American Cancer Society urges states to ban e-cig sales

[Bill Godshall]

The American Cancer Society gave the attached presentation last week to the New Mexico tobacco Settlement Revenue Oversight Committee.

I'm not aware of any e-cigarette legislation in NM, and this is the first ACS document I'm aware of urging state legislators to ban the sale of e-cigarettes.

The attached ACS presentation on state regulation of e-cigarettes also:
- opposes common sense state laws to ban e-cigarette sales to youth,
- insists that states not legally define e-cigarettes as tobacco products even if state smokefree workplace laws are disingenuously amended to redefine "smoking" as including the usage of smokefree e-cigarettes,

- opposes reasonable FDA health/safety regulations for e-cigarettes as tobacco products under the FSPTCA,

- fails to acknowledge that Federal Judge Richard Leon has already ruled (in SE v FDA) that the FDA can only regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products under the FSPTCA,


- falsely insinuates that many/most/all e-cigarette companies are making "bogus" and "illegal" health claims under federal law without providing evidence of any inaccurate health claim(s) by any company(ies) that violate any federal law(s),
- grossly misrepresents the FDA's laboratory test results on e-cigarettes,
- inaccurately claims there is no scientific evidence that e-cigarettes can help smokers quit, and
- advocates drug company products as the "safe and effective" way to quit tobacco without acknowledging that:
> the vast majority of exsmokers quit cold turkey,
> smokeless tobacco products and e-cigarettes have helped millions of other smokers quit,
> 95% of NRT users have resumed smoking cigarettes,
> prescription drugs for tobacco cessation pose safety risks, or that
> ACS has received tens of millions of dollars from drug companies to promote their smoking cessation products.

 

[Blank]

are we just like fighting everyone here
THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY, last time i checked nicotine was one of the chemicals in cigs that was least likely to cause cancer. but hey if its not enough for them to try and ruin smokers enjoyment, then why not come over here and ....... with us?

seriously ACS WTF!?

 

[fritos1]

They are in with the drug production companys its all a big scam for them too get donation money do you really believe there isnt a cure for cancer of course there is they have had it for a long time but if they cured cancer there would be no need for the American Cancer Society so why would they cure some thing that would mean them closeing up shop look how much money the president of ACS makes and you will understand my point.

 

[Vocalek]

I am happy to report that I did not find any lies whatsoever on pages 1, 4, and 12.

So now it's time for a new variation on an old joke:


How can you tell when Nathan Bush is lying?

When his lips are moving and he is talkiing about E-cigarettes.

 

[Chasm]

These people are fighting for their jobs.

No holds barred.

They are desperate.

They deserve no pity.

 

[JustKryssi]

This bothers the heck out of me.

My father was 43 when he passed away from lung cancer. He asked me to quit smoking. I did for awhile, went back, quit again, went back....on and on for years.

This year I will be older than my father ever lived to be and I finally found something that will help me stay quit for good and they, of all groups, urge to ban?

Makes me want to cry when I think of little girls who might be able to have their dads for a long time because of vaping.

 

[kristin]

The ACS is part of the Axis of Evil (or Elaine's name for them, the "Alphabet Soup Group").

They are named on the http://ecigssavelives.info petiton. If you haven't signed it yet - get to it!!

Looks like CASSA is going to need to send out another letter and informational packets.

 

[kristin]

Bill, which scientific evidence are you referring to that shows that e-cigarettes can help smokers quit?

 

[Reyth]

Excellent post sir, thank you.

3438 Mike Jay Clean nicotine helps me to be a more productive citizen, thank God

Petition signed.

 

[rothenbj]

The ACS is part of the Axis of Evil (or Elaine's name for them, the "Alphabet Soup Group").

They are named on the http://ecigssavelives.info petiton. If you haven't signed it yet - get to it!!

Looks like CASSA is going to need to send out another letter and informational packets.

