Letter to senator advice please

[Sunshyn]

I am working on a letter to my senator containing mostly personal experience with e-cigs. However, I wanted to mention something a member here brought up, but I can not seem to find the thread when I search. If I'm recalling it correctly, someone had found that PG vapor has been used in hospitals. Could someone give me a pointer?

I fascinated a bunch of my more distant friends recently by vaping at one of our gatherings. Most have been smokers for a decade or two, and many were very seriously interested in getting one for obvious reasons. However, a couple of them fall into the occasional smoker category and are also looking into getting one. They intend them for use with no-nic juices for when they'd usually be bumming cigarettes. Knowing how easy it is to fall back, it doesn't seem a bad idea to me.
That got me thinking that if there was any way these could, at the very least, be approved as a placebo device (possibly with the suggestion they be used in conjunction with the patch) then the devices might stay more readily available even if the juice issue doesn't get cleared up right away. No, its not an optimum solution, which is why I wanted to ask first if that would be a bad thing to suggest in my letter.

 

[yvilla]

Were you thinking about this thread, regarding the research on PG:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/health-safety-e-smoking/1734-germ-killing-vapor.html

 

[Sun Vaporer]

I am working on a letter to my senator containing mostly personal experience with e-cigs. However, I wanted to mention something a member here brought up, but I can not seem to find the thread when I search. If I'm recalling it correctly, someone had found that PG vapor has been used in hospitals. Could someone give me a pointer?

I fascinated a bunch of my more distant friends recently by vaping at one of our gatherings. Most have been smokers for a decade or two, and many were very seriously interested in getting one for obvious reasons. However, a couple of them fall into the occasional smoker category and are also looking into getting one. They intend them for use with no-nic juices for when they'd usually be bumming cigarettes. Knowing how easy it is to fall back, it doesn't seem a bad idea to me.
That got me thinking that if there was any way these could, at the very least, be approved as a placebo device (possibly with the suggestion they be used in conjunction with the patch) then the devices might stay more readily available even if the juice issue doesn't get cleared up right away. No, its not an optimum solution, which is why I wanted to ask first if that would be a bad thing to suggest in my letter.

Sunshyn--PG is the medium used in the already approved NRT Nicotine Inhaler. So the FdA already gave PG in that form its "Blessing" if that helps you----Sun

 

[katink]

Here you go Sunshyn: http://www.ajph.org/cgi/reprint/36/4/390.pdf
plus from a slightly different angle, not sure if they are discussing the same trials or different ones: see page 5 of: http://www.healthnz.co.nz/RuyanCartridgeReport30-Oct-08.pdf

I hope this will be of help

 

[BARENETTED]

Sunshyn,

My brother, who is also a forum member, happens to be a pharmacist in large hospital here in NJ.
1. He has told me it is used in medicines, inhalers, vaporizers, etc.
2. He actually purchases the pharmaceutical grade pg that we use for diy liquids from the pharmacy where he works.

He is on vacation with his family or I would have asked him to reply.
If you need more, pm me.

 

[Sunshyn]

Thank you all.

I seem to recall something not related to the germ killing tests where PG was used to distribute medications through the lungs, but I read it months ago. No matter, Sun's and HILWAYB's mentions are more immediately applicable and so more likely to enforce that there already has been official approval of that substance, for inhaling even.

Odd as it seems to me, I don't think I've ever written an actual snailmail letter to my Senator. Someone on a Facebook post mentioned it should go certified mail. Does anyone suggest I send copies to anyone but Dodd? I know its not much, but maybe others like me are doing it too and the combined effort might at least get the PTB thinking.

 

[Sunshyn]

Ok. Below is the content of the letter as I've written it so far. Its mostly based on personal experience or that of friends, but I don't want to get what facts I put in wrong. Its kind of embarrassing to post it here. I feel like I'm asking you all to correct my homework , but I'd like to be sure I didn't missed anything or put something I shouldn't have. I'm also unsure if its overly long for this type of thing.

I am deeply concerned over the status of electronic cigarettes. The main claim that they should be banned from sale is their safety. However, almost every medical doctor who has commented on them agree that these devices are healthier than regular cigarettes. The main concern I hear is whether they are safe, yet it is widely acknowledged that e-cigarettes are SAFER than what is, for many people, the only real alternative.

I purchased one of these for my husband just a few months ago. Over the last 17 years we have been together, I have seen him make many attempts to cut back on his smoking habit and a couple attempts at quitting. No such attempt has lasted beyond a couple weeks, and I had become doubtful that he would ever be capable of quitting. I am amazed at how much he has cut back his cigarette smoking since he first tried using this device. More importantly to me is that the almost constant cough he has had for the past couple years has vanished.

My younger brother has been trying to quit smoking off and on for at least five years. He has tried the other methods, such as the patch and gum, with no luck at all. In fact, he recently decided to give up his attempts to quit for good. Because of that decision, he was annoyed when I gave him an electronic cigarette for his birthday last month. He called recently and excitedly informed me that he has not purchased a single pack of cigarettes since trying the e-cigarette.

The majority of smokers and ex-smokers I know agree that they found the cessation of the habit to be far more difficult than just getting past the physical nicotine addiction. It is not uncommon for an ex-smoker to pick up the habit again long after the nicotine addition has been removed. No other nicotine delivery method deals with the very important psycological aspect of the addiction.

Even used as placebo, without nicotine, electronic cigarettes are a fantastic alternative which should not be ignored. Myself and other ex-smokers often still have the urge to smoke, which easily leads to “borrowing” cigarettes. The addictive nature of nicotine makes that very risky but, even years after quitting, the urge is still there! We find this device to be the perfect alternative on such occasions because they do not need to contain nicotine at all.

Its even possible that e-cigarettes could be used effectively in conjunction with approved nicotine delivery methods if the nicotine liquid still needs testing. However, the wording of the FDA statements as this being solely a drug delivery device endangers even this use. The main component of the liquid used in these is propylene glycol, which has been used used in foods and fog making machines for many years as well as in the already approved NRT Nicotine Inhaler. The other non-nicotine ingredients consist of commonly available candy and baking flavorings.

There is one fact about these devices which personally struck me as absolutely amazing. I have listened to the stories of many people who began using them with no intention of cutting back on their smoking or nicotine levels. Yet, many of these same people ended up doing just that anyway. Addictions are extremely hard to surmount. I can not recall ever having heard of so many people accidentally overcoming any addiction, yet that is pretty much what their stories come down to.

These devices have done a great deal of good in the short time they have been available. Removing them as an option will reverse most of that because, as much as we'd prefer it to be otherwise, the majority of people who find this device helpful will go right back to smoking the cigarettes which medical doctors agree are more dangerous and which come in unalterable nicotine levels. Common sense dictates that cigarettes, being the more dangerous choice, should be banned long before the safer alternative is.

 

[yvilla]

I like your letter a lot Sun.

Please consider sending it to the members of the Senate Health Committee as well, those who are considering the awful Waxman legislation, as requested by Lacey here:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/campaigning/13151-now-time-act-i-am-serious.html

 

[scintar]

You can also mention that PG is in Philip Morris analog cigarettes

 

[Sunshyn]

Thanks Yvilla. It was a copy of that post which made me decide to write. That's why I'm sending to C. Dodd as he's my senator. I wasn't sure if I should also send a copy to everyone on that list.

My husband suggested it also go to our other senator as well as our congressman, the office of the Surgeon General, and the Commissioner of the FDA. He even dug up the addresses, which is really impressive because doing that type of thing is unusual for him. And here I'd been worried he'd get his back up about me talking about him in the letter.