FDA at it again...tell your Representative

[Rosco]

Thank you .

 

[Docliv]

Sent to my Rep., Senator, Governor, Pres. Obama, VP Biden and John Boehner. Everyone please get off your *** and do this. It's your personal future at stake!

 

[VAPETRESS]

Done and it took less than 20 min. to send one to ALL my reps. I also added in my own personal story:

I have been a smoker for 32 years. I have tried several times to quit smoking and finally just resigned myself to the fact that I would be a smoker for the rest of my life. I had heard about electronic cigarettes from a family member. I had not even thought about trying to quit again. She let me try hers. It was great!!! It provided me everything I love about smoking without everything that I hate about smoking. We are here, and we will find a way to keep on "vaping" (an e-cig term) even if it means breaking the law, and I have never, in my 52 years, broken the law. This is how important this issue is to me, and how effective this safe alternative to to smoking is. It works!!! I received my e-cig on December 16th 2010; and that was the last day I smoked a tobacco cigarette. I feel healthier already, because I am healhier.

 

[MrNate]

I just sent the following letter to Jim Gearhart, a local radio talk show host. I think public awareness is key; often times it seems that our elected representatives need to hear some clamor before they'll react. If you know anyone with a public voice on any platform, you might consider doing the same.

Mr. Gearhart,

I don't know if you're aware of this issue, or have a stance on it, but I do know that you are far more likely to actually read and respond to citizen concerns than our own esteemed representatives. I have recently discovered that the FDA, in their ongoing irrational war against e-cigarettes, is once again seizing shipments of these products and holding them indefinitely despite recent federal court rulings instructing them to back off.

This concerns me on two levels. First, that a government agency would so flagrantly act in violition of a legal court order with impunity (essentially stealing goods bought and paid for by small business owners), and second that they have chosen to stand against the very citizens they purport to protect, and act instead in the interest of the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries.

I don't want to waste too much of your time, but as an 18-year smoker who recently found this product, I am absolutely shocked and appalled that the FDA would act so aggressively in attempting to ban outright the one product that has instantly and effortlessly transformed me into an ex-smoker. I am not alone. There are many, many others who began "vaping" e-cigarettes as a cheaper and potentially safer alternative to tobacco, a known killer loaded with carcinogens and 4,000 chemicals, who found that we had quit smoking cigarettes quite by accident. E-cigarettes are, in my estimation, the single most effective way to quit smoking in existence today. And the FDA wants to ban them.

Their claim is that e-cigarettes are dangerous, containing carcinogens and toxins. They base this claim on shoddy experimentation clearly designed to reinforce their existing belief, rather than on solid, emperical science. And in fact, a number of health organizations, doctors, and scientists have thoroughly debunked their study, yet they persist. E-cigarettes are currently believed to be 1,000 times safer than conventional cigarettes, containing the same ingredients as much more expensive pharmecutical products like the Nicitrol inhaler, but working much more effectively. If the two devices were allowed to compete in an open market, Pfizer would be crying in their coffee.

But what the matter really comes down to is that adults should be free to make their own choices. We know that smoking cigarettes will kill us in horrific ways. We can also see that e-cigarettes appear to be, but are not guaranteed to be, safe. Why take such an effective alternative off the table for us when it works so well? Between "known to cause cancer" and "possibly somewhat harmful" I'll take the latter every time. Is the FDA so beholden to the pharmecutical and tobacco lobby that they show such brazen disregard for our laws and the people they purport to serve?

This is an issue of personal freedom.
It is an issue of free enterprise.
It is an issue of reason and responsibilty winning out over ignorance, fearmongering, and manipulation.

I hope that you and your staff take some time to research this issue and trust you to draw your own logical conclusions. It could save many lives.

Sincerely,

Nathan [redacted]
Bridgewater, NJ

Two of many links exposing the fraud in the FDA's study:
Tobacco Truth: The FDA Crusade Against E-Cigarettes
FDA Says E-Cigarettes Have Carcinogens & Toxic Chemicals

 

[BigLou]

Just sent letter to my House rep. Also have been submitting info to the "submit tips" box on the DrudgeReport.com

 

[Craymar]

I sent a copy of the letter and this is the reply I got back. Whoever answers her email is clueless as to what an electronic cigarette is. Scary to think these are the people making decisions.

Charles



Dear Friend:
Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 982, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Tobacco-related diseases cause more than 400,000 premature deaths in the United States each year, including 30 percent of all cancer deaths and more than 80 percent of all lung cancer deaths. Furthermore, tobacco costs the United States over $96 billion in direct medical costs each year. The impact of tobacco on the public's health and our economy should not be underestimated.

