Dear Senator Grothman,
My name is ______________ and I am a former smoker in ___________, Wisconsin. I had been smoking a pack of cigarettes an day for over 20 years, but I have now been smoke-free for over 1.5 years. By switching to electronic cigarettes in July 2009, I no longer have any desire to smoke tobacco cigarettes ever again. There is no other product on the market that alleviates nicotine cravings and completely eliminates exposure to deadly tobacco smoke while also mimicking the desired “hand-to-mouth” smoking experience. For me and hundreds of thousands of other e-cigarette users these are truly a miracle product.
Anti-tobacco and health groups will tell you that I haven’t successfully quit smoking unless I quit nicotine use, as well. This is simply not true. The greatest health risks from tobacco use are the toxins and carcinogens in the smoke, not the nicotine itself. Smokeless nicotine products have approximately the same low health risks as caffeinated products. Numerous published studies have shown that smokers who switch to a smokeless form of nicotine delivery, such as electronic cigarettes or Swedish snus, will reduce their health risks to nearly the same as non-smokers. Harm reduction research suggests that those who switch to a long-term, smokeless nicotine product have greater success remaining smoke-free than those who attempt to quit nicotine altogether. Ineffective nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs), designed to wean users from nicotine, have been shown to keep 93% of smokers on an unending cycle of failed attempts to quit. Conversely, the only way I would ever return to smoking is if e-cigarettes were removed from the market!
The groups who oppose e-cigarettes will also tell you that the chemicals in e-cigarettes are unknown, that the FDA must regulate e-cigarettes the same as other smoking cessation treatments and that the FDA discovered “antifreeze,” “toxic chemicals” and “carcinogens” in e-cigarettes, which makes them more dangerous than traditional cigarettes. These claims have also been shown to be untrue.
In the December 2010 issue of the Journal of Public Health Policy, Drs. Michael Siegel (Boston University) and Zachary Cahn (University of California -Berkeley) published the most comprehensive paper on e-cigarettes to date. They reviewed 16 separate e-cigarette studies, including that of the FDA, and concluded that “electronic cigarettes show tremendous promise in the fight against tobacco-related morbidity and mortality” and that “a preponderance of the available evidence shows them to be much safer than tobacco cigarettes and comparable in toxicity to conventional nicotine replacement products.”
Regarding the regulation as a smoking cessation product, FDA-approved pharmaceutical treatments supposedly cure nicotine addiction to promote smoking cessation, while e-cigarettes promote continued nicotine use. Therefore, e-cigarettes should not be required to prove they are a treatment for nicotine addiction for FDA-approval. Because of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the FDA has the power to regulate e-cigarette products which make no claims as a treatment for nicotine addiction as alternative tobacco products, which would address concerns such as quality, labeling and sales to minors.
E-cigarettes are reduced-harm, smokeless products that have had no reports of injury or illness due to their use and should be regulated accordingly. They should not only be allowed to remain on the market as an option for adult smokers, they should be encouraged as a reduced harm option for smokers who cannot or will not quit. Therefore, without any evidence of danger to either the users or bystanders, indoor use of e-cigarettes should be protected as incentive for smokers to make the switch and encouragement for current e-cigarette users. Additionally, users should be protected from penalties issued by employers and insurance providers for their smokeless nicotine use, as they are no longer high risk. I urge you to use any means available to protect public health by ensuring that e-cigarettes remain available, affordable and effective in our state.
Sincerely,
