We in CA need all the help we can get with bringing our opposition to SB 400 to the attention of the Gov. Everyone: Please email, mail, fax or telephone a comment opposing SB 400. It can be as simple as saying "Please oppose SB 400." Or, you can write a letter.
This bill will become law if the gov does not veto by Oct 11. If he does not veto, it will automatically become law even without his signature!
Link to send email:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - Interact
Snail mail at top of letter.
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160 ( new number )
Here is a form letter I put together, with the help of several people on RTV & VF. Feel free to use it as is or with your own changes.
Please post on other boards you visit! I'm posting it on RTV and VF.
Thanks to everyone who helped on this!
Note: The vapers club dot com links have a space in them so they will show up.
So, if you cut & paste, please fix the links.
Please use
the thread under campaigning for discussion per SJ.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
September 19, 2009
Re: SB 400
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,
I am writing to oppose SB 400, initially introduced as an energy bill. From the original text: 44272. (a) The Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program is hereby created. Seven amendments later, it ended up being a bill to ban electronic cigarettes. No reference to energy is even in the final version. Energy: green vehicles morphed into
tobacco. Then, somewhere along the way, the electronic cigarette was defined as a
tobacco substitute, next, that was stricken and the bill now will authorize action to halt the sale, distribution, or offering for sale of electronic cigarettes
SB 400 will take a freedom away from the people of CA and should be immediately vetoed.
It is your responsibility to protect the freedom of thousands of Californians who have chosen the electronic cigarette (e-cig) as an alternative to burning traditional
tobacco cigarettes. Allowing SB 400 to become law will drive many people who have become tobacco free back to using tobacco products. Ex-smokers will become smokers again.
There have been many studies done on e-cigs, including an FDA study, which showed (if you take the next step and compare e-cigs to a tobacco cigarette) that the e-cig is much safer than smoking tobacco and generally has the same amount of TSNAs (tobacco specific nitrosamines) as the FDA approved NRT products. Their finding of approximately 1% DEG (diethylene glycol) shows the need for better quality control in manufacturing. Please note: DEG is found in tobacco cigarettes too. Other testing shows that the effects of nicotine on the human body are generally no worse than caffeine.
E-cigs should remain on the market and legal for adults to purchase while complete testing is done and submitted to the FDA for approval. They are a reduced harm product and do not fall clearly into any category the FDA has set up for regulation. With technology comes innovation. Laws take time to catch up. Please do not put the e-cig into a black market status! The FDA will not be able to approve these without lengthy testing and research. To date, the FDA has not banned them. California law should not supersede the FDA without any evidence they do any harm.
E-cigs are a tobacco alternative and many choose them as a healthier way to deal with their nicotine addiction. They are not inhaling the 4000+ chemicals found in a burning tobacco cigarette. Existing NRT products have not worked for the people who are using e-cigs. E-cigs are keeping them away from burning tobacco.
More information is available at
http://www.healthnz.co.nz/RuyanCartr...t21-Oct-08.pdf
http://www.vapers club/factsaboutpvs.html
http://www.vapers club/vapersclubdotcompamphlet.pdf
http://www.vapers club/pg.html
Please veto SB 400. E-cigs, for many users, are the only thing keeping them away from smoking tobacco cigarettes. Please do not take this choice away!
Respectfully submitted,
