My smoking habit began at age 13 and I smoke until I was 57. During that time I smoked an average of one pack of cigarettes per day. As you might suspect, after 44 years of smoking the long term effects of smoking where really setting in and negatively impacting my health and life style. I was suffering from severe shortness of breath, my complexion was yellow and jaundice looking. When I went to bed it was a 15 to 30 minute wheezing and coughing session before I could go to sleep. I was also diagnosed with early stages of emphysema. All of these conditions also applied to my wife. Our life style was compromised as we lacked the ability to play or engage in any strenuous activities with our children and grand children. Both my wife and I had tried all the FDA approved patches, gums, and drugs. Chantix by the way is a terrible drug with horrendous side effects. Why that drug is still allowed to be on the market is a total outrage. None of the FDA approved methods worked for us. We even tried hypnosis. Nothing worked and after more than 15 tries at quitting smoking we had pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact we would eventually die of a smoking related illness. A friend at work introduced me to electronic cigarettes. Both my wife and I purchase our first starter kit on January 10th 2011. Within a week both of us had completely quit using regular tobacco cigarettes. Nether of us has smoked a tobacco cigarette since 15 Jan 2011. The transition for both of us was pretty easy as it was always the nicotine withdrawal, smoking sensation, having something in our hand and other smoking habit related activities that drove us back to tobacco cigarettes. With electronic cigarettes we did not miss or experience any of those negative things. For us, this was a truly life changing event. Our journey with using electronic cigarettes has moved from one device to another. Each one working better than earlier versions and where easier to use and lasted longer. Had the current FDA proposed regulations been in effect the advancement of the technology and availability of devices and E liquid would not have happened. We started off with Joytech 510 pen style devices with refillable cartridges. We then move to Joytech eGo style devices with bigger and longer life batteries but still used atomizers and refillable cartridges. My wife still uses the eGo battery but has an easy to use tank with a replaceable atomizer. I use a larger device called a VAMO and also use a tank with a replaceable atomizer. At this point I would like to convey the health benefits both my wife and I have experienced over the course of our 3.5 years of using electronic cigarettes. We both have completely enjoyed our experience with electronic cigarettes. The FDA approved patches, gums and drugs all had side effects, with some of then being very severe, and life threatening. Chantix should be banned from sale, period. Both my wife and I have had literally ZERO side effects at all using electronic cigarettes and fully credit them with saving us from ding from a smoking related illness. I want to repeat this as we completely believe that electronic cigarettes save our lives. Our health has never been better. We both now have fully recovered our breath and can actually run around the yard with our children and grand kids. This was not possible while we smoke tobacco cigarettes. Within 3 to 4 weeks of using electronic cigarettes neither of us wheeze during exercise activities or at night when we get into bed. This is a wonderful experience. Within 2 months our sense of taste returned as well as our sense of smell. We both really hate the smell of tobacco smoke and stale ash trays now, where we didn’t even notice the smell at all while we smoked. Our doctor has verified that we are in fact healthier now than we ever where when we smoked tobacco cigarettes. I really doesn’t take much thought to conclude that if you eliminate the burning tobacco, tar, 4000 plus chemicals, Co2 and other ingredients in tobacco cigarettes that using a product like an electronic cigarette has be better for you. Also, there is now enough science and studied completed to conclusively prove that electronic cigarettes are less harmful than tobacco cigarettes. This is not rocket science. Simply put our health is better and has been verified better by our physician because we quit smoking tobacco cigarettes and now use electronic cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes have proved to be a very good means as a smoking cessation method. My son and his wife both smoked and could not quit. After seeing me transition from smoking to electronic cigarettes they tried it and quit smoking within a couple of weeks. Over the course of the next year they gradually cut down on the nicotine level in the E liquid they used and eventually went to zero nicotine and then stopped using electronic cigarettes al together. My wife has reduced the nicotine in her e liquid and has been using zero nicotine liquid for over six months now. I firmly believe that using E Cigarettes have saved my life, the life of my wife and other members of my family from dyeing of a smoking related illness.