After reading the thread(s) about Senator Lautenberg's FDA request, signing the petition and emailing my representatives, I am sending this out to friends and family. Please let me know if I've made any errors as I will be sending it out tonight with the forum's approval. Also, please forgive me if I've posted this in the wrong section.
Dear Family and Friends,
Admittedly, I am not much of an activist. However, I need your assistance to help not only me but thousands of others who want to quit smoking. It has been estimated that there are approximately 20% of the U.S. population that still smoke. Would you like to reduce that number? I would. And I desperately want to quit. But I need your help.
I realize I am the last in my immediate family to quit smoking. Please understand that I want to do so, but for some people it is not quite so easy to just put them down. And nicotine patches, gum and other drugs do not work for everyone and some have very serious side effects.
I have recently discovered a product called the E-cigarette or personal vaporizer/inhaler. This is a relatively new product (on the market since approximately 2006?) that consists of a battery, atomizer and cartridge. The cartridge contains a liquid made up of propylene glycol, nicotine and flavoring. When you inhale on the cartridge, the atomizer heats up the liquid and produces a vapor like steam but not hot. This allows the user to feel as if they are smoking, but they are not; there is no tobacco and nothing to burn. Thus, no smoke and no 4000+ chemicals/carcinogens inhaled into the lungs or exhaled.
For your reference, nicotine by itself is no more harmful than caffeine. Propylene glycol is used in foods, cosmetics and some nasal sprays.
Although this technology is still new, it has already been used by thousands of smokers worldwide in an effort to either quit smoking altogether or greatly reduce the # of cigarettes smoked (it currently cannot be legally marketed or sold as a smoking cessation device). Personally, I have reduced my smoking from 1 ½ packs per day to ½ pack. To me, that is a step in the right direction. With this product, I am hoping to quit completely.
Here is where I need your assistance. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) has written to the FDA requesting to ban and make illegal the sales of all e-cigs in the U.S. His letter can be found here: Senator Frank R. Lautenberg. Although there have been no clinical studies in the U.S., there have been studies in Europe with no findings that e-cigs are unsafe. Add to that the thousands of voluntary guinea pigs (such as myself) where no deaths have occurred and no major side effects other than allergies to PG in over 2 years time we, as a community, do not know the long-term effects of e-smoking. However, we are confident that any such effects cannot be any more hazardous to our health than smoking cigarettes.
Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) have all been spotted using the device on Capitol Hill. Stearns has sent electronic cigarettes to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and President Obama to help them quit smoking. Stearns stated, Before the FDA takes any immediate action, it should put forward scientific evidence that these products are harmful or unsafe. These e-cigarettes are smokeless and do not produce carcinogens. The nicotine in e-cigarettes is controlled in a capsule that can help in smoking cessation by allowing the user to reduce gradually the nicotine level, hopefully to zero.
Although sadly, Senator Lautenberg lost a relative due to lung cancer which may be an understandably mitigating factor in his decision to target e-cigs, he has also received campaign contributions from entities that would have a huge stake (loss of profits) in the continued sales of e-cigs.
FEC Disclosure Report Search Results
Notable contributors:
Johnson and Johnson, manufactures Nicorette
Pfizer: manufactures Chantix and Nicotrol
Glaxo Smith Kline manufactures Zyban and Commit Nicotine Lozenges
Novartis: manufactures Habitrol Nicotine Patch
I urge you to contact not only your states congressional and senatorial delegates and the FDA, but also Senator Lautenberg, Congressmen Stearns, Hunter, Peterson and Boehner asking them to first research e-cigs before pulling them from the market. If not, thousands of smokers will be forced to revert back to smoking the much-detested cigarette. Please keep in mind, this is NOT a partisan issue this is strictly a health issue in which EVERYONE should have a stake or interest.
Contacting the Congress
Contacting the FDA
The Honorable Frank M. Torti
Acting Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20903
For more information, facts and first-hand personal experiences from around the globe, please visit: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com.
Dear Family and Friends,
Admittedly, I am not much of an activist. However, I need your assistance to help not only me but thousands of others who want to quit smoking. It has been estimated that there are approximately 20% of the U.S. population that still smoke. Would you like to reduce that number? I would. And I desperately want to quit. But I need your help.
I realize I am the last in my immediate family to quit smoking. Please understand that I want to do so, but for some people it is not quite so easy to just put them down. And nicotine patches, gum and other drugs do not work for everyone and some have very serious side effects.
I have recently discovered a product called the E-cigarette or personal vaporizer/inhaler. This is a relatively new product (on the market since approximately 2006?) that consists of a battery, atomizer and cartridge. The cartridge contains a liquid made up of propylene glycol, nicotine and flavoring. When you inhale on the cartridge, the atomizer heats up the liquid and produces a vapor like steam but not hot. This allows the user to feel as if they are smoking, but they are not; there is no tobacco and nothing to burn. Thus, no smoke and no 4000+ chemicals/carcinogens inhaled into the lungs or exhaled.
For your reference, nicotine by itself is no more harmful than caffeine. Propylene glycol is used in foods, cosmetics and some nasal sprays.
Although this technology is still new, it has already been used by thousands of smokers worldwide in an effort to either quit smoking altogether or greatly reduce the # of cigarettes smoked (it currently cannot be legally marketed or sold as a smoking cessation device). Personally, I have reduced my smoking from 1 ½ packs per day to ½ pack. To me, that is a step in the right direction. With this product, I am hoping to quit completely.
Here is where I need your assistance. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) has written to the FDA requesting to ban and make illegal the sales of all e-cigs in the U.S. His letter can be found here: Senator Frank R. Lautenberg. Although there have been no clinical studies in the U.S., there have been studies in Europe with no findings that e-cigs are unsafe. Add to that the thousands of voluntary guinea pigs (such as myself) where no deaths have occurred and no major side effects other than allergies to PG in over 2 years time we, as a community, do not know the long-term effects of e-smoking. However, we are confident that any such effects cannot be any more hazardous to our health than smoking cigarettes.
Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) have all been spotted using the device on Capitol Hill. Stearns has sent electronic cigarettes to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and President Obama to help them quit smoking. Stearns stated, Before the FDA takes any immediate action, it should put forward scientific evidence that these products are harmful or unsafe. These e-cigarettes are smokeless and do not produce carcinogens. The nicotine in e-cigarettes is controlled in a capsule that can help in smoking cessation by allowing the user to reduce gradually the nicotine level, hopefully to zero.
Although sadly, Senator Lautenberg lost a relative due to lung cancer which may be an understandably mitigating factor in his decision to target e-cigs, he has also received campaign contributions from entities that would have a huge stake (loss of profits) in the continued sales of e-cigs.
FEC Disclosure Report Search Results
Notable contributors:
Johnson and Johnson, manufactures Nicorette
Pfizer: manufactures Chantix and Nicotrol
Glaxo Smith Kline manufactures Zyban and Commit Nicotine Lozenges
Novartis: manufactures Habitrol Nicotine Patch
I urge you to contact not only your states congressional and senatorial delegates and the FDA, but also Senator Lautenberg, Congressmen Stearns, Hunter, Peterson and Boehner asking them to first research e-cigs before pulling them from the market. If not, thousands of smokers will be forced to revert back to smoking the much-detested cigarette. Please keep in mind, this is NOT a partisan issue this is strictly a health issue in which EVERYONE should have a stake or interest.
Contacting the Congress
Contacting the FDA
The Honorable Frank M. Torti
Acting Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20903
For more information, facts and first-hand personal experiences from around the globe, please visit: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com.
