Senator Boxer,
As a lifelong resident of the State of California, I feel the need to finally address my concerns regarding your continued attack on electronic cigarettes.
I am a vested stakeholder in this issue, as I was able to fully quit smoking cigarettes with the use of electronic cigarettes over 3 years ago. I consider the use of electronic cigarettes as a harm REDUCTION device; I am not naive to believe they carry no risks whatsoever, but certainly my improvement in health since switching away from tobacco (albeit subjective) certainly indicates they are less harmful that cigarettes.
Recently, I was made aware of a press release by Senator Markley (D-MA) detailing a letter from a Senate group to which you belong (along with Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and .... Durbin (D-IL)) urging the FDA to rush their regulation of electronic cigarettes.
In that letter, the Portland University study that found high levels of formaldehyde in electronic cigarette aerosol was cited as the reason for the urgency in pushing regulation.
Although that study received widespread news coverage, in reality, the study was deeply flawed. The researchers utilized a very old and outdated atomizer device (known as a CE4) that has a top-coil design and relies on capillary action to "wick" the e-liquid from the bottom to the top atomizer.
These units were designed to run at 3.4 to 3.7 volts of power. At that power level, the study itself found no formaldehyde in the aerosol. It wasn't until the researchers bumped up the power to 5v, way beyond what that atomizer was designed for, that formaldehyde was detected.
That is to be expected, because running these devices at that power level will result in a 'dry puff' phenomenology that tastes absolutely horrible and would never be actively 'vaped' by an end-user.
References to further information:
Verified: formaldehyde levels found in the NEJM study were associated with dry puff conditions. An update
Spreading fear and confusion with misleading formaldehyde studies « The counterfactual
Electronic cigarettes have the potential to save millions of early tobacco-related deaths. Certainly most of us who use electronic cigarettes welcome further study, but is is premature to destroy an entire technology (and industry) based on flawed studies, hyperbole, and grandstanding.
I respectfully urge you and your fellow Senators to do the research on this topic, realizing that draconian FDA regulations will destroy 99%+ of the electronic cigarette industry, and drive most of us (myself included) back to tobacco use.
Thank you for taking the time to read my concerns.
Sincerely,
<name>, a concerned electronic cigarette user
