Dear Mr. Van Hollen,
My name is (YOUR NAME).
I am writing you today, to bring to your attention the ramifications of a ban on public use of personal vaporizers (electronic cigarettes) in Suffolk County, NY, and Oregon and recent FDA actions to ban imports of the devices and the impact it would have on all of your constituents in Wisconsin.
On the surface, it seems a reasonable course of action, but it ignores the larger picture. By limiting the accessibility of personal vaporizers, it pushes every ex-smoker back towards cigarettes - a proven killer.
It is very important that you understand that every personal vaporizer user is one less person creating second-hand smoke in open public spaces. One less person leaving their loved ones to go outside and smoke. One less person exposed to the hundreds of toxic ingredients, as with cigarette smoking or second hand smoke in the smoking areas. One less person contributing to the health and insurance crisis in the U.S. today.
By moving too quickly, to ban these life-saving devices, legislators push every personal vaporizer user that has successfully moved away from tobacco smoking back into the poisonous cloud. These devices may not have proven medical benefits, but anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that they allow a bearable transition from tobacco smoking - to the point where doctors have recommended them as alternatives to smoking. Even in the event of continued personal vaporizer use, personal vaporizers obviously don't contain nearly the number of harmful substances that tobacco cigarettes do. And while the health benefits are more obvious, the other life-saving changes are not. Personal vaporizers give us our life back. No more huddling out in the cold. No more disappointing our friends and family or exposing them to harmful smoke. No more wasted time running out for a smoke break. Reduced cost allows for more disposable income. No more embarrassing smell or discolored teeth and nails.
The device puts off very little vapor and odor, unlike tobacco cigarettes. You probably wouldn't be able to smell it over all of the other odors in the room - such as colognes and perfumes, foods and body odors. To ban them because they bother others in the room is simply an assumption and not fact. More people object to the fact that they look like smoking and not the actual vapors, which they most likely can't even smell.
To make non-smoking, personal vaporizer users sit outside with smokers is putting OUR health at risk, as well. And setting this example, gives the impression that these life-changing and life-saving devices are bad enough to be banned from the room and opens the door for other misconceptions and legislation against personal vaporizers altogether. What good could come from that, other than thousands of personal vaporizer users going back to tobacco smoking and causing addional second hand smoke, medical and insurance costs and sad families?
Please, Mr. Van Hollen, don't believe this witch-hunting story that is being sold to the general public and media. Talk to doctors. Talk to us. Talk to our elated families, who also fear what this legislation will bring back upon us. Please don't follow others blindly, effectively signing our death warrants.
Sincerely,
