Positive E-Cigarette Article

[kristin]

I'm going over the article and doing some editing and commenting. I'll pm you when I'm finished, as its pretty long...
Are you interested in publishing this in a more journalistic style, or more as a personal commentary? I will be giving you some ideas for a more journalistically correct version

I'm open to ideas. I've been getting typo/grammar tips and one person is editing it, but I haven't seen it yet.

I guess it's more of a human interest journalistic story, but not purely journalistic, as i'm not a journalist and it's not meant to be an expose!

 

[BigJimW]

I'm open to ideas. I've been getting typo/grammar tips and one person is editing it, but I haven't seen it yet.

I guess it's more of a human interest journalistic story, but not purely journalistic, as i'm not a journalist and it's not meant to be an expose!

I can tell you that your story falls under "human interest". Your story angles on human aspect and how the PV has had a positive effect to their lives, and all the doctors and users shaking their heads in disbelief of the witch hunt.

The "news" angle would be if someone went berzerk and stabbed a local cop in the eyeball with their e-cig. Or if the FDA claims it has found new, improved cancer causing stuff in it.

That's the difference.

 

[span]

I had to pm you two separate messages... apparently it was too long for one >< Did you receive it? If you'd like, you can ignore the journalism comments... Take or leave any of them that you like. I just enjoy editing.
Although when I refer to that I just generally mean using their standards. Journalists write human interest pieces too
Must say I'm loving this article. Very well written and researched.

 

[spradling]

Kristin, congrats on an exceptional article!! I'm bookmarking it for reference, I'm having a fight coming up with my country's health dept and this will help a lot. Many thanks and keep up the good work!!

 

[kristin]

I had to pm you two separate messages... apparently it was too long for one >< Did you receive it? If you'd like, you can ignore the journalism comments... Take or leave any of them that you like. I just enjoy editing.
Although when I refer to that I just generally mean using their standards. Journalists write human interest pieces too
Must say I'm loving this article. Very well written and researched.

Span, I really enjoyed all of your input, but it was a bit overwhelming.
I can see where your suggestions would really add the polish to the article - more professional! However, in the interest of time (I'm moving 3.5 hours away this weekend and tracking down all of the proper changes would be very difficult & time consuming) would you consider assisting some more by copying the article, doing the edits for me and sending the changed article back to me?

I also agree about the ending - I was feeling that, as well. I'm at a bit of a writer's block with that, though....

 

[span]

Certainly! I'll make the edit and send it back to you. I'll try and include some ideas for an ending. Try not to get too stressed out making your move, I know its not fun ><!

 

[mm485]

Hey Kristin, great article!

Maybe I can help - I run the e-marketing division of my company and have a few media contacts...nothing huge (relatively small company) but I'd be more than happy to cash in a few favors to help this article go viral!

Let me know if you're interested and I'll PM you my email address so you can send me the final copy.

 

[Moonflame]

An excellent article! The only thing I found was a misspelling of falsely.

 

[CJsKee]

Excellent, Kristin!!!! You're a very talented gal...thanks!!

I did notice that the website address for ECF is incorrect...should be ".com"

"By contrast, a survey of personal vaporizer users at an electronic cigarette support site shows that 79% of respondants indicated that they have successfully quit smoking tobacco cigarettes. Some continue to use nicotine doses, others have reduced or eliminated the nicotine altogether. They feel that the gradual reduction of nicotine intake, with a familiar and comforting delivery system, allows them to immediately remove the known dangers of cigarette smoke while weaning off the nicotine."

Also, it didn't look like the other websites in the article were showing up in the PRLog. I think it's really important for readers to be provided those links.

Again, Wonderful job!!

 

[BigJimW]

Span, I really enjoyed all of your input, but it was a bit overwhelming.

HAHA, that's because the fuse has been lit and you can't put it out once it's fired up.

It will be overwhelming at first.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-voices-known-about-electronic-cigarette.html

and

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/campaigning/34199-eco-electronic-cigarette-organization.html

Keep the momentum going!

