CASAA: Senate Committee Hearing Thursday, 5-14-14

[JustJulie]

CASAA just sent out an email to its entire membership (and please forgive the lack of formatting--it gets lost in copying):

URGENT!
U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE TOMORROW
WE NEED FIVE MINUTES OF YOUR TIME!
​

Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming

If you live in one of those states, you have a senator on the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee.
That Committee is holding a hearing regarding e-cigarettes TOMORROW, Thursday, May 15th, 2014 at 2:30 p.m. The sole witnesses at that hearing will be be Tim McAfee, Director of CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, and Mitch Zeller, Director of FDA's Center for tobacco Products.

Both CDC and FDA have demonstrated they are intent on reducing the availability, quality, and use of e-cigarettes. They have consistently misled the American people about the risks associated with e-cigarette use, and we expect they will attempt to do the same for Congress.

If you have an address in one of the above states, WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We need you to (1) send an email through the new CQ Roll Call system (Part I), and (2) call your senator on the committee (Part II) using the phone numbers provided in Part III)

I.​

CASAA has invested in CQ Roll Call, a program which will help connect our members easily and in a targeted fashion with their state and federal legislators on specifically crafted campaigns we design.

While CQ Roll Call isn't quite ready for an official roll out, we have released a limited campaign for tomorrow's Senate hearing.
THIS LINK will take you directly to the site for the Senate Hearing campaign. You'll note that it asks for personal information. This is necessary for your email to be delivered to the appropriate recipients. When you enter your information, the program will automatically determine your senators. You will have two senators listed (in addition to President Obama), and you might want to UNCHECK the senator who is NOT on the Committee.

(If you allow the program to save your information, it should be automatically generated for you the next time you visit to participate in a campaign.)

The email for the campaign has a beginning and end that aren't editable. The middle, however, is for you to add your story.
Remember . . . this is very much a beta campaign, so forgive (and report) any glitches and offer feedback.

Due to time constraints, we're sending this email to the entire membership (with our apologies to those who do not live in one of the above states). If you are from another state and you participate in the campaign, the email will simply go to your state senators (neither of whom are on the committee).

II.​

Please call your senator on the committee (contact information contained in Part III below) and use the following as a guide for talking points (essentially, the email you will send via CQ Roll Call):

I need your help in making sure that my interests as a consumer are represented at the May 15th, 2014 hearing regarding e-cigarettes before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

The only two witnesses who will be testifying at the hearing are Tim McAfee, Director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, and Mitch Zeller, Director of FDA's Center for tobacco Products. CDC and FDA have made it clear that they are intent on reducing the availability, quality, and use of e-cigarettes.

Please ask the CDC and FDA--

Why are they supporting regulations that would completely destroy the diversity in the marketplace that make e-cigarettes such an incredibly effective alternative to smoking and hand over the remnants to the large tobacco companies?

Why are they misleading the public about the potential hazards of e-cigarettes and, in so doing, actively discouraging smokers from using these potentially life-saving products?

Why do they consider tobacco companies, industry, and e-cigarette opponents to be "stakeholders," but completely ignore the voice of the single most important stakeholder--the consumers who use (or may use in the future) e-cigarettes as a low-risk alternative to smoking?

III.​

Below are phone numbers for senators. Find yours and take a minute to make the call requested in Part II above.

Senator Tom Harkin, IA
Phone: 202-224-3254

Barbara Mikulski, MD
Ph. 244-4654

Pat Murray, WA
Ph. 202-224-2621

Bernard Sanders, VT
Ph. 202-224-5141

Robert P. Casey Jr., PA
Ph. 202-224-6324

Kay Hagan, NC
Ph. 202-224-6342

Al Franken, MN
Ph. 202-224-5641

Michael F. Bennet, CO
Ph. 202-224-5852

Sheldon Whitehouse, RI
Ph. 202-224-2921

Tammy Baldwin, WI
Ph. 202-224-5653

Christopher S. Murphy, CT
Ph. 202-224-4041

Elizabeth Warren, MA
Ph. 202-224-4543

Lamar Alexander, TN
Ph. 202-224-4944

Michael Enzi, WY
Ph. 202-224-3424

Richard Burr, NC
Ph. 202-224-3154

Johnny Isakson, GA
Ph. 202-224-3643

Rand Paul, KY
Ph. 202-224-4343

Orrin Hatch, UT
Ph. 202-224-5251

Pat Roberts, KS
Ph. 202-224-4774

Lisa Murkowski, AK
Ph. 202-224-6665

Mark Kirk, IL
Ph. 202-224-2854

Tim Scott, SC
Ph. 202-224-6121

 

