Hi Jman8,
I'll try to answer all your questions and statements, but I don't have information on Dr F's motives and policies with regard to publicising his own results in detail. I can say that he has only ever had vapers' health in mind and felt extremely strongly that our results should be in the public domain.
Think for a moment, how it would have looked if we'd made broad statements about our findings without actually disclosing the information at the root of the concerns. If we'd made a declaration without going into any detail at all, and refused to back it up with lab reports, it would have been doubted and mistrusted, leaving customers without the information they want and need. This was evidenced by the number of people who contacted us to request the test results because the information had come as such a shock to them, and they felt sure that a reputable manufacturer would have disclosed this information to them, had they known about it.
With the greatest of respect, the root of the issue here isn't really the test results or the differences between them. Differences between lab protocols and methodologies is an interesting topic, and a much more joined-up approach is required (and some labs are already working towards), however, comparing results in this way is merely a distraction from the main issue. The issue is that no test results were available at all in the public domain until we released ours, and customers (ourselves included) were denied the tools they require to make their own choices.
I agree that it is too bad that it has gone the way it has, there are many ways this could have gone down differently and indeed, had we'd been given any idea that multiple test results already existed showing these compounds present, we'd have ended it right there, and none of this would have happened and consumers would still be vaping liquid they were confident was free of these compounds.
On a positive note, this episode very clearly demonstrates that the full disclosure consumers demand (and deserve) is the only way to go and I hope companies and consumers will all work together towards an industry where full transparency is firmly rooted as the gold standard to aim for.
I'll try to answer all your questions and statements, but I don't have information on Dr F's motives and policies with regard to publicising his own results in detail. I can say that he has only ever had vapers' health in mind and felt extremely strongly that our results should be in the public domain.
Think for a moment, how it would have looked if we'd made broad statements about our findings without actually disclosing the information at the root of the concerns. If we'd made a declaration without going into any detail at all, and refused to back it up with lab reports, it would have been doubted and mistrusted, leaving customers without the information they want and need. This was evidenced by the number of people who contacted us to request the test results because the information had come as such a shock to them, and they felt sure that a reputable manufacturer would have disclosed this information to them, had they known about it.
With the greatest of respect, the root of the issue here isn't really the test results or the differences between them. Differences between lab protocols and methodologies is an interesting topic, and a much more joined-up approach is required (and some labs are already working towards), however, comparing results in this way is merely a distraction from the main issue. The issue is that no test results were available at all in the public domain until we released ours, and customers (ourselves included) were denied the tools they require to make their own choices.
I agree that it is too bad that it has gone the way it has, there are many ways this could have gone down differently and indeed, had we'd been given any idea that multiple test results already existed showing these compounds present, we'd have ended it right there, and none of this would have happened and consumers would still be vaping liquid they were confident was free of these compounds.
On a positive note, this episode very clearly demonstrates that the full disclosure consumers demand (and deserve) is the only way to go and I hope companies and consumers will all work together towards an industry where full transparency is firmly rooted as the gold standard to aim for.