The hearing was held yesterday in Annapolis, with another good turnout of
vaping advocates.
Here's my testimony (which everyone is free to cut-and-paste without attribution and/or edit for your own testimony/letters).
Testimony to the
Maryland House Committee on Economic Matters
Opposing HB 26
February 11, 2015
William T Godshall, MPH
Executive Director
Smokefree Pennsylvania
1926 Monongahela Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15218
412-351-5880
BillGodshall@verizon.net
Since 1990, Smokefree Pennsylvania has campaigned to ban smoking in workplaces, stop cigarette marketing to youth, increase cigarette tax rates, hold cigarette companies accountable in civil court, and during the past decade, weve been informing smokers and the public that all smokefree tobacco/nicotine products 99% less hazardous than cigarettes (including e-cigarettes, nicotine gums, lozenges, patches, inhalers, and smokeless tobacco).
For disclosure, neither Smokefree Pennsylvania nor I have ever received any funding from any tobacco, drug or e-cig company.
In 2009, after unsuccessfully urging Obamas FDA to keep e-cigs as legal harm reduction alternatives to cigarettes, we collaborated with two e-cig companies to successfully sue the FDA in federal court for unlawfully banning e-cigs. Since then, weve helped encourage 42 state legislatures to ban e-cig sales to minors because it is sound public health policy.
In sharp contrast the fear mongering propaganda by e-cig prohibitionists funded by Big Pharma and unethical public health officials, the scientific and empirical evidence consistently indicates that e-cigs:
- are 99% (+/-1%) less hazardous than cigarettes,
- have never been known to cause any disease,
- emit trace levels of nontoxic aerosol that poses no harm to nonusers,
- are virtually all (99%) consumed by smokers and by ex-smokers who now vape,
- have replaced >3 Billion packs of cigarettes worldwide in past five years,
- have helped several million smokers quit smoking,
- have helped several million smokers sharply reduce their cigarette consumption
- are more effective for smoking cessation than FDA approved nicotine gums, lozenges and patches (which have a 95% failure rate),
- pose fewer risks than FDA approved Verenicline (Chantix),
- have never been found to create nicotine dependence in any nonsmoker,
- have never been found to be a gateway to cigarette smoking for anyone, and
- have further denormalized cigarette smoking (as youth and adult smoking rates and cigarette consumption have declined every year since 2007 when
vaping product sales to smokers began to skyrocket).
Besides, all of the following things emit more indoor air pollution than does an e-cig, but hypocritical
vaping opponents havent tried to ban any of them.
- every exhale by smokers for at least an hour after smoking every cigarette,
- smokers clothes and hair,
- cooking,
- glues and paint,
- carpeting and most furniture,
- printers and photocopiers,
- household cleaning products,
- dry cleaned clothes,
- hair sprays, perfumes and cosmetics,
- air fresheners, and even
- a cup of coffee or tea.
Since Smokefree Pennsylvanias goal is to reduce cigarette smoking, we urge this committee to reject HB 26 because it protects cigarette markets, bans all Maryland employers from setting policies that help employees and customers quit smoking, demonizes vapers and encourages them to switch back to deadly cigarettes, and discourages all smokers from quitting. HB 26 also deceitfully redefines smokefree e-cigs as smoking devices to confuse and scare people to inaccurately believe e-cigs are just as hazardous as cigarettes.
In contrast to the fear mongering news stories that teen e-cig use has increased, surveys (including CDCs) have consistently found that teen smokers are >20 times more likely than nonsmokers to report past use of an e-cig, and nearly all e-cig consumption by teens (like adults) is by smokers or ex-smokers.
Regardless, just as society doesnt ban adults from using alcohol, coffee or smokeless tobacco just because some teens use those products, its outrageous to ban e-cig use by adults by invoking fear mongering about children.
E-cigs benefit most employers and managements because workers dont waste time on smoke breaks, vaping helps employees quit smoking and reduces employer healthcare costs, and customers dont have to go outside for a smoke.
Finally, its impossible to enforce vaping bans, as users can eliminate all visible vapor by simply holding their breath for two seconds. None of the state or local vaping bans have been enforced because doing so is impossible, and would likely violate unwarranted search and seizure protections in the US Constitution. Banning vaping just creates many new lawbreakers and increases resentment of government and elected officials.
Please reject HB 26. But if you are going to approve this misguided bill, at least amend the bill to exempt vape shops and other enclosed areas where children arent permitted access.