Kristin, that was my first thought when I read Bill's post. They need the opposing view with some figures, rather than "health" association propaganda. It wouldn't be bad to mention where ACS's funding comes from. It disgusts me that these organizations, once truly oriented toward a worthy goal, have just become another money machine. Rant over.

 

[Reyth]

It disgusts me that these organizations, once truly oriented toward a worthy goal, have just become another money machine. Rant over.

Infiltrated? Most assuredly. About more than just money? Yuppers.

 

[xg4bx]

You know they have an agenda when their stance flies in the face of all rationality.

You would figure that anti-cancer and anti-tobacco groups would be bleeping jumping for joy over e-cigs. But no.

These groups need a continuous and perpetual enemy. They NEED tobacco to continue to exist. They NEED people to keep smoking cigarettes, using tobacco and getting cancer otherwise their whole organization will collapse.

 

[Bahnzo]

You know they have an agenda when their stance flies in the face of all rationality.

You would figure that anti-cancer and anti-tobacco groups would be bleeping jumping for joy over e-cigs. But no.

These groups need a continuous and perpetual enemy. They NEED tobacco to continue to exist. They NEED people to keep smoking cigarettes, using tobacco and getting cancer otherwise their whole organization will collapse.

It's so true, and it's so prevalent in other stuff as well. They need people to smoke to exist and thus protect their jobs. The ACS is no better than any other lobby group and anyone that believes their main concern is for our health is severely mislead.

If anything, I'm starting to believe the ACS is actually a group promoting cancer.

 

[Reyth]

If anything, I'm starting to believe the ACS is actually a group promoting cancer.

Now THAT's a scary thought!

 

[xg4bx]

It's so true, and it's so prevalent in other stuff as well. They need people to smoke to exist and thus protect their jobs. The ACS is no better than any other lobby group and anyone that believes their main concern is for our health is severely mislead.

If anything, I'm starting to believe the ACS is actually a group promoting cancer.

Look at other groups like anti-aids organizations, they'll actually go out and hand out condoms, theres "needle swaps" to help keep drug users from getting aids, etc. These groups actually go and put their money where their mouth is.

If the cancer society actually gave a crap about smokers they'd have a "Cigs for PV" swap like police departments do for guns.

These charities are nothing more than self-perpetuating scams. What would the benefit be for them to cure cancer? Even the pink ribbon breast cancer thing is a marketing scheme, it rakes in $ by making people think they're doing something good by buying products with a pretty pink ribbon. To use an old saying, we can put a man on the moon using a computer with less power than a digital wrist watch but we can't cure cancer yet? I refuse to believe it.

Our good health doesn't profit pharmaceutical companies and a lack of suffering doesn't profit charities.

Maybe I'm just an anti-social misanthrope but it's really no surprise that the only groups I give money to are local animal shelters. I highly doubt the SPCA has anything to gain by keeping kitty cats hungry and homeless. Their results speak for themselves.

 

[Bill Godshall]

Kristin inquired:
Bill, which scientific evidence are you referring to that shows that e-cigarettes can help smokers quit?

The Etter study at http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-10-231.pdf
(which was published in a peer reviewed scientific journal) and the Heavner et al study at Chapter 9 of the 2010 Tobacco Harm Reduction Yearbook at THR2010. (tobaccoharmreduction.org)

When the e-cigarette prohibitionists make the claim "there is no scientific evidence", they are selectively referencing only expensive double-blind placebo clinical trials, which is a specific type of scientific study the FDA requires for approving new drugs and devices.

Since population surveys (which are also considered scientific evidence, especially when published in a peer reviewed scientific journal) have found that e-cigarettes have helped many people quit smoking, harm reduction opponents are trying to redefine "scientific evidence" as not including population surveys (and other types of scientific evidence whose findings don't support the e-cigarette prohibitionists goal).

