Quick update on ECCA.
It was formed because various people believed that the general public should have a voice, as well as the trade, the government, and rival commercial interests such as the tobacco industry and the pharmaceutical industry. At that time, what the consumers wanted was being buried by attacks funded by commercial rivals.
There are various functions that a consumer association can perform, such as:
- Providing a centralised point where the rest of the world can see that the general public are organised sufficiently to be able to present their point of view
- Providing correct information instead of the myth and propaganda that otherwise prevails and is taken as the truth
- Presenting the public's view to government
- Representing the purchaser to the trade, and working on the consumer's behalf if/when issues arise
All those reasons still exist, various people have opinions as to which is the most important or if they are all of equal importance. There are very few activists who are prepared to work for vaping, some are at ECCA, some contribute to webTV channels, some blog, and so on. Everyone has a different opinion on what works best, which is probably a good thing. What everyone does agree on though is that there aren't enough of us.
Currently ECCA is very quiet because there are so few of us. There will be an AGM in January, the date being discussed but not yet confirmed is Wednesday January 16th 8pm. If people are interested in taking the consumer voice forward then they are most welcome to join the committee either as an elected member or simply as a member of a project group to take on a specific task. You yourself can define that task and how you want to address it. However, people need to understand that *if something needs to be done then they MUST do it themselves* - we can provide a framework for you to do so in an 'official' capacity but have zero capacity to take on new projects ourselves. We can help as much as possible with guidance and advice but above all ECCA needs self-starters who will do things instead of complaining they are not being done.
What ECCA currently does is the most that can possibly be achieved by a very small number of people with very limited time and no money: provide a web presence. Yes, there are a million things that could and should be done if we had the people and/or the money.
What we have achieved so far is remarkable for the amount of money invested (virtually zero) or people involved (hardly any):
- We have established the premier web consumer voice in the world for e-cigarette users. And before you say "That's CASAA" you need to recognise that CASAA is split between all forms of smoking alternatives, doesn't offer any concrete opinions on why there is resistance to ecigs and who is behind it, and doesn't offer any stats on ecig use. For this reason it is ECCA who the world's media and market researchers ask for actual data and for commercially-independent views on ecig use.
- We punch far above our weight in terms of visibility and influence. In real terms we should be totally ignored, in actuality there are many big players who watch the ECCA site because it prints the truth and we can't be ignored.
- We have established the foundation for concerned vapers to get together to act, on whatever they want to act on. ECCA won't be going away and it won't be turning into a trade group or an apologist for regulations, or anything else. If you want to use it, it's there for you to use. You can write a blog piece, or alternatively you can organise a campaign to contact all the UK's MEPs and tell them what vapers think about EU regulations to restrict e-cigarettes. It's up to you.
Everyone at ECCA welcomes your support. We especially welcome your help, as against criticism, because we personally can't do more: you need to weigh in and help out. There are many positive signs now as more people switch to vaping, and as more vapers realise that things need to be done. It might be a good idea to hold an open meeting (web based) where we can seat 30 or 40 people and see if a task group can be established to get together and address whatever issues are seen as important. Please contact Sam Munro or Fiona at ECR if you would like to contribute in some way and if you agree that a meeting should be organised soon. If there is support for this, we will set a date. You can post on the ECCA Facebook page or send a message to Sam or Fiona through Facebook:
www.facebook.com/groups/eccauk/- or at the ECR chatroom:
e-cig-reviews.com/forum/chat.phpWhat I would like you to take away from this is that ECCA is there for you. However, and being realistic about it, nothing can be done unless you personally step up to the plate. ECCA isn't going away anytime soon; but equally, we aren't going to get much done unless people step up. Please recognise that ECCA won't actually exist in reality until it has a working body of people doing things. Until then, essentially it's just a good idea and a website with occasional updates.
Personal stuff
I have been off work ill for some time now but am hoping to get back to work next week, deal with ECCA business, etc. My apologies if I have been slow responding to issues recently.
