoking. Although some e-cigarettes resemble real cigarettes, many do not (my brother’s looks like a box and is made of wood). It is easy to tell when someone lights a cigarette, from the smell of smoke. E-cigarette vapor is practically odorless, and generally any detectable odor is not unpleasant and smells nothing like smoke. The vapor from his device does not behave in the same manner as smoke. There is no "side stream" vapor like the side stream smoke coming from the lit end of a cigarette. There is also no ash or litter. With so little evidence of use, enforcing indoor use bans on electronic cigarettes would be nearly impossible. After talking to him, I believe now like he does that the ability to use electronic cigarettes in public spaces will actually improve public health by inspiring other smokers to switch. He showed me where surveys of thousands of users indicate that the majority of those who switch, completely replace tobacco cigarettes with the electronic cigarettes, reducing their health risks by 98-99% like he feels he has.
In regard to pending legislation, please amend the bill to remove the second sentence in Section 2(a)(14) from the proposed Smoke Free Ordinance because it falsely defines "smoking" as including the use of smokefree e-cigarettes. Also, please remove Section2(a)(3) from the bill.
Sincerely,
My brother David asked that if you have the time, this resource may be of value to you concerning your decision:
http://casaa.info/Electronic_Cigarettes.html#ecigarette_research
