Electronic Cigarette Association
Address by Matt Salmon, chairmain of the Electronic Cigarette Association.
Electronic Cigarette Association
1401 K Street, N.W., Ste. 600
Washington, D.C. 20005
http://www.ecassoc.org/
Matt Salmon, ECA President - Video Script:
May 4, 2009
Hi, I’m Matt Salmon, former U.S. Congressman and current President of the Electronic Cigarette Association. During my life, I have thought a great
deal about the topic of smoking. I don’t smoke myself, and I believe people have the right to smoke. But, I have watched a family member smoke lifelong, watched them struggle with quitting, and ultimately watched the resulting emphysema and cancer.
Our country has reduced the incidence of tobacco smoking from 45% of adults
in 1965 to 21% today through legislation, education and marketing
restrictions. Some years ago I helped push through a new law in the state
of Arizona that was among the first public smoking bans. Later in 2000, I
was named Congressman of the Year by the American Cancer Society.
Despite gallant efforts by many good organizations and people, including
some of my own, the reality is a lot of people - 45.8 million in the U.S.
to be exact - still smoke tobacco. What this tells me - and what this
should tell you - is that the two options that smokers have had for a very
long time - the option of continuing to smoke tobacco at certain peril and
the option to quit smoking tobacco altogether - are simply not enough to
address consumer needs and to improve public health.
To that end, for the past few years I have followed a revolutionary new
idea called electronic cigarettes. A board certified physician named Dr.
David Baron, who has been chief of staff at UCLA Medical Center, says that
he has never seen a product - ever - that stands to save as many lives as
electronic cigarettes.
If you haven’t seen an electronic cigarette before, here’s what one looks
like:
It is battery-powered and looks like a cigarette. Hundreds of
thousands of people around the country using them say they feel and taste
like a cigarette too. Because they aren’t ignited, electronic cigarettes
don’t produce secondhand smoke, or lingering acrid odor. The vapor they
emit contains only 20 ingredients, all of which are considered safe for
human consumption including nicotine, whereas tobacco smoke contains 4,000
ingredients including arsenic and carbon monoxide, and dozens of
ingredients that cause cancer.
In short, electronic cigarettes are a significantly better alternative to
tobacco smoking. As Dr. Joel Nitzkin, a nationally-recognized public health
physician says, "On the basis of available research data, electronic
cigarettes promise risk of illness and death well under 1% of the risk
posed by tobacco cigarettes." David Sweanor, a global harm reduction expert
adds, "Anyone who thinks tobacco cigarettes are no more hazardous than
electronic cigarettes should take a remedial course in basic sciences."
You are sure to hear a great deal of buzz about electronic cigarettes. Some
will be mistruths from abolitionists, or from those whose perilous or
ineffective products and market share will be jeopardized. Others will seek
a safe harbor through the interpretation of law or hand of regulation. I
suppose competition in this form is to be expected.
Whatever is said, remember this: withholding electronic cigarettes from the
market is like telling someone who chooses to smoke that his or her only
legal option is to smoke tobacco, which is the leading form of preventable
death in the US and is responsible for 400,000 deaths per year - more than
AIDS, drugs, homicides, fires and auto accidents combined.
Whether you smoke or not, I know you recognize that message is wrong, and
cannot be a good thing.
Finally, I wish I could share with you today the enormous outpouring and
steady stream of stories we hear from people who use electronic cigarettes.
You would hear statements like, "Thank you, you saved my life," "Where have
you been all this time," "I feel better than ever." Almost universally
these are the words of longtime, middle-aged tobacco smokers who have not
been able or willing to quit, but who are feeling the ravages of tobacco
smoking and who are seeking a better alternative.
My job as president of the Electronic Cigarette Association is to help
establish the industry’s standards of good practice. As our dynamic and
budding industry works toward that goal, we realize that harm reduction
approaches in public health, like electronic cigarettes, will be criticized
for condoning an activity some have spent careers trying to eliminate. But
since one in five US adults smoke tobacco, and smoking cessation products
have a 95% failure rate, it is seems patently obvious that new products and
innovative approaches beyond those already tried are very much needed now.
With that in mind, I hope you will join me, and the many companies in good
standing in our industry, by thinking first of the needs of consumers over
special interests - by putting public health ahead of stifling process -
and by embracing the first true innovation in a centuries-old space. Thank
you, and if you would like to share your thoughts with me, I would welcome
them.
- - -
The Electronic Cigarette Association (ECA) is an association of private
sector companies engaged in electronic cigarette technologies. Member
companies are involved in all sectors of the creation and promotion of
electronic cigarettes. ECA’s mission is to provide the tools and
information necessary for policy-makers, opinion leaders, media, and
private sector companies worldwide to make informed decisions about the
management and use of electronic cigarette technologies, particularly the
most recent advances and applications. The association was founded to
institute and promote industry-wide standards and a code of conduct, work
to maintain sound professional practices, educate the public and
policy-makers on the industry’s activities and potential, and ensure the
ethical use of electronic cigarette technologies.