Hello, My story begins like many others that decide to quit smoking. I had tried many, many times in the past to quit. I’ve tried patches, nicotine inhalers, drugs (wellbritin? please excuse the spelling), and of course cold turkey. I guess the pills were most effective. I think the longest I ever lasted was a month, and that was cold turkey. It was innocent enough, I was on vacation with my family in South Carolina in 2009, and since cigarettes were so much cheaper down there, I purchased a carton before we flew home. Little did I know that it would be the last cigarette I would ever buy. As the fourth of July approached, I decided it would be a fine time to quit again. We have a huge family get together at that time, and I had smokes to use up. Well, the fourth came and went, and I ran out of cigarettes, but I stopped. I had told my brother about some stories I saw about e-cigarettes, Smoking-anywhere/everywhere was the brand that we were seeing in news stories. He picked up a kit, I tried it out, and picked up a kit myself. I moved on pretty quickly from that kit to better equipment, but I have not smoked a cigarette for over 4 years. I’ve dropped my nicotine to very low levels, including none. I’m sorry if it looks like smoking, but I DO NOT SMOKE anymore. To the FDA, your bullshit story in 2009 about the 2 samples that showed juice contained ingredients found in anti freeze. What a travesty that was. Oh, and they also contained known carcinogens. Why did you leave out that fact that the carcinogen levels were on par with FDA approved nicotine replacement products. Don’t get me wrong, I want regulation, those samples were taken from products from China, famous for lead in anything we can get away with. Testing on an American product shows the facts. Look at the lab results from Johnson Creek. The evidence is mounting. E-ceigarettes seem to be an effective way for people to transition off of real cigarettes. But instead of embracing that, you attack it, simply because it looks like smoking. You have a product here that replaces a product that you claim takes over 400 thousands American lives every year. Instead you do everything you can to block this product from the consumers in the name of safety. Seriously, according to you, it might be worse than smoking. So what, they will die sooner? I ask you, where are the bodies? You know what’s really sad, the countries around the world that don’t have the budget to make decisions for themselves defer to you. Congratulations, you’re killing more people than you think. To all of the Anti-smoking organizations that oppose e-ciggs. Obviously, the above statements to the FDA apply. Furthermore, I especially take exception with the flavor argument. There are studies that show that no kids have picked up the e-cigarette habit because of the flavors. Oh, forget the millions of deaths each year we could potentially avoid with the harm reduction that e-ciggarettes bring us, we might have a minor start smoking. This is beyond pathetic. To tell you the truth, from a former smokers perspective, after quitting, I think the tobacco flavored products taste like shit, andI don’t want them anymore. Adults do like flavors. The FDA famously banned flavored cigarettes recently in a much touted attempt to stop kids from smoking. Trouble was, no American tobacco company had any, they basically banned clove cigarettes and that was it, less than 1 tenth of 1% of sales. The clove manufacturers simply rebranded them as cigars and away they went. Funny story, in this historic ban, the FDA DID NOT ban menthol cigarettes, the number one flavor of new smokers (kids). Why is there no outcry to ban flavored alcohol? The same principal applies, does it not? And while we’re at it, the logistics of a kid getting this product and keeping it hidden are staggering. First, you have to buy it online with a credit card, then you have to keep this hidden. Given the fact that you have to charge these devices all the time, and continually buy juice and atomizers makes this extremely hard to conceal. Don’t get me wrong, cigarettes are not good. But if you really care, BAN THEM!, quit attacking people that are quitting using other methods. It’s a time tested tradition of following the money. Less smokers, less money. Who is fighting this product? It’s the organizations that stand to lose money and are backed by big Pharma. Simple as that. Quit or die mentality, unless you pay us. You sicken me. James P. Solie