Smoke Free Wisconsin Needs Education

SmokeFree Wisconsin does not like the PV (big surprise, there) and they have a habit of not publishing comments that are unfavorable to their position on their blog. I've since become inspired again to leave a comment on their blog regarding their last entry against E-Cigarettes. Any bets on whether or not they'll allow it to be published?

Nonetheless, the words were, in my opinion (and I'm the author, so I'm biased here) powerful, and I thought I'd share them with you even if SFW doesn't feel the need to.

The post, and reply, are here:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2397141130780617925&postID=1917467756665836296&page=1&token=1274240879376_AIe9_BFMZLr8yak8lKCZ2DhMs6rdtiibYXtk9efgSbQBQOfIPoJ2T_CQ_pyZL_B_LcTj-HJ7ql3cRYR8QcFY8VXFaa8XwRGlCOeAD3zkVQNjGNzaPAXqRW3EyhuWZlk4TlwhYsie-cAPmd_NKHy21PIWcGlM3D42_jVNmprIDT2Keh_v7I82Yx8h9l-djLT9pP_-RIMDoeMmoTAI5T9KTjgUS75JQsyiXkXTW814FnCptQbF9yLJwFXhRy0b7vA-lCkVeX_uJRi4

Basically, they are lauding CTFK's disgust at the Honorable Judge Leon's ruling for PV's in January.

And this would be my reply:

Ok, Erich. I've got a few things to point out in your Feb. 8 response to John Richards.

First and formost - disconnect E-Cigarettes from the Tobacco Giants. Completely. The E-Cig is C.O.M.P.E.T.I.T.I.O.N. to Big Tobacco. They'd like nothing more than to see a product that works for the bulk of smokers as an alternative to their deadly products removed from the market and buried completely.

Second, nicotine is not the bad guy here. Nicotine gets a bad rap because of it's traditional delivery device: Cigarettes. If nicotine was so dangerous, so horrible a chemical, would it be approved for usage by the Pharmaceutical Giants? Nicotine helps increase cognitive function, can help adults with AD/HD self-medicate their disease, and shows promising in lessening the impact of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. http://www.forces.org/evidence/hamilton/other/nicotine.htm

Third, you state that these products have not been proven better or healthier. Again, there are studies, including the one by the FDA, that show that the E-Cig is, indeed, safer than the product they are intended to replace: CIGARETTES.

http://vapersclub.com/safe.html This website provides plenty of information on E-Cigs. I implore you to browse this, and come to an informed opinion of the product instead of relying on half-truths and media 'spin.'

Thank you for your time.

A New Cessation Device brought to you by Pharma

Someone pointed me in the direction of this rather interesting article:

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2010/03/11/New-cessation-therapy-more-like-smoking/UPI-18501268337795

This Pharma house is working on developing a new nicotine delivery system - all well and good, that's what a Pharma house does, continuing to develop new chemical compounds to help us all live longer, more productive lives. But I'm reading between the lines, here, and coming up with some interesting conclusions all on my own.

...have been developing a method to deliver nicotine to the lungs that recreates some of the familiar sensations pleasurable to smokers.


"We wanted to replicate the experience of smoking without incurring the dangers associated with cigarettes, and we wanted to do so more effectively than the nicotine replacement therapies currently on the market," Jed Rose, director of the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research, says in a statement.

Bully for them. A 'safer' smoking experience is what they're after, one that emulates smoking without the actual combustion, delivers nicotine deep in the lung, and gives the smoker the feel of smoking. As an aside, I'll also read into this statement admission that the current NRT's on the market have room for improvement.

Got news for them: the Electronic Cigarette already does these things, and does them well.

Let's take a look at what's in these, though:

http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20100227/new-nicotine-inhaler-may-help-smokers-quit

The device they came up with does not use fire or heat. Instead, as the smoker draws air through the cigarette-shaped device, a chemical called pyruvic acid is drawn into contact with nicotine, creating a cloud of nicotine pyruvate vapor.

Ok. Pyruvate acid. What are the known dangers of that? Let's check the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet)

"Potential Acute Health Effects:
Very hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation. Hazardous in case of skin contact (corrosive), of eye contact (corrosive). Liquid or spray mist may produce tissue damage
particularly on mucous membranes of eyes, mouth and respiratory tract."

Yea, I think I'd really like to be putting that in my lungs.

The new inhaler was studied by Health New Zealand, http://www.healthnz.co.nz/ - last year for Dr. Jed Rose - the results of that study are soon to be published, giving documentation needed for the Pharma House to gain approval for it through the FDA. The picture on HNZ's website shows a large, vapor-spewing device. The product hasn't even been manufactured as a cigarette-sized delivery device yet. Statements included in the study claim that the inhaler will be on the market within 3-5 years - fast-tracked through the approval process by the weight of Big Pharma.

