Canadian Lung Association has second thoughts

[SloHand]

During Canada's National Non-Smoking Week, Jan. 20-26, the Canadian Lung Association had come out with an aggressive position towards e-cigarettes. Members worldwide joined Canadian vapers in pushing back with letters, posts, tweets, etc. against CLA's position.

It would appear that CLA is having another look at the potential benefits.

Could e-cigarettes save smokers

 

[qorax]

^Thanks for that infoshare.
We r getting there... slowly... slowly... but definitely.

 

[Ardo]

Rome wasn't built in a day

 

[cyberwolf]

"The Lung Association used to warn that e-cigarette users were inhaling toxic chemicals. But new evidence convinced the organization to change its position and it says they may be a valuable smoking cessation aid." Glad the "new" evidence is finally beginning to trump the absolute lack of evidence that the earlier warnings were based on.

The last line of this article is a great one. Quoting David Sweanor, a law professor on tobacco related issues, "The bottom line is that for anyone who truly cares about reducing … death and disease, they have to be pragmatic rather than dogmatic.”

 

[Bill Godshall]

This could be a game changer in Canada, as the Canadian Lung Association had been one of the most vocal critics of e-cigarettes in past years.

Also, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Non Smokers Rights Association have strong alliances with the Canadian Lung Association on tobacco policy issues.

And all of these organizations are fully aware the Dave Sweanor (NSRA's former legal counsel and lobbyist), Mike Siegel and I have been advocating e-cigarettes as THR alternatives for smokers.

 

[cyberwolf]

This could be a game changer in Canada, as the Canadian Lung Association had been one of the most vocal critics of e-cigarettes in past years.

Also, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Non Smokers Rights Association have strong alliances with the Canadian Lung Association on tobacco policy issues.

And all of these organizations are fully aware the Dave Sweanor (NSRA's former legal counsel and lobbyist), Mike Siegel and I have been advocating e-cigarettes as THR alternatives for smokers.

Indeed. It's possible that the success of ecigs coupled with your tireless efforts in support of harm reduction may be finally getting to be too much for these groups to ignore (or negligently disregard, as the case may be). They may have hoped that one flawed 2009 study would be enough to cripple the industry and allow them to continue the status quo, but 1 in 5 smokers using ecigs in the U.S. makes that too difficult. They may be thinking that endorsing ecigs is a better option. Let's hope so.