What should we say to our senators?

[ZexMarquies01]

I'm about to send an E-mail to my senator, to vote no on the waxman bill ( H.R.1256 ).

I am currently mentioning the involvement Phillip Morris has had in the creation of the bill, and mentioning the ban on e-cigs that the FDA wishes to impose. I have mentioned the positive health effects the e-cig currently has ( better breathing, better smelling, No carcinogins, etc..etc..), and the need for the bill to be read more closely to see how much involvement Phillip Morris has had in the creation of the bill, and what they stand to gain by giving the FDA power over all tobacco based drugs.

I am also mentioning how I don't wish for the government to get bigger, and tell us that we cant use an item that currently shows no adverse health effects on the user, or those around the user, Since this particular senator is a republican, thus I figured such a comment may help him vote no. I am in no way dissing, or endorsing one side or another here on these forums. I'm just using my senators own bias to help my argument.

If I suggest that the bill be re-written for the exclusion of the FDA to ban e-cigs, until there is data showing it to have adverse health effects on the user, Is that a legatimate request? Is that possible in a bill like this? That is, Is it possible to single out a single item, and have the bill specifically say that e-cigs cannot be banned by the FDA until results have been shown to harm the user?

I am trying to make my E-mail sound professional, and not whiney, or sound stupid, Thus i'm asking if the idea above is a dumb idea or not. Plus, asking if there is anything I'm leaving out.

Also, this is the first time I have EVER e-mailed one of my representatives about ANYTHING. But this issue is very important to me, and to my parents, who JUST ORDERED their own kits over the weekend. And they won't be happy if the FDA suddenly bans e-cigs and e-juice right after they bought their stuff.


I also posted this thread earlier in the Laws section of the forum, and realized it was probably the wrong section, So I'm posting it here.

If anyone wishes, I can copy my E-mail, and paste it here on the forum for more review by those who are smarter on this subject than me.

 

[IntoxiNation]

Well I notice you are in Ohio also, so we have the same Senators. My advice - call their offices also. I had an issue with the postal service a couple of months ago. I called Sherrod Brown's office and was amazed at how quickly I saw results.

If you want to write, I would stay away from email. They get so many of them that they end up getting basic auto-responses done to them. Most of that is due to these big organizations that think its beneficial to flood Congressional offices with emails. My advice is to print out the letter and then head to Staples and fax it in. Its got a much better chance of falling on more tuned in eyes than reading emails.

 

[yvilla]

Zex, yes it's perfectly acceptable for you to ask him to support amendments to the bill, as an alternative to simply voting against it. In fact, amending the bill may be our best chance of defeating the worst parts of it. There are even specific amendements proposed by the AAPHP (Dr. Niztkin's group) that you could ask him to support. They were mentioned here on the forum in this interview:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...g-fda-no-banter-here-please-6.html#post219932

And, here is a direct link to the proposed amendments that you could offer your senator for his review:

http://www.aaphp.org/special/2009/20090420SenateFDATobcAmend.pdf

 

[LaceyUnderall]

Also, please feel free to use ANYTHING from the association website.

Electronic Cigarette Association

The myths and facts page is a good read.

 

[Steph2323]

Also, please feel free to use ANYTHING from the association website.

Electronic Cigarette Association

The myths and facts page is a good read.

The website is very nice and informative Lacey. Well done to you and all involved
Stephanie

 

[Monie]

You may find this post helpful (quoted below)

If you haven't done so yet, in the next week please contact Senate HELP Cmte members (contact info posted on the first page of this this thread) and urge them to "amend the Kennedy FDA tobacco bill to allow e-cigarettes and other smokefree tobacco/nicotine products to remain on the market and to be reasonably and responsibly regulated as a separate category of tobacco products."



This afternoon, the Senate HELP Cmte scheduled a markup session on Kennedy's yet-to-be introduced FDA tobacco bill for next Tuesday. Here's the notice.





From: Kolinski, Joe (HELP Committee)

Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 1:40 PM

To:

Subject: 05122009 Executive Session Notice



EXECUTIVE SESSION NOTICE



To: All Committee Members

Subject: The following Agenda to be Considered

Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Time: 2:30 P.M.

Place: 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building





AGENDA



1. S. ______, Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

2. Any nominations cleared for action



Joseph R. Kolinski

Chief Clerk



May 5, 2009



Joe Kolinski

Chief Clerk

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

202-224-3656

 

[Vapor Pete]

Not to be a Debbie Downer,
But in my campaigning effort, it hasnt been who to write to, its been who will respond. So far, Im 0 -5.
My best,
-VP

 

[LaceyUnderall]

VP -

They may not be responding but the Kennedy bill is being introduced to the Senate committee next Tuesday so regardless if they have written you back, they have definitely heard about us now. (hopefully)

Another thing I find completely interesting is that up until a week and a half ago, the Waxman bill was a SURE thing... and now... not so much. I don't know what has happened to change this, it could be a multitude of things and in all reality, we maybe didn't do anything, but I have to believe that what we are doing is working. We all have to.

Turn that frown upside down You wrote 5 letters... you should feel good about that.

 

[Bill Godshall]

Other than sending out a form letter to every from their state who contacted them on this issue, it is unlikely that Senators (or their staff) will respond to letters (unless you've given the Senator a large contribution in the past), but they'll read em.

Since 2004, a key strategy of the groups pushing the Waxman/Kennedy bill has been to portray the legislation as an inevitable done deal (in an attempt to dissuade opponents from opposing the bill, and in an attempt to convince undecided legislators to vote for the bill).

Last session, there were 60 cosponsors of Kennedy's bill. But I doubt if there will be 50 cosponsors this time (which almost certainly is why Kennedy has delayed its introduction during the past two weeks).