Write to Vape - Right to Vape

[diche]

This weekend sees the launch of a new website that is designed to help Vapers contact their politicians directly.

writetovape.co.uk/



This is not petition, it is a website designed to help Vapers write to the people in power in their local area, be that an MP, MSP or AM. There are helpful suggestions to give you an idea of what you might want to write, and all it takes is your postcode to direct your letter to the right person. Every vaper can and should take this opportunity to have their voices heard.

At the bottom of the page is a heat map which shows our progress, we need every area of the map to glow red, from top to bottom. If you haven't written to your MP before now is your chance to make a difference, and if you have then you know how important it is that they receive not one letter, but hundreds. The TPD may be coming, but there's still time to be heard.



writetovape.co.uk/

[Richard46]

Brilliant; will be making use of that over the weekend. We all need to.

[nanotm]

sent mine one, who knows maybe it will make a difference

[phatfil]

thanks , on the to-do list..

[nanotm]

well I have a non automated response from a staffer

Following your correspondence, representation made on your behalf to the Secretary of State for Health.

As soon as we have a reply, we will be back in touch

who knows maybe there will be some positive feedback maybe not, either way I'll post it

[blaze]

155 postcodes entered in the first week! And that heatmap is looking better:

[nanotm]

it needs more publicity or perhaps a default template for people to copy & paste this is the main body of mine

With regard to the TPD article 20 amendment's due to come into force
later this year I would ask you to consider voting against it,
currently there are plenty of advertising and a wealth of information
about vaping as an alternative to smoking with the introduction of this
bill all of that will disappear, as a recent convert to vaping I have
been able to tailor my nicotine intake (lower it) over the weeks and
whilst I would welcome regulation in the e-liquid contents I would
suggest that a better option would be to take a sample from a single
product line for testing rather than from every batch, every time the
formulation changes (change of products used to make each batch) would
be a more proportionate regulation,

Article 20 suggests that all types of electronic cigarette be lumped
together as a tobacco product yet the majority of users use them for
nicotine free vaping as nicotine containing produce, I understand the
limitation's on the size of the e-juice for nicotine containing
products but I cannot understand why the excessive limitations are also
being applied to nicotine free variants, this bill as it stands will
force many back into smoking and stop many who would otherwise have
converted to vaping from being able to do so as the start-up costs
soar, furthermore far from protecting consumers from dodgy gear it will
drive more people to purchasing dodgy knockoff import equipment from
overseas increasing the likelihood of them suffering because of it.

The TPD proposal is unfit for purpose poorly thought out and wholly
disproportionately unfair to an evolving industry that employs
thousands of people in the UK, in its creation it broke several EU
directives by failing to ensure that its introduction would not damage
the health of the masses and that it would not adversely affect the
environment (it actually claims that both are not of concern in the
text), as I said I would welcome regulation within the industry and
fair proportional restrictions, but forcing online communities to close
forcing websites to close and banning any form of promotion, event or
advertising will destroy the industry completely just as it is starting
to take off and achieve something that no other form of NRT has
managed.

Far from championing this measure the tobacco control lobby should be
fighting against it, several fake studies have appeared and been used
by them in attempts to smear vaping as more harmful than smoking all of
them have been rubbished when subjected to peer review yet governments
around the world seem hell bent on banning any form of vaping in case
the population ceases to loose enough through smoking related illness
annually, this is not the right approach to getting rid of one of the
most harmful legally sold to consumers products in the world
marketplace.

I suspect that the legal challenge by Totally Wicked will fail and I
don't expect any petitions will change the progress of TPD Article 20's
enactment into law, but I would hope that you would ask for amendments
to it be made so that here in the UK we don't see this industry die and
as a result many millions more people die from smoking due to
ineffective quitting products being available in the marketplace, as a
smoker I tried to quit with patches they gave me a rash, I tried with
the inhaler but it caused wheezing and headaches, I tried with gum but
it gave me ulcers and headaches, so I continued smoking, a few months
ago I tried vaping and I haven't had a cigarette since the day after
when I found the right strength nicotine e-juice.

