Dear Ms. Olim,
First, please know that we are NOT seeking any funding from Ms. Heigel, but are inquiring to see if she would be interested in becoming an advocate or spokesperson for a cause that should be dear to her heart. Many celebrities lend their name and/or endorsement to causes which have touched their lives and Ms. Heigel's status, as a former smoker using e-cigarettes, makes her the perfect spokesperson for getting the truth and facts out to smokers. Because smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the world, it is not an exaggeration that Ms. Heigel's involvement could literally help save millions of lives.
The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA) is a non-profit, all volunteer organization that works to ensure the availability of reduced harm alternatives to smoking and to provide smokers and non-smokers alike with truthful information about such alternatives. CASAA is a fast-growing grassroots organization, not affiliated with the tobacco, pharmaceutical or electronic cigarette industries. We are all e-cigarette and/or low-risk, smokeless product users. CASAA wholly supports Ms. Heigel's use of an electronic cigarettes as a smoke-free alternative to smoking cigarettes and is grateful for her public endorsement of the products. The FDA, public health groups, legislators and the media have been misleading the public about e-cigarettes and other low-risk, smokeless alternatives. We believe this is based on both a prohibitionist agenda and financial considerations, because the objection against these products has no basis in science or fact. Public health groups have moved from being anti-smoking to being anti-smokeless nicotine and insisting on absolute abstinence, which CASAA and other harm reduction advocates and health professionals believe is literally doing more public harm than good.
For years it has been known that the greatest health risks from tobacco are from smoking, because the most harmful levels of toxins and carcinogens in tobacco occurs with combustion. Research undeniably shows that nicotine is not carcinogenic and modern, smokeless tobacco is 98-99% safer than smoking, yet the public is misled to believe that these products carry the same risks as smoking. In 2009, the FDA released a very misleading press statement about e-cigarettes, claiming that they contain "antifreeze" and deadly carcinogens. This is a dangerous lie that discourages smokers from switching to a lower risk, smokeless alternative.
The truth is that the FDA tested two brands of e-cigarettes from companies which had filed a lawsuit against the FDA. A review of the testing showed that the FDA did find approximately 1% diethylene glycol (DEG) in only ONE of the eighteen cartridges they tested and DEG is occasionally found in antifreeze, but what they didn't tell consumers is that they didn't find any DEG in the vapor, that DEG has not been found in any other testing to date, that low levels of DEG are allowed in many FDA approved products and that the level found would only be toxic if a consumer used thousands of cartridges in one day! As far as the "carcinogens" that were found, what the FDA didn't reveal is that any products made from nicotine extracted from tobacco will have traces of tobacco-specific nitrosamines and that the risk of cancer is based on the levels of these carcinogens in a product, not the mere presence of them. In fact, the FDA-approved nicotine patch has nearly the exact same levels of the same nitrosamines as e-cigarettes! If these levels are not a concern to the FDA in nicotine patches, why are they claiming they are a danger in e-cigarettes? CASAA suspects the influence of pharmaceutical industry lobbyists, which stand to lose millions if smokers turn to e-cigarettes rather than ineffective nicotine gums and patches or deadly Chantix.
The FDA's testing actually proved that there were no toxic levels of any chemicals nor dangerous levels of carcinogens in the e-cigarettes they tested, yet their press statement implied the exact opposite. Unfortunately, the media, pharmaceutical-funded public health groups and legislators have used the FDA press statement to justify trying to ban the products both for indoor use in public areas and even for sale to adult smokers. CASAA estimates that there are at least a million smokers who have switched to e-cigarettes and found that they not only feel better, but for the first time in their lives, they have no desire to return to smoking. Many of these are smokers who were not even really looking to quit smoking and just found that e-cigarettes were an acceptable substitute. Additionally, in the 7 years that e-cigarettes have been on the world market, there have been no deaths or serious illness associated with e-cigarette use. If the FDA and other groups succeed in banning e-cigarettes and other smokeless alternatives, based on these lies and misinformation, not only will millions of smokers be denied a reduced-harm alternative, but hundreds of thousands of e-cigarette users would likely return to deadly tobacco cigarettes.
CASAA has been hoping for a respectable, non-polarizing public figure to step forward and help get the truth out to the public about smoke-free alternatives and Ms. Heigel may be surprised to know that, as an unofficial spokesperson, she has already inspired thousands to look into electronic cigarettes. We understand that she has a busy schedule, both with her work and a young family. We are all volunteers for this cause and find it necessary to balance our work and family lives with our advocacy work, but this is too important to be left undone. It is unconscionable that the FDA and public health groups, which purport to care about the health of smokers, would be trying so hard to ban one of the first products to come to the market that is both effective and acceptable to smokers and has not proven to be any danger to the public. We are hoping that the relief and better health that e-cigarettes have brought Ms. Heigel will inspire her, as it inspired us, to want to spread the message even further to help the millions of others who also struggle with smoking.
We understand that Ms. Heigel gets thousands of requests for her endorsement. We are asking that you simply forward this email to her and allow her to decide if she wants to become involved or at least get more information. If nothing else, we would like her to have the truth and know all of the facts when she discusses her e-cigarette use with the media. If, as her publicist, you would like to speak to us first, please do not hesitate to contact us. We'd be happy to verify our claims and answer any questions that you or Ms. Heigel may have.
Sincerely,
Kristin Noll-Marsh
Secretary of Directors
Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association
Phone: 414-403-3737
CASAA | The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association
Welcome to CASAA - Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association
"Our mission is to ensure the availability of effective, affordable and reduced harm alternatives to smoking by increasing public awareness and education; to encourage the testing and development of products to achieve acceptable safety standards and reasonable regulation; and to promote the benefits of reduced harm alternatives."
