AP reporter looking to interview vapers

[DaveP]

Someone posted a thread yesterday with a letter from their credit card company stating that they would no longer service their electronic cigarette account due to an FDA ruling that Ecigs were to be treated as tobacco products which are prohibited from being sold through the internet.

This thread by Rolygate quelled the rumors that were starting. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-rumor-merchant-accounts-being-cancelled.html

 

[Vocalek]

The story is being run all over the country. Google: "E-cigs: No smoke, but some areas are banning them" and you get 1.4 million hits.

First up: Miami Herald

E-cigs: No smoke, but some areas are banning them - National Business - MiamiHerald.com

 

[StormFinch]

It's made it to the Top Stories list on Yahoo; E-cigs: No smoke, but some areas are banning them - Yahoo! News

 

[yvilla]

Stupendous job everybody! The quotes are short but powerfull and hit exactly the right points. And Cliff, the photo of you and your wife vaping is wonderfull!

 

[Vocalek]

I have invited the reporter, Michael Felberbaum, to attend the Vapercon to be held in Richmond, VA on October 21-22, 2011.

http://www.vapercon.com/

 

[CJsKee]

Excellent article...WTG Cliff!! And in Oklahoma City: E-cigs: No smoke, but some areas are banning them | NewsOK.com

 

[cliff5550]

Not exactly what I was hoping for but I guess the story gets the point across. I had a few other points I would have liked to make but he never called back before running with it. Guess it's o.k. Thanks everyone.

At least I got a new Avatar photo out of it.

 

[Grammie]

I have invited the reporter, Michael Felberbaum, to attend the Vapercon to be held in Richmond, VA on October 21-22, 2011.

VaperCon 2011

I just looked at the video on vapercon.com on my Android, the dates in the video say October 7-8, 2011. Which one is right? Is there a thread on ECF any where about this?

Thanks so much Cliff & wife, super interview!

 

[Demarko]

Gonna have to keep an eye on the local news! Good article, I think gets many points across. And hearing them say they'll revisit it if there's science in the future is promising..

ETA: I was sure to share this on facebook

 

[dagnagan]

Showed up in (Columbia, SC) The State this morning, on 2A. Considering tight space in the paper these days, it was a nice long piece. Good job, everybody.

 

[knobbysmoo]

This article was also on my Wii news scroll last night. Great job!

 

[Diablo]

Quoted from the VA Pilot Newspaper:

"However, in Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wrote an opinion saying that because e-cigs don't burn tobacco, the "vapor emitted by an e-cigarette would not fall within the definition" of the law."


Glad I live in VA. Reminds me of the days when states had control and the right to make and enforce their own laws. I am pretty sure the current US administration wont let this stand. How dare you VA who do you think you are...

Anyway I'm gonna enjoy it while it lasts.


D

 

[CES]

Great article! Glad to see it's getting picked up around the country. (i sent the reporter a thank you email)

 

[Vocalek]

Great article! Glad to see it's getting picked up around the country. (i sent the reporter a thank you email)

Me, too. Since he lives in Richmond, I also invited him to Vapercon in October. VaperCon 2011

 

[CES]

that'll be great- i hope he goes to the con!

 

[Thulium]

E-cigs: No smoke, but some areas are banning them - Forbes.com

 

[TNT]

Sorry, but I'm not really fond of the article. It makes the point that we don't know what vape may contain for non-smokers, which makes the point that if we're going to ban smoking in indoor places for health reasons, non-smokers have every right to protest vaping in non-smoking areas because we don't know what the effects are. Again, I'm not in favor of outright bans on indoor smoking, believing it should be left up to the business owner. I'm just saying this article provides very little information that may make non-smokers take a second look.

There's only one interesting paragraph:

.... we don't know what else is in the contents of that electronic cigarette," said Cynthia Hallett, executive director of the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation. "The good news is more research being done. ... We may learn more, and if in the end they're safe, we'll have to revisit."

I'm a dedicated vaper who's spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on e-cigs and I'm happy that I've been cigarette-free for over four months. As I mentioned in a previous post, I wish there would have been at least a passing glance at those of us who vape for our own reasons, and not just to get around smoking bans.

 

[cliff5550]

""I wish there would have been at least a passing glance at those of us who vape for our own reasons, and not just to get around smoking bans."

I totally agree with you and I wanted to address that when the reporter called back for "follow-up" questions and comments. Trouble is, he never called back. Didn't get to say half of what I'd hoped to. Overall I thought it was a decent write-up, and better than many I've read, but I knew he was going for the "getting around smoking bans" angle.

 

[Scottitude]

Must be why I never heard from him. I explained in my second email that I wasn't about "in your face vaping" and always politely asked a bartender, waitress, or manager if they objected before vaping in "public" businesses and respected their wishes if they had a problem with it.

Sounds like if I'd've said "screw everyone, I vape wherever the hell I want" he may have been interested in following up.

Not implying that was your approach, Cliff; I know it wasn't. Just acknowledge the angle he took, however subtly he pulled it off.

 

[Vocalek]

Did we all read the same story? The angle was not that "e-cigarette are only used to circumvent smoking bans." The angle was, "E-cigarettes don't emit smoke, but some powers-that-be want to lump them into smoking bans."

Did I bristle at the uninformed quotes from the ANR representative? Of course! But the job of a reporter is to try to objectively report news, not to write a PR piece that promotes only one side of a story. To present a balanced viewpont, he had to find a spokesperson with the opposite opinion of that expressed by the rest of the story.

ANR got a four-paragraph mention in the second half of the story. We got the other 21 paragraphs, which made up all of the first half of the story, and we got the last word (actually, the final five paragraphs). And the final sentence was perfect! A very persuasive "last word," Cliff.