Don't Let Them Take This Right From The People

Dictator Hater
The Frugal Zone

Posted 4 November, 2009

I've recently discovered a nifty device called the electronic cigarette. I've been smoking for decades and am now tobacco free after only one month of using it. The device is commonly known as the e-cigarette. It looks like a cigarette and consists of a battery and an atomizer which vaporizes a liquid that contains a small amount of pure nicotine. The liquid is known as "e-juice" and the people who use these devices call the act of inhaling this vapor 'vaping.' The carrier used as a liquid suspension for the nicotine can either be vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol. The e-juice is available in strengths normally ranging from 0 mg nicotine to 36 mg. Anything stronger is not recommended for straight vaping, it is used for do-it-yourself mixing of the juice in order to customize flavors and alter the strength of the nicotine contained in the e-juice to suit the individual vaper's needs.

Two years ago, I stopped buying cartons of cigarettes. I bought a machine for rolling them and bulk tobacco. This worked out great until the federal government decided I was getting too good of a deal and taxed the living hell out of it. So, I stocked up and wondered almost daily what I was going to do when I ran out. The cost of a pound of loose tobacco where I live went from about $18.00 per pound to $40.00 overnight. Never let it be said that politicians will leave any untaxed stone unturned.

Then one day a friend of mine called me and told me about the e-cigarette. I told her that if it worked for her after a month she could give me a call and I would try it. I got the call and sure enough, my friend who had struggled with a tobacco habit for many years gave me the great news that she was now tobacco free. What did I have to lose?

What I had to lose was a smelly habit that was killing me. But being the ferret that I am, I decided to do some research on this newfound device. The stories I read in mainstream news reports were numerous and not surprisingly, full of propaganda and biased. The main thrust of the argument against the e-cigarette is that most of the e-liquids contain (GASP!) propylene glycol. What a scary and evil concoction of chemicals this e-liquid must be, since propylene glycol is one of the ingredients in anti-freeze. What they are not telling you is that propylene glycol has been thoroughly researched and tested for human inhalation in a vaporized state. It is used for firefighting drills and it is what comes out of fog machines used in movies, in theater and at those scary haunted house displays everyone loves to visit around Halloween. We've been breathing it for decades and no one has died from it yet.

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Another totally ridiculous argument is that since you can purchase the e-liquid in flavors and some devices were sold in shopping malls, the vendors are targeting youngsters. What they fail to mention is that just because vodka is sometimes cherry flavored and peppermint is present in Schnapps, that doesn't mean adults should allow their children to drink it. They also gloss over the fact that parents need to be in charge of their children and not the State. But the State has already banned flavored cigarettes, claiming that just because they are flavored, this is target marketing of children. Strange that, since menthol was not banned. Do you think this might have something to do with Big Tobacco sales and the politicians being in bed with them? It would take a huge market share from Big Tobacco if menthol had been banned. As it stands, most flavored cigarettes are imported from outside the U.S. and Big Tobacco is not going to feel a thing due to this ban. Since when do children have a monopoly on things that taste good, anyway? So, adults no longer have a right to choose anything but regular or menthol. Did you see what just flew out the window? No? It was more of your rights.

But, there was a study done on the e-cigarette by the FDA. I'll give them that much. But this study was a sham. They concluded that there were some of the same chemicals in the e-liquid they tested that are also contained in tobacco. A lay person could easily be led to conclude from their study that the e-cigarettes are just as dangerous as tobacco, but in fact, the FDA study actually exonerated the dangers of vaping vs. smoking tobacco, because the levels of these chemicals were merely detectable and were in miniscule amounts compared to what is found in tobacco cigarettes. More than 4,000 chemicals that a tobacco smoker receives when they inhale a cigarette are not present in the e-juice. Nope, we sure can't have that.

Then there is the argument that e-cigarettes and the liquid have not been FDA approved. As if. Does anyone trust the FDA anymore? After the litany of killer drugs and devices they have approved and allowed Big Pharma to sell to the health care industry, this agency needs to be disbanded, not relied upon by the American public to keep them safe from harm.

Congress has recently given the FDA free reign to the FDA to regulate tobacco products. Vapers are in for a bumpy ride. If the e-juice is classified as a tobacco product due to its nicotine content, then the cottage industry of entrepreneurs selling e-cigarettes and accessories that has sprung up in the middle of a full-fledged recession will be utterly and completely destroyed due to regulations and the rest of the hoops they will be forced to jump through. None of these small businesses can afford the millions of dollars worth of testing on their products that will be required to evaluate and FDA approve their product. The Nanny State is alive and well.

There are political moves being made to ban the e-cigarettes in many states, such as California, Kentucky, New York and New Jersey and there will be more as this spreads. These politicians are wanting to ban the e-cigarette outright and take away people's right to choose what they want to do with their own bodies. The amount of noise being made in so many places against the e-cigarette is deafening. Why all of this passion to ban an alternative to smoking tobacco, which we all know makes people sick and kills them? 400,000 people die each year of tobacco smoking related illnesses. If the e-cigarettes and the liquid needed to use them are banned, then there will be thousands, maybe even millions of people who are forced back to smoking tobacco. What kind of justice is this? What kind of freedom do you call this?

Anti-smoking organizations are doing their share to spread these same old tired, full-of-bullshit arguments against those who choose to use the device. I used to think that non-smokers had a solid argument against tobacco, they don't like inhaling second hand smoke and the smell is atrocious, I don't blame them, these are valid arguments. However, many of these people are just as against the e-cigarettes as they are tobacco. Why? Who is funding their organizations? Could it possibly be Big Tobacco or is it Big Pharma who makes a killing (pardon that pun) off patches, gum, inhalers and lozenges (fruit flavored by the way) that have a lousy five percent success rate as smoking cessation devices? That is the only answer that makes sense to me, since e-cigarette vapor is harmless to others and does not produce an odor. The water vapor produced by e-cigarettes dissipates almost immediately. What is really going on with these myopic organizations? Or have they just become so caught up in their ism, the religion of smacking down smokers, they have completely lost their senses when it comes to anything that even remotely resembles tobacco smoke?

There is no doubt, vapers are passionate about their ability to cut down drastically or even completely quit cigarettes with these devices. But they are small in number and will probably be thrown under the bus by the bigger and louder bullies who are calling the shots. This is a travesty. Many, for the first time, are relieved of the burden of buying tobacco and tobacco products, there is scads of anecdotal evidence that their health has improved dramatically and quickly since taking up vaping and nixing tobacco. But none of this counts. The brick wall has been erected against them and no matter how hard they beat their heads against it, they will likely lose this battle.

This fight is not just about "the children" or FDA approval, it is about the lives of countless people who have quit tobacco and will be forced back to it if the threatened bans take effect.

Check out the moves being made in your state regarding the e-cigarette. Fight against it with all your might, because what is legal today, in this country, can easily become illegal tomorrow. Even if you have no interest in e-cigarettes, you need to join these people in their fights against tyranny.

California is the state which is in imminent danger of an e-cigarette ban. The bill (available online here)is sitting on the governor's desk as I write this, waiting to be vetoed or signed. Call, fax or email them now and tell Governor Schwartzenegger to veto SB 400, whether you are a California resident or not. This is not just about e-cigarettes, it's about preserving our freedom of choice and telling the Nanny State we've had enough.

Update from the author: Schwarzenegger vetoed this bill. But the threat against e-cigarettes continues via a court case involving the FDA and two e-cigarette vendors. Stay on your politicians about this issue, California is not the only state trying to ban e-cigarettes.