Craving for a drag of ... water vapor?

According to this story on Marketwatch.com, a Hong Kong based company called Ryuan America, Inc. will premier its "electronic cigarette" today in 13 selected U.S. markets. The product will be unveiled nationwide on October 19th.

Like Hawaii, many areas around the world have banned smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants. Ryuan America's Chairman, Mr. Hon Lik, has invented a product that simulates the smoking experience, but without emitting the harmful second-hand smoke. (For now, it might also be a way around the law.)

The product is based on atomizing technology. The "cigarette" runs on a rechargeable battery and contains a cartridge which comes in nicotine and non-nicotine, as well as a variety of flavors. When you take a drag on the cigarette, a red LED lights up just as if cigarette paper was burning. The puff of "smoke" is actually not smoke at all, but water vapor. The product has not been evaluated by the FDA. Proponents claim that you will even be able to use this product on airplanes, (although I wouldn't want to be the first one to try it.)

The e-cigarettes will be sold through a $4 million Direct Response Television campaign launched by the Nathan and James group based in Nashville. They are the exclusive distributors of Ruyan products in America. An infomercial can be seen here, and will be shown in the 13 preliminary markets of Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, OR; Baltimore, MD; Cleveland, OH; Miami, FL; San Diego, CA; Hartford/New Haven, CN; Indianapolis, IN; Orlando, FL; Sacramento, CA; Denver, CO; St. Louis, MO. There are other brands on the market, primarily European.

Charley Memminger wrote about the e-cigarettes back on Oct. 5th. See his column here. Should be interesting to see whether this does catch fire as a product, how the anti-smoking organizations will respond, and whether new legislation will be attempted.

High schoolers kick butts at the Capitol

As I sit here contemplating the lead to my blog post, the faint smell of tobacco smoke lingers in my memory. While sipping on a hot cup of green tea, my mind scans a mental list of Capitol smokers. Hmm. Who can I solicit a cigarette from?

Yes. I'm a sometimes-if-I-cave-or-drink-a-beer-or-hang-out-with-smokers smoker. And I'm not very proud of it. I thought about that today while taking pictures of this year's Kick Butts Day event at the Capitol. More than 150 kids from high schools across the State visited their lawmakers' offices advocating for a smoke-free Hawaii and asked legislators "to be true to their word to protect the smoke-free law and tobacco prevention programs statewide."

Amidst a sea of teenagers in red, I felt guilty for being there. Was the scarlet letter of second-hand smoke seething on my forehead? Should I stand up and say, "Hi, my name is Thelma and I'm addicted to tobacco?"

Don't worry. I didn't.

I did, however, question whether I would have had a smoking habit if our legislators instituted laws for a tobacco-free Hawaii when I was in high school nine years ago. Would have all the fuss around anti-smoking laws made me more unlikely to start? Would have having less explicit smokers around the corner stopped me from joining the circle of cigarette-puffing friends?

I don't have the answer to that, but at least our youth today are more aware of the issues and how they can influence the direction of these issues by lobbying our lawmakers.

High school students attended youth advocacy training, presented by the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, before lobbying at the Capitol. Their talking points focused on tobacco companies targeting youth through marketing tactics such as flavored tobacco, products for women and girls, unproven health claims and smokeless products.

I yielded not to my demons after all this afternoon because of a comment from Kapua Adolpho, 16, a junior from Molokai High.

"I would encourage them [smokers] to try to quit," she said. "It's affecting them in a negative way and also affecting the people around them."

Now only if she could encourage me everyday. Sigh.

Photo (top) L-R: Deborah Zysman, Director coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, Rep. Josh Green (D), Rep. Tom Brower (D), Rep. John Mizuno (D), Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R).

Photo (bottom): Kapua Adolpho, 16, takes a break from visiting the offices of lawmakers, urging them to protect the smoke-free law.

Impacts of the "secondhand smoke" bill

The House and Senate committees on Health will hold a joint informational briefing tomorrow to determine what impact Senate Bill 3262, Act 295, has had on our economy and the health of Hawaii's citizens. The bill prohibits smoking in places open to the public, including bars and restaurants, and places of employment.

When: Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Where: State Capitol, Room 325

Who: Andrew Hyland, Ph.D, consultant with the Center for Disease Control, is the primary evaluator on the impact of Act 295 and will present his findings. Attorney General's Office has been invited to present compliance and enforcement data. The state Health Department will present information on the impact of the bill from a health perspective.