So Pharma is developing a device that will LOOK like a cigarette, create a visible vapor LIKE A CIGARETTE, and will deliver nicotine in the lungs LIKE A CIGARETTE.

Sounds an awful lot like the PV's we use today. Where are the anti-smokers? Why aren't the ALA, the ACA, the CTFK, ASH and others denouncing these products? Oh, My, God, these might tempt children to try them. This might re-normalize the ACT of smoking. Current smokers might be confused by these cigarette-shaped objects, and light up in a non-smoking area, flooding the area with their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th hand smoke! These may become a gateway to regular tobacco use!

Not surprisingly, I hear nothing.......It's amazing what the right amount of money and influence can bring you, and these anti-smoking organizations get a LOT of money from the Pharma industry.

I'm very tired of the Corporations eliminating their competiton by using our Government as the bully to do its dirty work.

FDA brings out the big 'NAMES' in its court case

Not surprisingly, the FDA has brought some of its bully 'friends' to file amici briefs in its continuing court case which seems poised to determine the fate of the electronic cigarette in this country.

The American Academy of Pediatrics

The ACS (American Cancer Society)

The Cancer Action Network

The AHA (American Heart Association)

The American Legacy Foundation

The ALA (American Lung Association)

The AMA (American Medical Association)

The CTFK (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids)

The Public Citizen

I have to ask: Why now? Why did these large, impressive, very public groups take it into their collective heads to NOW file in support of the FDA - a year after this case was first brought to light?

I think someone has switched tactics. Earlier in the year, there were bills in a few states introduced, quietly, which would have banned the sale of electronic cigarettes at the state level. These bills were worded almost identically in each of the different states - essentially granting the power to regulate them as drug-delivery devices to the FDA, circumnavigating this limbo the products find themselves in right now with the Federal court case.

Well, we vapers are a vocal bunch, and are tired of having our right to make informed decisions taken away from us. To date, none of these bills have passed into law.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the grass-roots movement supporting PV's. I went to IL on the day that state's bill was being discussed in the Health and Human Services committee, and I watched these committee members faces as they had the wool literally removed from their eyes regarding these products.

I watched a paid lobbyist for the ALA sit in that hearing chamber, I saw her body language change from confident to surprised to shaken to desperation to defeat, and I heard her LIE through her teeth when she spoke of the dangers of these products.

I watched vapers from MO, IL, and WI stand in front of that committee, and speak with eloquence and passion about PV's. Confident, they spoke the truth, and the truth rang genuine in their words.

By the time we left that conference room, there was no doubt in my mind that the fate of that bill was sealed - and I was right. It was not brought up for a vote. It died in that committee.

Shortly after that victory in IL, the above-mentioned three letter ass-ociations filed their want to appear as friends of the FDA. They are, for the time being, content to put all their mighty weight and pull behind the Federal court case, and not try to pick off the states one by one.

Each and every organization in the list up above has put their names and reputations on the line. They have shown themselves to be not, as their mission statements so boldly proclaim, for the betterment of public health, but for something else, something dark and unable to face the light of day.

These groups are anti-smoker, not anti-smoking. It is the action of smoking that they are campaigning against. Why else would they look at a product like the PV, and declare "we don't know what's in them," in one breath, and "The FDA found carcinogens and antifreeze in them," in the very next breath???

Gee, don't the two statements contradict each other?????

Facts are:

the ONLY way these charities recommend a person quit smoking is a product manufactured by the Pharmaceutical Giants, who just happen to pour a TON of donations into these organizations each year. (Can I say it without sounding facetious? Don't bite the hand that feeds you?)

The FDA study performed last year proved that PV's are multiple magnitudes safer than the product they were designed to replace: cigarettes.

They refuse to measure these products against cigarettes. Hell, they even refuse to measure these products against traditional pharmaceutical NRT products. They are hell-bent to establish a standard that these are measured against: abstinence of all things tobacco or emulating tobacco.

The only way they will allow people in this country to consume nicotine is if the experience is NOT enjoyable. How DARE we enjoy ourselves!

It's time to stop the madness. The ride needs to end, and the carnival needs to be packed up and move on to another show. the bearded lady needs to be shaved, the midgets need to grow up, and the barkers need to award the big prize.

I'm taking my money and putting it in a better place - and right now, anyplace is better than donating to these organizations who would rather I return to smoking than enjoy my PV, smoke-free for over a year!!!