Nearing disaster in New York - please take action NOW to prevent e-cigarette ban.

[jimho]

AFAIK the court advised the FDA that a PV was NOT a drug dispensing device, and recommended control similar to cigarettes as a tobacco product. So far I've seen a loop hole in their attempts, plenty of PV's, carts and cartos have NO (-ZERO-) nicotine and therefore IMO are not "tobacco products".

Small correction- the court said that the framework exists under current tobacco product regulation framework to regulate E-Cigs and that e-cigs are a tobacco product. They didn't recommend anything, they reached a decision that the FDA has to live with unless they can get the supreme court to listen to an appeal.

The cornerstone of their argument was that ecigs were a combined drug delivery device for delivering nicotine- take the nicotine out and there's no drug to regulate and no tobacco product to regulate.... and your PV becomes cookware..... there's noting for them to regulate other than food products.

 

[Cee_Jay]

"cookware" - Love it !!! Some is even ceramic coated

 

[jimho]

"cookware" - Love it !!! Some is even ceramic coated

Annodized if it's aluminum.

 

[Koman]

That's pretty awesome!

 

[pailpoe]

It's very

 

[tims]

If they out law ecigs and juices, how many here would buy from china still ???

If you are a seller, would you keep selling till they shut you down ???

My guess is they will out law it, but will find it very hard to police if at all, stopping ships loaded with stuff is one thing, but stopping small packages from china is something much different. The post office said long ago they will not police packages, they knew people had got none taxed cigs but said it's not their job to police it. Going after credit card banks pretty all but stopped it, but this time sellers will be ready to remove any names or naming of ecigs and juices, so they will be ready to get around it I would think.

 

[Bill Godshall]

The only reason the NY legislature would ban the sale of e-cigarettes if consumers in NY fail to urge the legislators to oppose the bill. We successfully defeated the same legislation last year, and now that Republicans control the NY Senate, it should be even easier to defeat the legislation this year.

In September, the NY Senate Health Committee chair Thomas Duane held a public hearing on tobacco issues, and four e-cigarette advocates (Spike Babaian of NVC, Ron Ward of CASAA, William Friedman of VF, and me) testified against banning the sale or restricting the usage of e-cigarettes, and urge them to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.
NY Senate Health Committee -Clean Indoor Air Act Impact Forum Pt. 3
YouTube - nysenateuncut's Channel

 

[jimho]

The only reason the NY legislature would ban the sale of e-cigarettes if consumers in NY fail to urge the legislators to oppose the bill. We successfully defeated the same legislation last year, and now that Republicans control the NY Senate, it should be even easier to defeat the legislation this year.

In September, the NY Senate Health Committee chair Thomas Duane held a public hearing on tobacco issues, and four e-cigarette advocates (Spike Babaian of NVC, Ron Ward of CASAA, William Friedman of VF, and me) testified against banning the sale or restricting the usage of e-cigarettes, and urge them to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.
NY Senate Health Committee -Clean Indoor Air Act Impact Forum Pt. 3
YouTube - nysenateuncut's Channel

Bill-
Appreciate that you took the time to come to NY to participate in the hearing. I think you guys did a great job. One of the things that concerns me is how poorly attended that session was by other senators on the health committee- including my own, who represents a district some 11 miles from where the hearing was held. I've written her several times but never recieved anything other than the automated reply. Hopefully the Senators on the health committee will take the time to review the testimony.

While the bill wasn't passed last year, not making it to a vote in the senate isn't quite the same as it being defeated. The fact that there's another bill in the assembly now conceringin e-cigs specifically is evidence that it's not just going away. You'd think with all the problems we have in NY that they could find a better way to spend their time.

I'm curious-not being an atourney, perhaps there's something I'm missing... given the newly introduced bill for the assembly Bills is mostly what we tend to consider good things targeted at to keeping ecigs out of the hands of minors, even with the proposed amendment, what would the objections would be?

Seems as though any threat would be with the proposed ammendment S00695 " prohibits distribution
or sale of any item containing or delivering nicotine that is not defined by law as a tobacco product or approved by the United States food and drug administration for sale as a tobacco use cessation or harm reduction product" ... and unless the December ruling is overturned, the courts have stated that e-cigs are already defined by law to be tobacco products. So what is it with the new proposed legislation that would be aggregious to the e-cig community?

Should we be concerned that the December ruling might be overturned?

 

[yvilla]

Seems as though any threat would be with the proposed ammendment S00695 " prohibits distribution
or sale of any item containing or delivering nicotine that is not defined by law as a tobacco product or approved by the United States food and drug administration for sale as a tobacco use cessation or harm reduction product" ... and unless the December ruling is overturned, the courts have stated that e-cigs are already defined by law to be tobacco products. So what is it with the new proposed legislation that would be aggregious to the e-cig community?