[JustJulie]

CASAA's Submission to the Committee can be found at: CASAA: CASAA Submission to U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Regarding 5-15-14 Hearing on E-Cigarettes

 

[salemgold]

I am in SC. Done and done.

 

[Sundodger]

Wisconsin here, unfortunately I don't think Tammy Baldwin (D) is going to listen to us, but I called and emailed, told her right out "this is about saving peoples lives, no time for the money men to get involved". Hope she has some sense of right and wrong.

Even if our other Senator was on the committee, Ron Johnson (R) he received a lot of money from big tobacco for his campaign, so I would think he owes them a little something in return.

GADS, what's a vapor to do!!!

 

[Gato del Jugo]

That CQ Roll Call is awesome!

 

[Mitchdisaster]

Maryland here. Message sent. Hopefully people actually read them.

 

[snork]

Colorado sent. Plan to call in the morning.

 

[nomore stinkies]

Chicago here. Called and sent. .... Durbin got a respectfull earfull. Let us make our choices. It is certainly better than what we used to do.
I just don't get their concern over a 4 ingredient device that saves lives. I guess they want to save us. ARG.......Who is going to save us from them? I gave my extra cigarette money to CASAA. Darn they do good work. We have to support them.

 

[Jasen]

Been checking my e mil every day when I walk in the door from work, sent mine in today.

 

[Jman8]

Wisconsin has been sent.

 

[bulletproof88]

So I just finished watching the video of this committee meeting. I didn't hear about this until after it happened so I couldn't be proactive before hand.
After viewing what was talked about, I'm not as concerned with the FDA and CDC as I am the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee. I totally agree with regulating the industry. Sure it will cause some changes that we won't like, but it can't survive without regulation due to the nature of our government.
I've shared the video on my Facebook wall and several large Facebook vaping groups along with the following comment.....
"I watched the video in it's entirety. I tried to do so without any bias (we all know how hard that can be). I think there are some major positives and some major negatives.
One concern of mine is that Sen. Thomas Harkin has taken such a strong point of view based on the flavoring in some popular e-juices. I am 26 years old and still enjoy flavors like cherry, cola, and gummy bears. As I type this, I'm vaping on Pluto by Space Jams (an amazing blend of watermelon, bubblegum, and mint). I totally understand that a minor would be more attracted to flavors like this, but my 8 year old sister eats medium-rare stakes and loves espresso flavored chocolates. So I whole-heartedly believe that his stance is a little skewed.
Other than the fact that this committee is being led by someone with such a strange point of view, there are definitely some good signs.
Senator Richard Burr seems to have an open mind on the subject and does not want to condemn it.
I love that this quote from David Adams at American Legacy Foundation, "This could be this single biggest opportunity that's come along in a century to make the cigarette obsolete," was brought up by Sen. Lamar Alexander.
There are a couple things we should all be able to agree on:
1) Vaping is about not smoking. We wanted to make healthier choices in our lives. We wanted a way to quit smoking that really worked. We want vaping to be available to us so we can SAVE LIVES!!!
2) We have to be civil and understanding when it comes to regulations on vaping. Calling our government leaders names is not helping. Using graphic language is not helping. Trying to get our point across needs to be done in a way that encourages change and DOESN'T NEGATIVELY AFFECT SOCIETIES VIEW OF VAPING!!!!
Just my honest opinions..."

 

[LoveVanilla]

So I just finished watching the video of this committee meeting.

Link please? I didn't find it anywhere.

 

[sonicdsl]

Here you go: FDA Regulation ECigarettes | Video | C-SPAN.org

 

[Bruce Nye]

Maybe this'll get Senator Harkin's attention... It's becoming popular on his FB page:

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