Thursday 26 September 2013

And one more time - Go for it Vapoteurs in the UK - pretty please!

Oh dear  have been having a really hectic time with sick grandchildren so I haven't blogged for over a week! But I got myself into gear at the request of Chris Davies, MEP and I just produced another letter to my MEP's  (I'm so tired of it) but I hope this sounds fresh?


Dear Ms Mccarthy, and Mr Simpson, copy sent to Linda MacAvan

I am writing about something that the Labour Party is making an error on. Linda MacAvan (Labour) is the Rapporteur for the Tobacco Directive which meets to vote on October the 8th in the EU. She has been determined to make electronic cigarettes "medical devices" and it is the Labour Vote on that point that will turn what is now the one great opportunity to cut back on the habit of smoking tobacco worldwide, to the biggest error, by effectively banning electronic cigarettes as they are now, legislating that they are "medical devices". Electronic cigarettes are not medical devices. They are a safer alternative to smoking! If Labour meddles with them, as they, the only party in the UK, is trying to do, they show themselves up to be quite out of step with the thinking of others, vapers, academia and doctors alike.
 
Electronic cigarettes, as they are now, are THE best anti smoking tool to be given to the anti tobacco industry in history. Each vaper that vapes, uses a different setup to do so. We pay for our equipment ourselves. We choose how we combine our equipment to provide us with the best experience so that each one personally stays off tobacco. None of this is of any cost to any Government. And electronic cigarettes have been invented and spread worldwide without any impetus from Anti Tobacco
 
Electronic cigarettes are not a tobacco product.
Electronic cigarettes are not a medical product.
Electronic cigarettes are not a Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

Electronic cigarettes are a consumer product.
Electronic cigarettes are already quite tightly regulated in the UK.
Electronic cigarettes are a substitute for tobacco for smokers.

For me, they have been miraculous. I gave up a fifty year smoking habit accidentally and with no intention of stopping smoking by switching to vaping. I am just one of millions of us in the European Union. The fact that science has not kept up with recording how efficient electronic devices are at stopping people smoking, is the fault of science, not the fact that these consumer devices are brilliantly successful.
 
An election will be upon us next year for MEP's and in 2015 for a General Election. One and a half million tobacco users are now vaping in the UK. Many, like me, are not smoking at all. Making electronic cigarettes medical devices will morph what we use now into useless "look a likee" cigarettes manufactured by medical companies, or compliant wealthy electronic cigarette companies, to standards set by legislators who think anti tobacco rather than anti harm. The result of the vote on the 8th in Brussels will have the most important outcome for millions of vapers in the EU. Making them "medical devices" is against current, modern thought. And will be a Labour Party policy error of extreme stupidity, going against the flow of learnt wisdom.

Please do not do it.
 
Yours sincerely
 
My Chris Davies letter request is here below with all the email addresses you need! Go for it vapoteurs!
 
E-cigs - I need your help
Dear Friend,

The European Parliament will vote on October 8 to determine its position as to whether to classify e-cigarettes as medicines, potentially restricting their availability, adding cost and forcing some manufacturers out of business.

I believe that e-cigarettes could be a game changer in helping people to get off tobacco and live healthier lives.  My impression is that there is growing momentum behind this view but we are still some way off winning the vote.  We need a positive and decisive result to ensure that e-cigs remain at least as available as tobacco products in order to send a strong message to those who will be negotiating a final agreement between MEPs and EU governments.

This is why I need your help.

Obviously we need support from MEPs in 28 different countries but Parliament's rapporteur (team leader if you like) is British Labour MEP Linda McAvan.  Until now she has supported the medicines regulatory approach, and so have all her British Labour colleagues.  If they can be persuaded to move it could make all the difference.  We can already count on the support of my Liberal Democrat colleagues, together with British Conservatives.  On this issue even UKIP MEPs may cast a vote, and if they do it will be along the lines we wish.

I have attached the email addresses of Labour MEPs to the bottom of this email. 

The most effective way of persuading them is NOT to send identical e-mails to all.  I would encourage you to write only to the MEPs for the region in which you live, and tell your personal story about why e-cigs have made a difference to you.

With regards


Chris Davies MEP
Liberal Democrat spokesman on the environment and public health committee
Labour MEPs
Glenis Willmott MEP - East Midlands - office@gleniswillmott.org.uk
Arlene McCarthy MEP - North West - arlene.mccarthy@easynet.co.uk
Derek Vaughan MEP - Wales - contact@derekvaughanmep.org.uk
Richard Howitt MEP - Eastern - richard@richardhowittmep.com
Mary Honeyball MEP - London - mary@maryhoneyball.net
Claude Moraes MEP - London - office@claudemoraes.com
Stephen Hughes MEP - North East - stephen-hughes@btconnect.com
Brian Simpson MEP - North West - briansimpson.labour@virgin.net
David Martin MEP - Scotland - david@martinmep.com
Catherine Stihler MEP - Scotland - cstihlermep@btconnect.com
Peter Skinner MEP - South East - southeast@peterskinnermep.eu
Michael Cashman MEP - West Midlands - michaelcashman@phonecoop.coop
Linda McAvan MEP - Yorkshire and the Humber - linda@lindamcavanmep.org.uk
 

5 comments:

  1. Thanks Liz for a really wellwritten letter - hope they will listen - just for once in their lives. We have the opportunity to make such a difference, by switching to vaping - and that even without giving the government any extra expences - quite the contrary.
    Keep on vaping (and writing) blogging and filming...

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    1. Well exactly! Thanks for your comment!

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    2. Great stuff Liz as usual , and Happy Birthday

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    3. Oh - birthday. Yes. Tomorrow. Nothing good about birthdays really. Better to be forgotten. Don't you think we'd all live longer, happier lives if we didn't know how old we were? But thanks anyway!

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  2. Liz you are amazing!! I am watching what happens with this but am not feeling very positive about the outcome, the amount of money the tobacco industry puts in to lobby our government is impossible to match and it's down to getting as many people as possible to express their views and be heard. We do have power in numbers but getting people to realise what is going on and what could happen if vapes are regulated is an uphill struggle to say the least. I think you're great for making a stand and you have my support, please keep going with this and I will do what I can to help, even though I am extremely busy person I will not use that an excuse, I will see what I can do to spread the word. Thank you and good luck!

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