Organizations invited to participate and provide a brief update: Coalition for a Tobacco-free Hawaii, Kaiser Permanent, American Heart Association, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, American Cancer Society of Hawaii, Hawaii Quitline, University of Hawaii Public Health Studies, American Lung Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Bar Owners Association, Hawaii Smokers Alliance.

What they are saying: "The evidence is coming to show that the smoke free law is working. The air is cleaner, people support it, and the fear that the tourism and hospitality industries would be harmed has not been realized. This is exactly what's been found in other states and countries that have passed similar legislation." - Dr. Andrew Hyland.

Enough is enough. This isn't Singapore.

Here's another viewpoint on the one-year anniversary of the smoking ban. Have you heard the Hawaii Public Radio commentaries by Tony Oliver, a Kailua resident, playwright, former librarian at DBEDT, and a proud smoker (unfiltered camels no less)? He also happens to be a golf buddy, and while we don't have the time to play frequently, over the past year, boy have I gotten an earful about that smoking ban bill passed by the legislature! Probably a shameless ploy to ruin one's putt, but entertaining none the less. One of his first commentaries for KHPR was on this issue; what follows is an edited version:

(I stand corrected. The author informs me that the following was not from the radio commentary, but as an opinion piece, written in response to a 2/2/05 Honolulu Advertiser editorial, "Get cigarette butts out of our beaches." It was published in an edited version as a letter to the editor. That's what happens when you fret about blogging and pie crust at the same time.)

Will the legislators adjourn this year and congratulate themselves on passing a bill that further criminalizes a minor offense? Will they? One can hope not.

One can hope that, instead, they will address real issues, suburban sprawl, Byzantine traffic, and outdated sewage systems. One can hope.

Of all the sources of pollution in our state, smoking is certainly the most easily identifiable, but clearly it is a minor one. The perpetrators are visible and might even be a minority. In the contemporary climate of Puritanical repression, they are also cowed by do-gooder vigilantism, excessively taxed, socially marginalized, and publicly ostracized. Why not go after them? They are easy targets.

Much easier than going after real polluters.

The shameless use of an image of toddlers munching on cigarette butts may move the holier than thou to rally around this ersatz issue, but it was intellectually dishonest.

When you say, "Let's reclaim the beaches and parks for healthy living. Isn't that what Hawaii is all about?"; shouldn't we ask, is that all Hawaii is about?

If this idea is a slavish copy of the ludicrous repression one now finds in newly-Calvinist San Francisco, shouldn't we ask the question - are we in California? Thankfully, no, we are not.

We followed their lead and covered our land with tract homes that no one can afford, and highways that slash through the land, now this?

The police might soon be empowered to cite and maybe even arrest and jail these tobacco miscreants. By criminalizing smoking in parks, we can also make arrest statistics much better. What next? Reinstating stocks in the public square? Flogging? Stoning? Might the police not be better employed in fighting real crime?

One is reminded of former Mayor Anderson's ill-fated rounding up of innocent beer-drinkers on the beaches. That went well, didn't it? For those who have forgotten, she was not re-elected.

Pass a bill like this and then what? A return to Prohibition? Banning hibachis?

Enough is enough. This isn't Singapore.

Smoking Ban - One Year Anniversary

As a former pack-a-day smoker, I always used to dread the coming of the Great American Smokeout day - the Thursday before Thanksgiving. (You know, that day when you symbolically and heroically throw your cigarettes into the trash, and then sneak back out to retrieve them at midnight when you think no one else is watching?) Now that I've quit for the past several years, I didn't even realize that the day had come and gone, until the media pointed out that it was one year ago on November 16th that the new Hawaii anti-smoking law went into effect. The law prohibits smoking in places of employment and all eating and drinking establishments.

Here's some interesting items on the matter from Linda Chiem's PBN story, 11/16 issue:

• The Department of Health spent $340,000 on its public awareness campaign.
• Littering has become a problem because smokers who are standing 20 ft. away from a building don't have ashtrays to use.
• Compliance has been good, and in most cases, the law did not significantly change the way a business was doing business.
• The hardest hit businesses, of course, are the bars. The Hawaii Bar Association filed a lawsuit earlier this year, but the lawsuit was dismissed in Circuit Court.
• The Department of Health has still not approved rules giving it the authority to cite and fine violators. The DOH received 523 complaints and issued 396 notices of violation and letters of warning.