16 Sep 14: Memo to public health grandees: vaping, vapers and you (by Clive Bates)

[dragonpuff]

For those interested on how hard it is for the public to change. Read this from a smokers perspective. I know she vapes now but the public is hard on change and sees us as smokers.

The Exit Door Leads In
http://theindefatigablefrog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/the-indefatigable-frog-or-why-this-wont.html

This is an excellent blog post, thank you for sharing!

 

[Sirius]

This is an excellent blog post, thank you for sharing!

This bit..so true..what are we to do?

We have tried to talk to you. We have written to you, we have emailed you and we have tweeted you. You have largely ignored us. You have written articles that hide behind paywalls discrediting us with accusations and thinly veiled but loaded reminders of ‘What The tobacco Industry Did To Us’, that you have ‘Seen All This Before’. You told us our stories are not true. You go to the public and you tell them that we are to be feared just as we were as smokers. That we have not achieved anything, by moving the goalposts: Is the endgame tobacco free, or nicotine free? You use your media presence to say things that evidence has not shown and common sense denies. And what can we do about it?

Understand, this is NOT related to any one individual, this has happened for as long as I have been doing this and before, it is not new but has worsened. And what can we do?

Nothing.

We do not have funding. We do not have the ear of the media. We do not have letters after our names. We do not have influence. We do not have swathes of respecting public and academics. We are normal as normal can be. But we do have something! We have experience and knowledge and understanding of what it is to be a smoker then a vaper. We can see first hand why this is working and what will stop it, dead in its tracks. We are trying to warn you that the direction of travel you are choosing is going to cause untold damage to people’s lives, but you will not listen.
http://theindefatigablefrog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/the-indefatigable-frog-or-why-this-wont.html

 

[Nate760]

This bit..so true..what are we to do?

"Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!"

-- Frederick Douglass

^ A good quote to remember when unsure of your next move.

 

[DrMA]

In an interesting twist, while PH grandees get a free ride, keep their jobs, and are defended by their peers, ordinary members of the public get jailed for Twitter abuse: BBC News - Peter Nunn jailed for Twitter abuse of MP Stella Creasy