Should we be concerned that the December ruling might be overturned?

Jimho, yes that section 2 of the proposed legislation is the only real problem. However, you left out the part of it that is the real issue:

"PRODUCTS CONTAINING OR DELIVERING NICOTINE INTENDED OR EXPECTED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION THAT ARE NOT TOBACCO PRODUCTS, AS DEFINED IN SECTION THIRTEEN HUNDRED NINETY-NINE-AA OF THIS ARTICLE".

That "as defined in" clause refers to New York State's own defintion of "tobacco products", found in Section 1399-aa of the Public Health Law. The question then becomes whether NY's defintion of tobacco products would control if challenged, rather than the new federal definition as interpreted by the DC Court, and even also whether ecigs could be argued to fall within NY's definition of tobacco products anyway, making the proposed new legislation meaningless as far as sales to adults go (because it they did, then there would be no sales ban even if the law passes).

It appears that our esteemed legislators sponsoring this bill are too stupid to realize that though. Because if the bill is NOT intended to result in a total sales ban, at least until ecigs are "approved" by the FDA as a cessation product, then there is no reason for section 2 to be in there at all. So we have to assume they do intend an outright sales ban, but are not aware of all the legal issues surrounding the language of their proposed new law.

 

[yvilla]

The bill is on the agenda again. Assembly Health Committee meeting Tuesday, 1/25. Please see this thread I started about it, and take action to help fight it if you possibly can! Thanks.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...right-sales-ban-agenda-again.html#post2522394

 

[Unchained]

Do it NOW!
Copy one of the following groups of email addresses and paste them in the “To:” section of your email depending if your email separates with semicolons or commas.

GottfriedR@assembly.state.ny.us; bingj@assembly.state.ny.us; CahillK@assembly.state.ny.us; CastelliR@assembly.state.ny.us; ConteJ@assembly.state.ny.us; CymbroS@assembly.state.ny.us; DinowiJ@assembly.state.ny.us; GalefS@assembly.state.ny.us; GuntheA@assembly.state.ny.us; HevesiA@assembly.state.ny.us; JacobsR@assembly.state.ny.us; LavineC@assembly.state.ny.us; MagnarW@assembly.state.ny.us; MayersN@assembly.state.ny.us; McDonoD@assembly.state.ny.us; MillerJ@assembly.state.ny.us; PaulinA@assembly.state.ny.us; PeopleC@assembly.state.ny.us; RiveraN@assembly.state.ny.us; RosentL@assembly.state.ny.us; SchimmR@assembly.state.ny.us; TobaccoL@assembly.state.ny.us; TownsD@assembly.state.ny.us


Or you can use the following if you need commas instead of semicolons...


GottfriedR@assembly.state.ny.us, bingj@assembly.state.ny.us, CahillK@assembly.state.ny.us, CastelliR@assembly.state.ny.us, ConteJ@assembly.state.ny.us, CymbroS@assembly.state.ny.us, DinowiJ@assembly.state.ny.us, GalefS@assembly.state.ny.us, GuntheA@assembly.state.ny.us, HevesiA@assembly.state.ny.us, JacobsR@assembly.state.ny.us, LavineC@assembly.state.ny.us, MagnarW@assembly.state.ny.us, MayersN@assembly.state.ny.us, McDonoD@assembly.state.ny.us, MillerJ@assembly.state.ny.us, PaulinA@assembly.state.ny.us, PeopleC@assembly.state.ny.us, RiveraN@assembly.state.ny.us, RosentL@assembly.state.ny.us, SchimmR@assembly.state.ny.us, TobaccoL@assembly.state.ny.us, TownsD@assembly.state.ny.us



Copy the following and paste it into the “Subject:” line of your email…

OPPOSE A1468: Electronic Cigarettes/ Nicotine Vaporizers

Then copy the following and paste it into the body on your email and then sign your name …

New York Legislator,

After many years of smoking, I now use an electronic cigarette/nicotine vaporizer instead of smoking. Section 2 of proposed legislation A1468 would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes/nicotine vaporizers to adults and I would no longer be able to purchase them in New York State. I am sure that you would not want your constituents to start smoking tobacco cigarettes again, but this will be the unintended consequence of the proposed bill.

These devices are the one thing that finally helped me stop smoking after trying so many other ways. Tobacco cigarettes deliver many dangerous chemicals, but electronic cigarettes deliver nicotine without those dangerous chemicals. I can breathe better and I feel better. I don’t cough and I don’t smell awful anymore.

I know that you have been told that e-cigarettes contain dangerous chemicals, but this is not true. The information you have been given has been proven incorrect many times and in the past 12 months additional research (for example http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/centers-institutes/population-development/files/article.jphp.pdf) has shown these products to be a safer alternative to smoking and effective for hundreds of thousands of people as a substitute for traditional tobacco cigarettes. Two federal courts have already told the FDA that the e-cigarette may not be regulated as a smoking cessation product/drug delivery device. I would ask you to please get more current information on the product and to educate yourself before voting on this bill.