On May 5, 2009, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced S. 982, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This legislation provides the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products, marketing, and sales. Tobacco products are subject to the same consumer protections as those applied to other products, including ingredient disclosure, product regulation, and label and advertising approval. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act also includes provisions, such as a ban on artificially or candy-flavored cigarettes, that would specifically seek to restrict the direct marketing of tobacco products to children and young adults.

On Thursday, June 11, 2009, the Senate voted on H.R. 1256, companion legislation from the House of Representatives. I supported the bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 79 to 17. President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law on June 22, 2009.

I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to keep in touch on any issue of concern to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator

 

[Rosco]

tehe..yea...more like a political "cut and paste" reply to the masses, Dear Friend. sheesh
I haven't even got this kind of reply from the 6 letters/emails I sent.

 

[Mudflap]

So I wrote to my senator using the template from the OP. I added my success story but other then that I kept it the same. Below is the reply I got three days later. It has nothing to do with my letter to her and doesn’t even touch on a single concern of mine from my letter. At best this is a cut and paste response from one of her interns and just one more punch in the ballz from a low life politician! Everyday I have less and less use for these people, on either side of the fence (which is all just smoke and mirrors anyway!) but I digress… response below…

Dear Friend: (LIKE I'M HER DAM FRIEND!..sorry, read on)
Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 982, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

*snip*

United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

I got the exact same response and knew it was a generic, canned, reply.

She's retiring anyway after a failed bid for the R nomination to run for governor. Bye Kay.

 

[VanderVape]

Ok guys I contacted our Senator for Wyoming. It took less than 10 mins to write a short paragraph.

 

[VanderVape]

I just sent the following letter to Jim Gearhart, a local radio talk show host. I think public awareness is key; often times it seems that our elected representatives need to hear some clamor before they'll react. If you know anyone with a public voice on any platform, you might consider doing the same.

I have to say that is a very well written letter!

 

[tybin]

that''s the exact same letter i received from her

I got one response out of the 3 letters I sent. Here is the response I received:


I'd have to say either they have gotten a lot of these letters so they have a canned response, or someone actually has researched my complaint.

 

[Sallana]

Done and Done.

 

[Redneck500]

They need to have any custom agent/FDA representative that is involved with the confiscation of goods handcuffed and arrested for violating a federal judges order to allow these items into the US without problem.

This requires all of us to take action.

The FDA is back actively detaining shipments from overseas:


http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/e-cigarette-news/152108-fda-seizing-new-shipments.html

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-still-detaining-holding-e-cig-shipments.html

WE NEED TO LET OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS KNOW THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

 

[tybin]

they are NOT violating laws unless they confiscate NJOY products. sorry!

They need to have any custom agent/FDA representative that is involved with the confiscation of goods handcuffed and arrested for violating a federal judges order to allow these items into the US without problem.

 

[Prodigal441]

I just got 2 friends, my uncle and my mom on vaping. I sold most of my stuff to get them started and made a moderate sized order from China a week ago. It should be entering the US today or tomorrow. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it gets through customs. From now on I guess I will have to pay a little more and buy from US suppliers. Or at least until the FDA gets totally overruled on this matter.

 

[Illustrated_Man]

I just emailed my senator and representative about this...I've had an order from DX that's been hung up since early December...

 

[Rosco]

they are NOT violating laws unless they confiscate NJOY products. sorry!

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Food and Drug Administration to stop blocking the importation of electronic cigarettes from China and indicated that the devices should be regulated as tobacco products rather than drug or medical devices.

Seems everyone else will disagree with you. The Federal court order states differently. I don't see the word "NJOY" mentioned.

 

[MrNate]

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Food and Drug Administration to stop blocking the importation of electronic cigarettes from China and indicated that the devices should be regulated as tobacco products rather than drug or medical devices.

Seems everyone else will disagree with you. The Federal court order states differently. I don't see the word "NJOY" mentioned.

Argumentum ad populum. Whether or not anyone agrees with the statement has no bearing on its truth. Where can I find this ruling? I hadn't heard about one that came down last week, just the prior orders.

 

[laurel099]

CASAA has all the documents in their document library including the Court of Appeals opinion filed last month.

http://www.casaa.org/files/ct%20app%20opinion%20on%20injunction.pdf

Other documents in their library as well:

CASAA.org

 

[Skwerl]

No kidding...do we not have the ....iest of ....ers representing us in NJ or what? Every time I send something to Lautenberg, Menendez and Holt contrary to their positions I get a robo-mail saying thank you for agreeing with them. I gotta get out of this state!