HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1091.137 2012-2014Murashige, Laura
From: HedrickHNECA@aol.com
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2014 8:43 PM
To: Council Testimony
Cc: hedrickhneca@aol.com
Subject: Testimony in support of HC Bill 302
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To: Honorable Members of the Hawai'i County Council '—
v,
From: Hannah L. Hedrick, PhD, 50+ -year tobacco -free advocate
Date: December 13, 2014 =r
Subject: Protect Health of Public by Unanimous Support for HC Bill 302
Mahalo for this opportunity to testify in favor of HC Bill 302. Special thanks to the County Council members who have
supported the legislation. As Dru Kanuha has repeatedly pointed out, HC Bill 302 is not a ban on ESDs; it would simply
limit their open use where cigarettes are currently prohibited. During past hearings, Brenda Ford and J Yoshimoto have
demonstrated their clear understanding of the incontrovertible facts related to the proposed legislation and have pointed
out misinformation provided by ESD retailers and users.
Please forgive me and other testifiers if our voices are loud or even sound angry. As the tip of the iceberg, we voice the
concerns of thousands of Hawaii residents who have lost loved ones or who themselves have conditions exacerbated by
nicotine delivery products, including ESDs.
This has been a very personal issue for me for more than half a century: 56 years ago my father died at age 54 from
tobacco -related diseases; on November 19th, the date of the Council hearing on Bill 302, my 79 -year old sister was
diagnosed with metastasized lung cancer. She died 3 weeks later.
I am among those testifiers who have fought for decades to get tobacco manufacturers, legislators, and regulatory
agencies (including the FDA) to let folks know that tobacco use causes or contributes to all major disease categories. The
health care system is buckling under the burden of caring for nicotine addicts and their exposed family members and
friends.
Yet even after we were able to force manufacturers to put health warning labels on cigarettes and other nicotine delivery
devices, Big Tobacco, along with retailers and users, denied that they caused the deaths of thousands of non-smoking
Americans every year.
One current Council member asked the Council to postpone acting until after the FDA has completed workshops. Perhaps
this Council member does not know that lack of timely FDA action contributed to those thousands of deaths, as well as to
the addiction of tens of thousands of young people each year. No further data are needed to prove that ESDs are deadly
because they addict users to nicotine and thereby expose users and others to toxic substances.
The County Council has an opportunity to send a CLEAR, CONSISTENT MESSAGE that it opposes the use in protected
public places of all nicotine delivery devices --including ESDS--that release harmful side -stream, second hand, and
residual by-products.
Folks too disillusioned and disgusted by the legislative process to testify are outraged that anyone elected to a position
responsible for the health of the public would place the pocketbooks of Big Tobacco and ESD retailers above the welfare
of the non-smoking public. After learning that four Council members did not express strong support for HC Bill 302 at the
November 19 hearing, one resident expressed his disbelief: "This e-cig saga gets more unbelievable at every
event. There must be some serious $ at play for a few of our Council members. All this disgusts me more than
usual --it's not just mindless development and degradation of lifestyle this time, it is a reversal of progress on health and
well-being for us as residents."
Comm. 137
Ref. To:
Ref. Date oEC 1 7 X014__
Use of ESDs for substances other than nicotine has been reported widely, including in a You Tube video of older women
in Seattle smoking marijuana. The the October/November 2014 issue of AARP the Magazine stated that E-cigs stated
"might be just as bad" as cigarettes and that Waping has become a discreet way to smoke pot."
I urge the Council to unanimously pass Bill 302 to send two clear, consistent messages: (1) nicotine addiction and the
byproducts of nicotine delivery systems are public health dangers and (2) the Council strongly supports all efforts to
reduce the exposure of our keiki to the seductive messages of ESD retailers.
I hope all the Council members can see the difference between their obligation to protect the public and the self-serving
testimony today of Big Tobacco and ESD retailers to protect their pocketbooks.
Hannah Hedrick
Fern Forest, Puna District