Governor Schwarzenegger Terminates E Cigarette Ban in California

The "Terminator" Still the Super Hero to Individual Freedom

COLLEYVILLE, TX, October 14, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- According to a release on the State of California web site today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declined to sign Senate Bill 400. On September 11, 2009, the California Senate passed Bill 400. The bill was originally written as "The Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program", and then was amended to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors, which was very supportable. Additional wording in the bill would have also banned the sale of electronic cigarettes in the state of California to adults.

In a statement on the California Government web site, Governor Schwarzenegger made it clear that there is a difference between the freedoms of adults and children. In the letter, the governor made the following comments.

"I am returning Senate Bill 400 without my signature. While I support restricting access of electronic cigarettes to children under the age of 18, I cannot sign a measure that also declares them a federally regulated drug when the matter is currently being decided through pending litigation. Items defined as "tobacco products" are legal for anyone over the age of 18. If adults want to purchase and consume these products with an understanding of the associated health risks, they should be able to do so unless and until federal law changes the legal status of these tobacco products.

For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill.

Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger"

Electronic cigarettes or E Cigarettes recently appeared and became increasingly popular as the wave of anti-smoking laws were enacted across the country. The E Cigarette is a futuristic advance in science that looks, feels, tastes like a tobacco cigarette and requires the same mechanical motions. They expel an almost odorless water vapor that looks like smoke, but isn't. It gives the user the full effect of smoking real tobacco without harsh tobacco smoke and without second hand smoke irritation or offending others. Thousands of smokers have made the switch to electronic cigarettes to escape the stigma of smoking as well as the health issues associated with tobacco.

"I think Governor Schwarzenegger made an intelligent decision" states Kyle Newton of eCigarettesChoice.com. California has always been on the leading edge of being a Green State and the electronic cigarette is a great alternative to tobacco. We can only hope that other states follow this example and examine the electronic cigarette as a harm reduction alternative over the hazardous tobacco cigarette. Besides tar and carbon monoxide, tobacco smoke contains approximately 4,000 different chemical, many of which are known be toxic to humans."

The electronic cigarette has come under attack by special interest groups who have yet to produce any scientific evidence that the electronic cigarette is harmful to humans, or that electronic cigarette dealers target youth with their products. If it is proven that the electronic cigarette can be a more effective smoking cessation device than the patches and gums, the companies who fund these groups will certainly see their stock plunge.

It appears that Governor Schwarzenegger did not buckle under the pressure of special interest groups to take away the freedom and individual rights from his voters.

http://gov.ca.gov/pdf/press/2009bills/SB400_Corbett_Veto_Message.pdf

In a Safety Report on the Electronic Cigarette, Dr Murray Laugeson of Health New Zealand states that electronic cigarettes are;

"...very safe relative to cigarettes, and also safe in absolute terms on all measurements we have applied."

Smokers Only states:

Smoking efficiently delivers nicotine, an addictive drug producing many pleasurable effects. But nicotine does not cause cancer, heart attacks or emphysema. Those illnesses are caused by the other 3000 products of tobacco combustion.

Safety

TobaccoHarmReduction.org
A project of the University of Alberta School of Public Health

Electronic Cigarettes
Research knowledge about these products is changing every week, so we will try to change what we report every few weeks. Please check back.

Some electronic cigarettes (or e-cigarettes) look exactly like regular cigarettes or cigars; others look more like pens. They are battery powered, and create their effect by vaporizing nicotine which is dissolved in a solution of water and propylene glycol (which, minus the nicotine, is basically the fog that is used in fog machines). The result is something that feels somewhat like smoke in the mouth and lungs but without involving any real smoke, tobacco or combustion. This e-cigarette fog (or vapour) dissipates rapidly, and leaves little scent in the air or on clothing.

Electronic cigarettes burn on smoky legal ground

Tired of not being able to smoke in enclosed public areas?
Reporter Renee Tsang investigates how electronic cigarettes get around Ontario’s law.

Crown7 Introduces President Obama to New Smokeless HYDRO Device to Satisfy His Nicotine Fix

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As President Barack Obama continues to smoke, today Crown7.com presented Obama with its newest smokeless alternative for the next time the commander-in-chief is seeking a nicotine fix and the sensation of smoking, although The Crown7 HYDRO is smoke-free and tobacco-free.

Crown7.com, the global leader in alternative cigarettes, has provided President Barack Obama with an exclusive edition of its HYDRO product line which represents the most advanced smoking alternative on the market. The HYDRO looks and acts like a cigarette without the harmful side effects of traditional cigarettes.

It replicates smoking using a nicotine cartridge, a microchip and a water vapor mist. When the user inhales through the tip, the battery-powered microchip activates an atomizer which provides small amounts of nicotine with each inhalation, and instead of unhealthy smoke a harmless water vapor mist is dispersed.

Crown7.com continues to experience incredible growth because its products successfully replicate traditional smoking and eliminate secondhand smoke, as well as the tar, additives and carcinogens found in tobacco-based products. The HYDRO looks, feels and tastes like a cigarette, while giving smokers all the enjoyment and satisfaction of traditional smoking without the health and social problems. More......

What a drag as pub goers switch to electronic ciggies

Britain today
Electronic cigarettes
What a drag as pub goers switch to electronic ciggies
By Nancy Durham CBC News

This winter, nicotine addicts in the UK are finding a way around the country's strict smoking ban by dragging on electronic cigarettes. Users describe the devices, known as e-cigarettes as very close to the real thing.
British pub owner Janet Partt, a recent convert. (CBC) "Really, it was to get round the issue of standing outside and feeling ostracized, which is why we sell the cigarettes, to get the smokers back in," says Trevor Partt, publican at the Rivermill Tavern in St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, puffing on his e-cigarette and exhaling a tobacco-free cloud of vapour.

VIDEO: Nancy Durham reports for CBC News (3:30)