 

[span]

There has to be some shorter term for us, as a group. I'm editing the article to use the term "user" but I have a feeling this sounds too similar to drug user (which we are trying to avoid association with at all costs.) Vaper sounds too.... slang, to me. Any suggestions?

 

[sherid]

I'm open to ideas. I've been getting typo/grammar tips and one person is editing it, but I haven't seen it yet.

I guess it's more of a human interest journalistic story, but not purely journalistic, as i'm not a journalist and it's not meant to be an expose!

You might try Reason at Submissions - Reason Magazine and http://www.cagecanada.ca/index.php?pr=Communications Excellent piece.

 

[Vaporer]

I love it. Well done. I'm sure people will want a follow up where more details and facts can be stated. You'll have their attention then.
Send the thing to Fox News, they love to run with things like this......Bill O'Riley would drool to go after someone about the tainted FDA facts and ASH's backers with all the healthcare issues at large.
Prof Worthless vs Bill.....my $'s on Bill.

Paragraph #4
When you describe the "mist or vapor instead of smoke." how about "mist or vapor instead of smoke, almost identical to ones breath on a winters day, usually odorless."

Also, nicotine does not cause cancer per the FDA.

Shame you can't work in it was tested to an inhaler, actually winning(if memory serves me right), but with the same contaminant in parts per billion. In all other instances it's being compared to cigarettes, period. They had no case without distorting the truth. No Judge would ever have heard a case with the results that came from a cigarette comparison. Inhalers don't have a heat source either. It would have been FDA suicide!

Still, excellent work Kristin. You'll never get it all in one article. Save some for the followup!

Thank You!

 

[ladyraj]

13th paragraph (I think) Line 4 and 5:

My primary care doctor and cardiologist both contribute the change to me stopping smoking and vaping (instead.)

I would use attribute rather than contribute. Love the article!

 

[eric]

I can tell you that your story falls under "human interest". Your story angles on human aspect and how the PV has had a positive effect to their lives, and all the doctors and users shaking their heads in disbelief of the witch hunt.

The "news" angle would be if someone went berzerk and stabbed a local cop in the eyeball with their e-cig. Or if the FDA claims it has found new, improved cancer causing stuff in it.

That's the difference.

Not to hijack the thread... as this is a great article, but I just watched some of this guys videos, and though some of it is hearsay, this guy is awesome in my book, and if I knew you in life BigJimW, I'd buy you a pitcher of the top shelf beer.

God bless both of you, and keep fighting the good fight.

 

[Kent C]

[corrections in blue.... some may have been covered already as I had something else to do and let it set. Good article. ...edit... blue was a poor choice on my part because of the hyperlinks... they are a different color blue though....]

Negative Reactions Mystify Electronic Cigarette Users

By Kristin Noll-Marsh

The booth at the state fair expo was black, with big, gold lettering exclaiming, "Electronic Cigarettes - The Smoking Alternative!" As any tobacco smoker would, I expected to laugh at the silly concept and high price, but after dragging my husband over, it only took a minute for us both to realize that this was a revolutionary invention that we were seeing. And the price was right, as well!

The seller made it clear that it was not a device intended to STOP smoking - only a much safer and cheaper way to smoke. There is no scientific proof that they are safer, but it didn't take a degree in rocket science to see that the absence of smoke, tar and a few thousand other ingredients - including the 60-70 known carcinogens and poisons found in tobacco - made the flavored nicotine liquid seem tame by comparison. And the ability to reduce the nicotine levels from high, medium and low to liquid containing no nicotine at all was an appealing way to wean off nicotine altogether.

Of course, as soon as I got our new devices home, I had to log online and see what I could find out about them.

The first thing I found was a whole range of different devices and liquids available and not all devices are created equal. I also found that a whole subculture has quickly built up around the new phenomonium

[phenomenon]

of "vaping," the term coined by electronic cigarette users instead of "smoking." The electronic cigarette is also known as a "personal vaporizer", as it produces a fine mist or vapor instead of smoke. Tobacco cigarettes are jokingly called "analogs."

