Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Have you given Lisa a piece of your mind yet, Lucy?
Here is my written during-my-half-hour-for-lunch letter to Murkowski:
Dear Sen. Murkowski,
As an Alaska voter, I am contacting you regarding press reports that you are cosponsoring a bill with Sen. Durbin that would ban non-tobacco flavoring in ecigarettes and vapes. Please reconsider cosponsoring this bill, which from personal experience tells me is based on a highly misguided philosophy and sloppy research.
As a former smoker (37 years at two and a half packs a day) who managed to quit using tobacco completely for over two years now thanks to vaping flavored e-liquid, I believe it would be a grave disservice to vapers, the majority of which are former tobacco addicts.
Candy, dessert and other sweet e-liquid flavors are appealing to adults (not just teenagers) and so many former smokers have been able to break the chains of tobacco addiction thanks to vaping.
I would also like to point out that if you do more careful research, you will see that much of the anti-vaping rhetoric is based not on sound science, but sloppy conclusions drawn by anti-smoking zealots, many of whom will lose much funding of their studies as millions and millions of more smokers quit tobacco in favor of vaping.
It has also been brought to my attention that many are putting a great deal of stock into reports that teen vapers later become smokers. A careful look at this research shows a number of glaring errors in the conclusions based on information that is not scientifically sound.
Please reconsider your position.