Same thing has been going on for more than a decade after population surveys found that many male smokers in the US and Sweden (and more recently in Norway) had reported quitting smoking by switching to smokeless tobacco products, as tobacco harm reduction opponents continue to claim that there is "no scientific evidence" that smokers can quit smoking by switching to smokeless tobacco products

More than a decade ago, Tilashalski, Rodu and Cole conducted a clinical trial (as well as a 7 year followup) of cigarette smokers who tried to quit smoking by switching to smokeless tobacco. The study found that, of sixty-three subjects, sixteen had successfully quit smoking by switching to smokeless tobacco after one year, and twelve were still nonsmokers after seven years. Six other subjects had successfully quit smoking after one year by other means, and four of them remained nonsmokers after seven years.
Tilashalski K, Rodu B, Cole P, Seven Year Follow-Up of Smoking Cessation with Smokeless Tobacco, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2005, Vol. 37, No 1, 105-108

In response to that study and its 7 year followup (both of which were published in peer reviewed scientific journals), tobacco harm reduction opponents continued claiming that there was "no scientific evidence" that smokers could quit smoking by switching to smokeless tobacco, by insisting that the study couldn't be considered scientific evidence since it wasn't a "double blind placebo" study.

Basically, tobacco harm reduction opponents have insisted that any scientific evidence (whose findings conflict with their abstinence-only zero-tolerance anti-tobacco ideology) isn't scientific evidence.

The National Cancer Institute did the same thing several years ago when it looked at the issue of smokeless tobacco, when it claimed that none of the published studies (that found smokeless to be far less hazardous than cigarettes) met its (i.e. NCI's) rigorous scientific criteria standards, and thus wouldn't be considered in NCI's scientific review.

 

[kristin]

Thanks, Bill. That clears things up. I thought maybe you meant those studies, but wasn't sure if they really "counted" as scientific studies of smoking cessation with e-cigarettes.

Sometimes I think they discount them if they aren't U.S. originated studies, as well!

 

[Haytoni]

They are in with the drug production companys its all a big scam for them too get donation money do you really believe there isnt a cure for cancer of course there is they have had it for a long time but if they cured cancer there would be no need for the American Cancer Society so why would they cure some thing that would mean them closeing up shop look how much money the president of ACS makes and you will understand my point.

You are so correct..........there is a cure, but as you say, it's all politics.

 

[MoonRose]

I know I've seen a list of e-mail addys and or physical addys for all of these groups that are wanting e-cigs banned, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I saw it. I want to send an e-mail or physical letter to each and every one of them asking them to justify their reasoning for wanting to deny me the one thing that has allowed me to stop smoking tobacco cigarettes after 28 years of trying all the so called stop smoking products that are out there. Perhaps if every one of us who has been able to give up or drastically reduce the use of tobacco cigarettes were to flood all of them with letters and e-mails demanding they justify their reasoning for their actions they might have second thoughts. What gives them the right to hand down a certain death sentence to us by denying us the one thing that is working for us. Last time I looked, they were not GOD or GODS, even if they seem to think they are.

 

[kristin]

Unfortunately, if you get any response at all, you'll just get the boilerplate reply citing the FDA test and "We don't know what is in them" that everyone else has been getting. It's why we started the EcigsSavelives.info petition!

I know I've seen a list of e-mail addys and or physical addys for all of these groups that are wanting e-cigs banned, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I saw it. I want to send an e-mail or physical letter to each and every one of them asking them to justify their reasoning for wanting to deny me the one thing that has allowed me to stop smoking tobacco cigarettes after 28 years of trying all the so called stop smoking products that are out there. Perhaps if every one of us who has been able to give up or drastically reduce the use of tobacco cigarettes were to flood all of them with letters and e-mails demanding they justify their reasoning for their actions they might have second thoughts. What gives them the right to hand down a certain death sentence to us by denying us the one thing that is working for us. Last time I looked, they were not GOD or GODS, even if they seem to think they are.