[I never looked at it as 'jokingly'. Only opposite of 'digital' and to differentiate.]

Vapers often consider themselves "smoke-free" or "non-smokers" because they have broken away from actual "smoking" and most of the negative aspects of tobacco cigarettes.

"I feel free of cigarettes for the first time in my life," says James Solie, of Hudson, WI. James says his life has changed in so many ways since he has quit smoking. "I used to go to bed at night and could smell the smoke on myself, and it wasn't good. I don't miss that. I just feel better in every way imaginable. I breathe better, don't have that nasty congestion in the morning. My throat feels better. My sense of smell, thus taste is much better." James adds that his wife is happy that he has quit smoking, as well.

The perception of personal vaporizer users that they are no longer smoking is one that is difficult for non-smokers and smoke-free advocates to understand. Thus many advocates welcomed recent news of the FDA ban on certain electronic cigarette brands,

[I'm unaware of any current FDA bans on any electronic cigarettes. Link?]

due to safety concerns, and proposed bans on their use in public spaces in municipalities in New York, Connecticut and Oregon. Vaporizer users fear the public has been falsly [falsely] lead [led] to believe that personal vaporizers aren't any different than tobacco cigarettes.

"Because vaping looks like smoking people immediately associate the two and come to a bad conclusion," says Scott Brower, of Santa Clarita, CA. Scott says he was not a cigarette smoker, but now enjoys nicotine-free electronic pipes and cigars. "They need to be educated to understand the fundamental differences."

On the FDA report, he says, "The announcement was rushed and omitted critical details. What should have been a scientific process and conclusion felt more political and reactionary. While I applaud their recognition of vaping and the need for testing, I also have to admonish their lack of care and due process. The FDA serves a critical role and I want them to take a very hard look at vaping. However, they must follow the scientific method to the letter if they are to fulfill their purpose. Given the potential significance of this to real tobacco users, and their fair and accurate treatment of this is literally life and death for millions."

Scott's response is typical of many vaporizer users - one of shock and disbelief at the knee-jerk public and governmental reaction. It's hard for them to see the logic in allowing the sale and use of tobacco cigarettes, which are proven to contain dozens of poisons and carcinogens and create second-hand smoke while attempting to ban the vaporizers, which were found, in the FDA's own research, to only contain trace amounts of adverse ingredients. As Scott points out, those results were based on incomplete data collected from only a few samples - out of hundreds of different liquids and cartridges available on the market.

Dr. Michael Siegel is a professor at Boston University School of Public Health and a physician who specialized in preventive medicine and public health. On his blog, The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary, he comments, "With the FDA now approving the sale and marketing of conventional cigarettes, it is absurd to think that the Agency would spend so much of its energy on an attempt to remove this much safer alternative from the market, while ignoring the very real threat posed by the cigarettes being smoked by 45 million Americans."

"While further testing of electronic cigarettes is certainly warranted, and while restrictions on the sales of these products to minors and the types of marketing claims that can be made are reasonable," he states, "it would be criminal to take these products off the market. Smokers who have found these products to be a life-saver, allowing them to stay off regular cigarettes, should be permitted to have the choice of continuing to use the product while more definitive studies are conducted."

Other physicians seem to agree with his conclusions.

Just a few days before she started using a personal vaporizer, Julie Williams of Manchester, TN had a blood pressure reading of 230/110 and her heart rate was elevated. "I was on medication but it wasn't working," she recalls. "Within a week of vaping and only smoking 2-3 cigarettes a day, all my numbers went down to normal ones. My primary care doctor and cardiologist both contribute [attribute] the change to me stopping smoking and vaping (instead.) Both doctors are telling other patients about ecigs." She says she has now quit smoking tobacco cigarettes altogether. "Both my primary care physician and my cardiologist are behind me 100% in my vaping. I even vape in the exam rooms while we discuss my ongoing treatments."

