Im from Argentina... This is not even close to what you may figure... It is so biased and ridiculous it "hurts"...
The guy running the 'government-articulated' board responsible for a 'smoke-free' environment made this official statement as a response to the claims they should have banned analogs instead, according to many main arguments as expressed in the document of the prohibition:
"Well, in fact we could not make traditional smoking illegal overnight because this would lead to a criminal market-place because of the many smokers out there. Yet, our policy is to do this gradually; sensibly. While in the case of e-cigs; the users are very few so we can afford this, and should prohibit this technology before it goes any further"
The many arguments as expressed in the prohibition paper are totally biased, contradictory and not even worth mentioning. It includes rumours, the oficial opinion of the FDA, as expressed for the first time, and many things which make no real sense. ANMAT or the Argentinean "FDA-like" organism is absolutely corrupt. Totally. People who work there are totally incompetent. As we mailed them to request why they thought it could be a "dangerous product" they said:
"Well, actually some users e-mailed us saying that as they used these products they felt like vomiting. And one said he did..."
CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? That was the 'official' reply !?
Many medical organizations based in this country have a vested interest in Big Pharma's policies. And by many, I mean 90%.
The media here claimed all kind of wierd things...
And Im not trying to fill you in on the details to the aspects sorrounding the banning and the very arguments it suscribes. Because this would be stupid. Nothing makes sense. These facts I mentioned were simply to illustrate the fact that the situation is like a nightmare from the movies. Maybe it sounds surreal to you and you cannot believe this. I can. Live here. Im used to this. People here, on the other hand are not stupid and eventually they might embrace our cause. Because we are used to this kind of abuse but at the same time our society is very suspicious on the governmet and anything officially stated, for obvious reasons.
We are a few vapers here. So it is hard to fight and "educate" people. And we are not even formally organized. But we are getting there. And we are fighting them. A local vendor is fighting them in court as we speak. Again, you can imagine how reliable the judicial system here is, right? This same local vendor has been legally putting up with them for a while in a neighbour country and his case looks solid...
And basically, for the most part, it is like this...
PEOPLE - They have banned the e-cig... They said it contained nicotine (This is one argument, presented basically this way by ANMAT...OMG!) and was maybe dangerous!
Argentinean Vapers - Yes, but this is totally biased, actually it is ANMAT's corruption and the interests sorrounding this...
PEOPLE - Oh! Right! Of course! It figures... And didnt the e-cig companies "pay" them? Are they stupid? Well guess Big Pharma and BT is were the money is.
This is a very illustrating example of many many conversations. So, you can see how obvious the way things work here is...
Will try to keep you posted on anything worthy, as this develops, here in this thread...!
Bottom line... When it comes to my country you shouldnt waste your time with logically-based arguments, for if you did so you might even sound "naive" or clueless to natives... Who know things work "differently" down here. If you talk to people from Argentina of course they would tell you things are 'perfect' down here. This is also who we are =( . But if you have close friends or relatives, you should then know what Im talking about...
The guy running the 'government-articulated' board responsible for a 'smoke-free' environment made this official statement as a response to the claims they should have banned analogs instead, according to many main arguments as expressed in the document of the prohibition:
"Well, in fact we could not make traditional smoking illegal overnight because this would lead to a criminal market-place because of the many smokers out there. Yet, our policy is to do this gradually; sensibly. While in the case of e-cigs; the users are very few so we can afford this, and should prohibit this technology before it goes any further"
The many arguments as expressed in the prohibition paper are totally biased, contradictory and not even worth mentioning. It includes rumours, the oficial opinion of the FDA, as expressed for the first time, and many things which make no real sense. ANMAT or the Argentinean "FDA-like" organism is absolutely corrupt. Totally. People who work there are totally incompetent. As we mailed them to request why they thought it could be a "dangerous product" they said:
"Well, actually some users e-mailed us saying that as they used these products they felt like vomiting. And one said he did..."
CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? That was the 'official' reply !?
Many medical organizations based in this country have a vested interest in Big Pharma's policies. And by many, I mean 90%.
The media here claimed all kind of wierd things...
And Im not trying to fill you in on the details to the aspects sorrounding the banning and the very arguments it suscribes. Because this would be stupid. Nothing makes sense. These facts I mentioned were simply to illustrate the fact that the situation is like a nightmare from the movies. Maybe it sounds surreal to you and you cannot believe this. I can. Live here. Im used to this. People here, on the other hand are not stupid and eventually they might embrace our cause. Because we are used to this kind of abuse but at the same time our society is very suspicious on the governmet and anything officially stated, for obvious reasons.
We are a few vapers here. So it is hard to fight and "educate" people. And we are not even formally organized. But we are getting there. And we are fighting them. A local vendor is fighting them in court as we speak. Again, you can imagine how reliable the judicial system here is, right? This same local vendor has been legally putting up with them for a while in a neighbour country and his case looks solid...
And basically, for the most part, it is like this...
PEOPLE - They have banned the e-cig... They said it contained nicotine (This is one argument, presented basically this way by ANMAT...OMG!) and was maybe dangerous!
Argentinean Vapers - Yes, but this is totally biased, actually it is ANMAT's corruption and the interests sorrounding this...
PEOPLE - Oh! Right! Of course! It figures... And didnt the e-cig companies "pay" them? Are they stupid? Well guess Big Pharma and BT is were the money is.
This is a very illustrating example of many many conversations. So, you can see how obvious the way things work here is...
Will try to keep you posted on anything worthy, as this develops, here in this thread...!
Bottom line... When it comes to my country you shouldnt waste your time with logically-based arguments, for if you did so you might even sound "naive" or clueless to natives... Who know things work "differently" down here. If you talk to people from Argentina of course they would tell you things are 'perfect' down here. This is also who we are =( . But if you have close friends or relatives, you should then know what Im talking about...
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