I am a member of National Vapers Club and while we support bans on sales to minors we cannot support this bill without an amendment striking section 2 of the bill. There is a short 8 minute video and a webpage that we can send to our legislators so that they may educate themselves before they vote on such an important issue. Here is a link.

VapeTube.com - Vaporize Yourself - Legislator Educational Video on electronic cigarettes

This is the information packet with the studies referred to in the video.

Nicotine Vaporizer Information Packet

We hope that you will take the time to educate yourself so that you can help protect the health of your constituents who use this product as a safer alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes.


Thank you for your time.

 

[laurel099]

For those that are not NVC members and possibly out of NY state I thought Treece's letter was awesome. I changed it up a bit and emailed it off. Sent a slew of faxes too!!

Oh and Sandy Galef one of the co-sponsors fax number out of service. Anyone get a new number holler please

Subject: Please vote NO on A01468 (electronic cigarettes)!

Dear Members of the Assembly Health Committee:

I'm very disheartened to hear of the bill that would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes in New York. I switched to an electronic cigarette almost two years ago after smoking for more than 30 years. It's one of the best decisions I've ever made.

There are several companies I order from in New York, so this will affect me directly, as well as thousands of others around the country. My deeper concern, however, is for all the former smokers in New York who have already switched to electronic cigarettes, and for the current smokers who might never have the opportunity to choose to do so.

The American Association of Public Health Physicians estimates the risks of using e-cigarettes to be "much less than 1%" of the risk of smoking traditional cigarettes. It makes no sense to ban the least dangerous product while leaving the most dangerous on the shelves. This would be a terrible blow to the health of New Yorkers--and it plays directly into the hands of Big Tobacco, which would of course prefer that people continue to smoke.

Banning e-cigarette sales to minors is, of course, warranted. Banning sales to adults is unconscionable.

Please, I urge you to vote "no" on A01468 or at least amend it to prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors, but allow adult consumers to continue to purchase a product which is estimated to be 99% less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely

 

[v1John]

The last time the bill was brought up I think it was decided that emails are not a good idea. Legislators can block or ignore mass e-mails, and it also seems like people from other states are not really represented by NY legislators either.

 

[yvilla]

The last time the bill was brought up I think it was decided that emails are not a good idea. Legislators can block or ignore mass e-mails,

That's why I keep emphasizing in the main thread about this legislation, linked to above, that we need people to CALL the Assembly Health Committee members all day on Monday and Tuesday morning before the noon meeting, and to stretch to send faxes instead of emails if at all possible.

 

[warbdan]

Done, everybody needs to do this. It's a shame we have to DEFEND our rights in America.

Land of the Free? ~Pennywise

 

[Webby]

That's why I keep emphasizing in the main thread about this legislation, linked to above, that we need people to CALL the Assembly Health Committee members all day on Monday and Tuesday morning before the noon meeting, and to stretch to send faxes instead of emails if at all possible.

My CASAA-mate is right. I mentioned this here over a year ago, but according to Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R – AL) Aide,

“Letters get read by aides, email gets scanned by interns”

The reason being email is easy to fake. I can forge millions of headers and addresses on email (especially one that is identical and looks like spam) whereas a massive letter campaign will come from so many different handwritings and ink and paper combinations that it is given more credibility. I’m not saying we discount an email campaign altogether, but with so little time, why not take a moment to write a single page letter (if for no other reason than to collect your thoughts) and then call (or fax that letter to) the Assembly Health Committee?

If it hasn't been posted here already, there is a letter at CASAA | The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association that can be printed out (or paraphrased) and faxed in less time than it takes to swap out your atty...

 

[DC2]

That's why I keep emphasizing in the main thread about this legislation, linked to above, that we need people to CALL the Assembly Health Committee members all day on Monday and Tuesday morning before the noon meeting, and to stretch to send faxes instead of emails if at all possible.

I'm stocked up for armegeddon.
I live in California and theoretically don't have much concern with New York.

But I emailed every single legislator in New York.
And more importantly, I will be following up with phone calls to each tomorrow and Tuesday.

If you don't do the same, then suffer your fate.

And if you don't believe we can make any difference, then study the history of our advocacy.
We have defeated many state actions by our actions.

Know your history.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

 

[thefinder808]

Hmmm...that's a good point. I sent the e-mail, now I'm worried it might just get ignored. I don't live in NY if I call will they ask me about that? Either way I will give them a call Monday, this can't be allowed to happen. It's a shame that we have to be afraid of this kind of ignorant power grab from the people we elect.

 

[mark40511]

Sent it Not in NY though

 

[testertips]

we don't need this precedent - email sent