Her doctors don't seem too concerned about alledged [alleged] "second-hand vapor" either, unlike a few legislators and anti-smoking groups across the country, such as Suffolk County, NY, which, sponsored by Majority Leader Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Neck), bans e-cigarette use in public spaces.

"There is no substantial evidence that these devices do any harm to the user or bystanders around the user," argues Spike Babaian, of Long Island, NY, in a recent press release. "Despite the plethora of evidence provided to the Suffolk County legislature, that shows evidence that these devices are no more harmful that consuming a hot dog, they have determined that the “stress, fear and confusion,” which the public could potentially feel due to the presence of the fog, was sufficient reason to force vapers to follow the Suffolk County smoking ordinance and utilize these devices only in areas where smoking is allowed."

"This restriction would push thousands of non-smoking Suffolk County residents who utilize nicotine vaporizers into smoking areas where they would be exposed to the second hand smoke and toxic chemicals that they quit smoking to avoid. This is a clear violation of the civil rights of non-smokers who wish to avoid the toxic chemicals given off by cigarette smoke. This law was passed based on public fear, rather than fact, and the total disregard for the safety of these former smokers is an unjustifiable disgrace. Suffolk County’s Health and Human Services Committee, which is supposed to protect the health of Suffolk County residents, has put “psychological discomfort” of the minority ahead of physical health and that is an unforgivable offense."

Aside from putting electronic cigarette users back into toxic cloud produced by tobacco smoke, personal vaporizer users point out that their vapor doesn’t behave in the same manner as cigarette smoke. The vapor doesn’t appear to travel more than a couple of feet from the user. It also tends to dissapate [dissipate] quicker than smoke, making it fairly undetectable and unobtrusive for those nearby, so presenting the two as the same thing is misleading.

In addition to the “second-hand vapor,” legislators and anti-smoking groups such as ASH, the national anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health, argue that the electronic cigarettes are being marketed to appeal to children, specifically through fruit and candy-like flavors. Such claims leave a bad taste in vapers mouths.

”I didn't know that once I grew up I had to stop liking things that taste good,” says a confused Julie Williams. “You can get the (nicotine) gum in a number of flavors and they are out in the open for any kid to grab. What is a kid going to choose to buy...an ecig that they have to save up to buy online ($50 and up for a starter kit) or a pack of cigarettes they can get anywhere for $5.00?”

Ed Corcoran, of Lowell, MA, is equally shocked by the allegations. “I think that's ludicrous,” he says. “Many alcohol products have sweet, fruity flavors. No one accuses those manufacturers of marketing their products to children based on that criteria. Just because something is meant for adults only, that doesn't mean it has to taste bad.”

Others counter that many children get access to cigarettes because of the low cost or sneaking cigarettes from a parent – something which is almost impossible to do unnoticed with a personal vaporizer. And even if a child decided to spend over $100 on equipment and liquid refills and lie about their age to obtain it, what reason would they have to order a fruity flavor filled with nicotine? Nicotine produces no "rush" or “high” for a non-smoker and the liquids are available nicotine-free, with the same effect. The accusation holds no credibility and defies logic.

Many proponants [proponents] of personal vaporizers have begun to suspect that the bad press is being manufactured and research results are being misrepresented purely for financial gain. Simple research online reveals that their claim can easily be supported.

ASH, one of the loudest opponents to electronic cigarettes and often a source of exaggerated or false propoganda [propaganda], reportedly receives huge contributions from Pfizer Inc., the maker of numerous nicotine replacement drugs designed to assist smokers with quitting cigarettes. One of their products is Chantix, already known by the FDA to have been related to 78 deaths, 28 of which were suicides. Yet the FDA has not banned that particular smoking cessation product and is going after electronic cigarettes, which have thus far not had any reported adverse effects or related deaths.


