Without your call to Ige and to Rep. Ryan Yamane, Chairman of the House Health Committee, the ban bills will die next week if they are not passed out of committee, and the House Health Committee, chaired by Rep. Ryan Yamane.
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A Brief Note from Cosponsor Hawaii Senator Mike Gabbard today (this bill was cosponsored by 14 members of the 25 member Hawaii Senate):
Aloha Stephen, Thanks for writing me. It's true that SB 576 will die next week if Senator Ige doesn't pass it out of committee. I'll do what I can on that one.
Senator Mike Gabbard Phone: 808-586-6830
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Even if there is still time, Senator Ige's attitude and that of his staff, recalling from last year, are profoundly disturbing. Last year, eminent physicians from the Eastern 48 called and were asked by his staff "Why do you care about what happens in Hawaii?" One discussion with Senator Ige included someone else's remarks that "these aspartame opponents are just into internet junk science," and this resulted in no hearing on the Resolution.
This will again happen this year, without your personal intervention, your calling and emailing Senator Ige to ask that he schedule it in his Health Committee, and your asking him above all to support this legislation, both the Resolution and the Bill to Ban, which I assure you constitutes together some of the most advanced and far-reaching consumer protection legislation in the United States at this date.
Senator Ige, I am told, consumes Diet Cokes himself; perhaps he may see this entire effort in some personal manner having nothing to do with the impetus and momentum behind it coming from the Hawaiian victims of aspartame poisoning, of which there are hundreds of thousands with numerous unattributed or misdiagnosed symptoms.
These two important bills, SB576 and HB669, should not be subject to the interference nor the obstruction from one Senator nor the phalanx of corporate lobbyists already lined up against them from Coca Cola, Retail Grocers, Soft Drink Association, etc. These are the same kind of opponents who objected to consumer protection efforts against Thalidomide, Asbestos, Vioxx, Celebrex, you name it....I am sure you have heard them before, and will certainly hear them again.
Thousands more die or become afflicted will avoidable illnesses, while legislators listen to these corporate lobbyists. However, if you want to protect the Health of Hawaiians from a dangerous neurotoxic and carcinogenic poison, please move this legislation ahead by speaking at your earliest convenience with Senator Ige and Representative Yamane, asking them to schedule and to support both the Resolution and the Bill to Ban Aspartame.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I encourage you to send your testimonial letter supporting both the ban bill and the Resolution as Testimony, which will help force that there be a hearing, a short, to-the- point letter to Senator David Ige and to Rep Ryan Yamane, but also a copy thereof, sent to:
HLTTestimony@
Testimony for the Senate may be emailed to Testimony@capitol.hawaii.gov or it may be faxed to 586-6659 (Neighbor Islands: 1-800-586-6659)
Must Reference SB576
Respectfully,
Stephen Fox, Consumer and Political Editor New Mexico Sun News Santa Fe, NM
505 983-2002
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Bill sponsor: J. Kalani English
Bill Number: SB576
Resolution Sponsor: Suzanne Chun Oakland
Senate Resolution: SR13
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David Y. Ige, Chairman
16th Senatorial District
Hawaii State Capitol, Room 215
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
phone 808-586-6230;
E-mail sendige@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Josh Green, M.D., Vice Chairman,cosponsor of both Bill To Ban and Resolution
3rd Senatorial District
Hawaii State Capitol, Room 223
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
phone 808-586-9385;
e-mail sengreen@capitol.hawaii.gov
______________________________________________________
Ryan I. Yamane, Chairman of House Health Commitee
37th Representative District
Hawaii State Capitol, Room 419
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
phone 808-586-6150;
E-mail repyamane@Capitol.hawaii.gov
Scott Y. Nishimoto, Vice Chairman, House Health Committee
21st Representative District
Hawaii State Capitol, Room 441
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
phone 808-586-8515;
E-mail repnishimoto@
