Derek S. K. Kawakami, Mayor, County of Kaua’i
All Councilmembers: councilmembers@kauai.gov
Mason K. Chock, Councilmember, County of Kaua’i
Felicia Alongi Cowden, Councilmember, County of Kaua’i
Gary Hooser, director, Pono Hawai’i Initiative
Aloha Derek, Mason, Felicia, Kaua’i County Councilmembers and Gary,
Wanted to give you heads up. Sure you’re familiar but I would recommend getting out front on this one fast. You’ve been strong opponents of irresponsible GMO testing on Kaua’i.
I battled BigTobacco in early 90s. Vaping is using a similar model. Our keiki and young people see this as extremely attractive, cool and trendy. I study people and behavior. Watch what our young people are doing. Vaping is everywhere. CDC and SAMHSA are screaming fire!!!
Public health is already far behind. Incidence of vaping is increasing at alarming rates. Summer 2019 will be Vape City.
CNN reports leading e-cigarette company Juul Labs is looking into setting up its own retail stores.
Vaping increased nearly 80% among high schoolers and 50% among middle schoolers from last year. Juul is propelling the rise, as it holds about 75% of the e-cigarette market in the U.S.
Tobacco has been used small scale as a natural organic pesticide for hundreds of years and could be a mass-produced alternative to traditional commercial pesticides — due to tobacco’s content of toxic nicotine. Gardeners used home-made mixtures of tobacco and water as natural pesticide to kill insect pests.
Nicotine Bio-Oil
Using pyrolysis, a process involving heating tobacco leaves to about 900 degrees Fahrenheit in a vacuum, produces an unrefined substance called bio-oil. Testing bio-oil against a wide variety of insect pests, including 11 different fungi, four bacteria, and the Colorado potato beetle, a major agricultural pest increasingly resistant to current insecticides, the oil killed all of the beetles and blocked the growth of two types of bacteria and one fungus.
Hawai’i Allows Keiki to Vape Nicotine?
Even after removal of the nicotine, the oil remained a very effective pesticide. Its ability of the oil to block some but not all of the microorganisms suggests that tobacco bio-oil may have additional value as a more selective pesticide than those currently in use.
More Dangerous than RoundUp
Our young people are VAPING bio-oil. Smart leaders “looking around corner” will come out now and declare a Public Health emergency. Too many young people perceive this activity as safe. It’s not!
Nicotine forms naturally in tobacco leaf. Functions as insecticide. Critters eat the leaf, consume nicotine — DIE. We are critters!!! Nicotine is highly addictive, as we know.
Contrast with cannabis. One can eat all the cannabis leaves they want. THC isn’t activated until heated. There is no toxicity or impairment from a raw cannabis leaf. We put people in prison for cannabis. Our kids are vaping all day long. Our action is once again backward.
Smoking gives the user a small, measured amount. One is punished for over-smoking: too disgusting; much coughing and choking.
Vaping is clean. The user can do it all day long — they are. GMO fields spray concentrated RoundUp. Concentrated RoundUp kills people.
We can buy household RoundUp in stores. Not as toxic. Nicotine in a cigarette is like household RoundUp. We don’t consider nicotine the issue. Smoking the leaf is what kills people.
Vaping ALL day like this will soon be toxic to one’s system. We have NO studies about Long Term use of heavy doses. We are 2-3 years into this explosive trend. Where will we be in ten? There has been no testing.
Stuffs coming in from China and other places unregulated. People will begin showing negative symptoms. They will be addicted to extremely high levels. How do we detox them?
Young people “perceive” this as cool today. We made progress showing smoking something as uncool.
Watched a family at dinner other day. Eldest son wanted to vape. Parents didn’t know what to do. Their instinct was to dislike it — but he was 18. Started to object and actually said, “Well, you’re 18. Guess it’s okay.” Younger brother saw his older brother as “cool.” He now can’t wait to be 18 and be cool enough to vape. Think he’ll wait? Same as smoking tobacco.
Parents interpret government regulation of 18 (or 21) to mean “safe for an adult.” We do not know this. This is no different than the FDA and opioids. How many times does the federal government have to miss before we understand how inept they are?
They don’t study anything. They review research by companies. Companies provide the FDA with only positive outcome studies. It’s a huge corruption.
In a unanimous vote, supervisors approved a ban on the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes until the FDA completes a review of their effects on public health. Another proposal would ban the manufacturing of e-cigarettes on city property. Both measures require a subsequent vote before becoming law.
“We spent the ’90s battling big tobacco. Now we see its new form in e-cigarettes.”
supervisor Shamann Walton
Why isn’t Kaua’i the first county in nation to ban all sales of electronic cigarettes? Why do our local politicians not care about our keiki and youngsters? This is criminal negligence on the part of elected officials. See Official Letter of Recommendation and Request, June 20, 2019
I am Ko’olau from Kaua’i. I am the Defiant One.
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SOURCES
CNN article:
Could Juul be on its way to opening vaping shops?
Juul declined to comment for this story.
ACS, American Chemistry Society, article:
Tobacco and its evil cousin nicotine are good as a pesticide
ClearHealthLife Strategies 
People making poor choices is hardly a reason for moral panic!
https://invertedlogicblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/16/polemics-26-the-fault-within-attempting-to-regulate-our-faults-a-case-against-regulation-of-e-cigarettes/
Aloha “invertedlogicblog,”
I agree with you in part. I believe ADULTS should be FREE to reasonably decide how to live and make choices. I say reasonably, as I don’t believe a person has the right to drive 100mph through a crowded city area or past a school where children are playing. As we say in Hawai’i, we must live kuleana — or responsibly.
Yet as you see in this article, my demand for public health action focuses on NON-adults — our children and youngsters. I would restrict access to vaping products until the individual is at least 18 — maybe 21. I would then offer vaping products through our dispensaries, such as we have for medical cannabis, or through pharmacies, as we do with other controlled substances.
I believe vaping nicotine is an excellent “harm reduction” tool for adults who wish to quit or reduce smoking of tobacco. Even today, some 400,000+ Americans die prematurely from smoking cigarettes. I do not believe we should prohibit smoking of tobacco, equally as I do not believe we should prohibit use of cannabis. We witnessed the explosion of violence and crime from our failed attempt to prohibit consumption of alcohol. Prohibition of adult activity is generally counter productive.
I stand with you to ensure adults have the RIGHT to FREELY make informed choices. I hope you stand with me to DEMAND we protect our Keiki. JUUL produced child-inviting products in kid flavors, attractive packaging, and cool-looking devices. This is similar to the marketing model used by Big Tobacco decades ago.
Nicotine is a highly-addictive and deadly substance. Be wise adults! Yet it is our kuleana to protect our Keiki until they can make an informed adult decision. Do you agree?