“If e-cigarettes really take off, they represent a huge threat to the profits of pharmaceutical companies, and in turn, they represent a threat to future funding of ASH,” explains Dr. Siegel. “This conflict of interest is significant, but ASH has failed to disclose it in any of its statements about the dangers of electronic cigarettes. Each of the other anti-smoking groups which have warned the public about the dangers of e-cigarettes is also heavily funded by Big Pharma. Is this merely a coincidence? I think not.”

While reputable electronic cigarette manufacturers and resellers don’t advertise their product as a smoking cessation device, it is hard to ignore the anecdotal evidence that they end up being just that for for many tobacco smokers who switch exclusively to personal vaporizers. It is common knowledge that most FDA-approved medical alternatives are dismal failures, with about a 14% success rate, even in clinical trials.

"The drugs are approved because they've shown in FDA studies that they're better than placebo," said Dr. Edward Levin, a psychopharmacological researcher at Duke University Medical Center in Raleigh, N.C., in a recent CNN article. "But being better than placebo doesn't take a whole lot, so there really is room for improvement." A University of Wisconsin study showed that the most successful drug, Chantix, only had a 50% success rate during 12 weeks of use. That success dropped to one in four in the weeks after the treatment was stopped.

By contrast, a survey of personal vaporizer users at an electronic cigarette support site shows that 79% of respondants [respondents] indicated that they have successfully quit smoking tobacco cigarettes. Some continue to use nicotine doses, others have reduced or eliminated the nicotine altogether. They feel that the gradual reduction of nicotine intake, with a familiar and comforting delivery system, allows them to immediately remove the known dangers of cigarette smoke while weaning off the nicotine.

Some may even continue to use the devices purely for recreational use, even with the nicotine. They see no difference in enjoying their nicotine alternative like others who enjoy recreational use of alcohol, caffeine or chocolate. Personal vaporizers give them a way to do this without affecting those around them, as cigarette smoke did and without ingesting the 4000 chemicals contained in traditional cigarettes. Nicotine is a legal substance and adults should be allowed to enjoy it responsibly, they argue.

Dawn Brain, of Smith Mountain Lake, VA, didn’t start using personal vaporizers to quit smoking, she only wanted a lower cost alternative.

“I didn't start using them for health reasons, she says. “ I decided to try (personal vaporizers) because I was tired of the cost of cigarettes going up. When the price of the brand I was smoking went from $23 to $35 in one week I was fed up. If I had not had PVs to turn to I would have kept smoking and just grumbled about the fact that my cost went up by 50% over night, but this time I had an option and I jumped on it.

“Added to the cost benefit, I liked the fact that my house and clothes would no longer smell like cigarettes and I wouldn't be putting 35 cigarette butts into the landfill daily. I no longer have to worry about my cats knocking over my ashtray and having to clean up ashes and butts.”

“It never occurred to me that I would feel so much better, be able to breathe deeply for the first time in 23 years, and be able to taste things that had lost much of their flavor from my smoking.”

Like the rest of the personal vaporizer users around the world, it completely mystifies her why people would think any of those would be considered a bad thing?

 

[ladyraj]

She's a dynamo!!!

 

[Technobob]

You should also include that the big pharmaceutical companies make billions selling drugs to treat the diseases caused by cigarettes. So at the fear of losing billions they would love to see ecigs outlawed at the expense of are health.

 

[LaceyUnderall]

Kristin -

Great article. I didn't get a chance to read through all of the posts after with comments... 2 things...

The last link to the forum doesn't work.

AND... the Huffington Post might be a good idea since just recently, they posted that Opinion piece from a woman who was anti-esmoking and not a smoker. It might be good to see if you could propose a rebuttal to that unfactual article.

Also... when you get your final draft done, please forward to me and I will make sure the ECA gets a copy

 

[KevinG]

Actually, I was hoping you could help me with suggestions - I know you do a lot of these press releases!

With your permission I may be able to get it published. PM me the credit details and I'll forward it on to some people that may be interested.