If you would like to discuss the matter or have further input from me
on it please do get in touch.

I don't expect many will agree with all of it (or any of it) but perhaps it can lend itself as inspiration to others so they can engage with their MP's, 155 is a start but really we need hundreds writing to each MP for it to have any effect

[blaze]

It does need more publicity - we'll be finalising a poster in a day or two and then trying to get them to the vape shops. Nice, heartfelt letter btw

[gill2009]

I have just written to my MP...I will post any reply, but don't hold out much hope.

During the run-up to the election, I spoke to my MP in person...he had not a scooby what vaping was, & had never heard of it.

I was 'educating' him, when one of his Tory lackeys came to the poor man's rescue.

[nanotm]

MP's have a legal obligation to respond, they can choose how they respond but respond they must even if its just a personal missive telling you "thanks for your communication but I am unable to support you in this issue" whenever you use the official communications system.

my last MP was fabulous on a couple of things I contacted them about, utterly useless on a couple and barely reached above waving their hand in a dismissive fashion on one matter, overall I thought they were generally useless before I contacted them but figured I didn't have anything to loose, I might not be the most articulate person in the world but I can be dogmatic when I choose, having said that both the old and new have been really good at responding in a timely fashion to questions asked (even if I don't like the answers) and where possible have gone to some lengths to provide an answer (even if I didn't like it) that said I would urge others to contact their MP as well about this, the more contact gets pushed at the MP's the more parliament as a whole has to respond to it, and if enough people contact their MP to push for positive action to change the TPD's enactment in the UK (make no mistake it must be enacted in some form) to make it in some way fit for purpose (like only applying to nic containing juices and specific cig-a-like products) they will respond and make it happen /

Dec 9, 2015 12:52:25 GMT blaze said:

It does need more publicity - we'll be finalising a poster in a day or two and then trying to get them to the vape shops. Nice, heartfelt letter btw

perhaps Chrissie can send a message to all members and alert them to this thread and what its trying to get underway

[Chrissie]

I'm never too keen about spamming all members. However, I have added a "Please Read" label to this thread.

[Ron]

Mine's done

[gill2009]

Dec 9, 2015 18:57:45 GMT gill2009 said:

I have just written to my MP...I will post any reply, but don't hold out much hope.

During the run-up to the election, I spoke to my MP in person...he had not a scooby what vaping was, & had never heard of it.

I was 'educating' him, when one of his Tory lackeys came to the poor man's rescue.

At least he replied...


Dear Ms Paterson,



Thank you for contacting me about e-cigarettes; under the Devolution settlement here in Scotland, most aspects of health policy are devolved and so some aspects will relate to England only.



I recognise that e-cigarettes have been the subject of much debate in recent years both domestically and at EU level.



I know that Government policy on e-cigarettes is to enable the availability of such products which meet the appropriate standards of safety and quality in order to support people quitting smoking and to reduce the levels of harm caused to smokers and those around them.



The use of e-cigarettes in public places is not subject to regulation and there are no plans by the Government to change this. I believe that some employers and owners of establishments and venues have chosen to prohibit the use of e-cigarettes on their premises.



As you may know, EU member states have formally adopted the Tobacco Products Directive which introduces a number of safeguards to ensure that e-cigarettes are properly regulated and the Government is now working to implement these new regulations. I am glad that the Government has recently banned the sale of e-cigarettes to under 18s to protect children from nicotine addiction and the unknown risks of using e-cigarettes to developing lungs.



The UK Government will continue to review all the available evidence when devising future policy.

[majorhazzard]

My MP said this...

I agree, but our membership of the EU limits what our own Parliament can do. That's why we need a referendum so we can recover control of our destiny without being shackled to the interfering EU!

[redleather]

Dec 14, 2015 13:04:00 GMT majorhazzard said:

My MP said this...

I agree, but our membership of the EU limits what our own Parliament can do. That's why we need a referendum so we can recover control of our destiny without being shackled to the interfering EU!

Which party MP wrote this?