EDITORIAL
READERS WRITE
Take dangerous e-cigarettes off market
The e-cigarette was invented
in 2003 by a Chinese pharmacist,
and subsequently developed
into the third generation of
customizable, refillable e-liquids
(of nicotine and other chemicals),
and rechargeable products of a
USB flash drive design, such as
JUUL.
The JUUL pod is the
replaceable nicotine cartridge,
which contains the e-liquid of
the addictive alkaloid of the
plant, Nicotiana tabacum. The
pharmacologic effect in the brain
involves binding of nicotine
to the nicotinic cholinergic
receptors, with the release of
the neurotransmitter dopamine,
which presents as a feeling of
pleasure and mood modulation.
Tolerance, physical
dependence and addiction
are resultant from behavior
reinforcement, neuroplasticity
and altered neuronal synaptic
circuitry. Withdrawal leads to the
feeling of anxiety and militates
against quitting.
Furthermore, nicotine
is a neuroteratogen and has
permanent adverse effects upon
brain development manifested
in adult anxiogenesis, cognitive
impairment, other drug abuse,
high-risk sexual behavior and
psychiatric disorders.
JUUL is simply rechargeable
with a USB port, plus the pods
are in a variety of flavors, with
dangerous substances such as
metals and carcinogens, which are
derivatives of flavoring agents.
Moreover, flavoring compounds
are linked to respiratory diseases
such as bronchiolitis obliterans,
due to inhalation of the ultrafine
aerosol of e-cigarettes.
JUUL, and similar products,
should be banned by the federal
government. Period.
Joseph N. Manago,
Briarwood
Editor’s note: The writer says
he is a molecular cell biologist,
and former visiting professor of
biochemistry and physiology of
the Research Foundation of SUNY
Downstate Medical Center.
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A TARNISHED LEGACY
Mayor Bill de Blasio stepped to the podium
at City Hall and declared, “Today, we have seen
justice done,” after his Police Commissioner James
O’Neill fired police officer Daniel Panataleo who
was accused of using an illegal chokehold in the 2014
death of Eric Garner.
At best, the mayor was dabbling in
revisionist history.
City Hall could have begun disciplinary action
against Pantaleo soon after cell phone video of the
police takedown went viral and his final words
“I can’t breathe,” uttered 11 times, helped fuel the
rise of the Black Lives Matter movement across
the country.
Instead, the de Blasio administration opted to
defer to a state grand jury which failed to return
an indictment against Panataleo and then claimed
that firing Pantaleo from the NYPD had to wait for
the U.S. Justice Department to determine whether
to prosecute him on federal civil rights violations, a
decision that never came.
Garner’s mother Gwen Carr warned that de
Blasio and the NYPD should end their “obstruction,
stop spreading misleading talking points, and finally
hold every officer responsible accountable” in her
son’s death.
Carr was also correct in saying the process
should not have taken five years. During that period,
the Garner family endured more tragedy.
Garner’s 27-year-old daughter Erica, who became
a police reform activist, had a heart attack and died
in a coma one week later in 2017.
In July, Garner’s stepfather Ben Carr had a
heart attack and died while attending a wedding in
Jamaica. Two family members died without seeing
justice meted out on behalf of Eric Garner.
The mayor said we have seen justice done. He also
said, “I hope it brings some small measure of closure
and peace to the Garner family.”
Gwen Carr said there was some relief to see
Pantaleo finally face consequences in her son’s
death, adding, “this process should never have taken
this long.” She’s right.
Of all the glaring examples of the mayor’s lack of
leadership, the Eric Garner case stands out above the
rest. Bill de Blasio could have served to bring justice
in this case while also unifying the city and even the
NYPD in the pursuit of greater reform.
Instead, for five long years, he dragged
his feet and left open a wound that will never
completely heal.
This is something which will always haunt Bill
de Blasio’s legacy — and rightfully so.
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TIMESLEDGER,16 AUG. 23-29, 2019 BT QNS.COM
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