Hi there Mathew!
Allow me to provide you with some helpful (and true) info that you can pass on to your family & friends.
(Apologies in advance for going on a bit long.
)
Firstly, here's a couple of posts that I've made that might be helpful:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/canada-forum/128566-organic-canadian-e-liquids.html (post #3)
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...aping-ability-would-you-go-back-smokes-4.html (post #37 - warning it's a long one)
I may cut & paste a bit from both of those below, too, for the sake of convenience. Never hurts to reiterate the truth.
But - you're looking for media stuff. OK then.
Here's an article from a little indie rag known as
TIME Magazine 
re: the beneficial, powerful bactericidal/germicidal (and in some cases even virucidal) action of vapourized propylene glycol (it should be very useful):
Medicine: Air Germicide - TIME
A quote from that article:
"Dr. Robertson placed groups of mice in a chamber and sprayed its air first with propylene glycol, then with influenza virus. All the mice lived. Then he sprayed the chamber with virus alone. All the mice died."
This is why vapers are far less likely than non-vapers to catch a seasonal cold or flu bug. Because the inside of their lungs & the air around them is being kept clean as a whistle. The facts are indisputable. Not only is vaping
not bad for you...it's actually quite
beneficial. Not
just because it keeps us away from tobacco, but in and of itself. Imagine my pleasant surprise at discovering that!
But yeah, it's true. No one can dispute this because these are
known, tested facts. Of course, the cherry-picked, deliberately distorted "information" (more like disinformation) that the U.S. FDA released would give you quite the opposite impression.
"E-juice contains propylene glycol, an ingredient found in antifreeze." Gasp!
What they
don't mention is that it's also found in countless foods, drinks, medicines & more & is known to be totally safe (and when vapourized, is of benefit). PG is included in antifreeze in order to make it that much
less toxic, in case any idiot ever tried to drink it. But the FDA tries to put the idea into people's heads that vapers are somehow inhaling antifreeze, which isn't the case at all...you see?
The reason the FDA distorted their scant "information" & basically made a lot of unfounded, unproven insinuations was simple: they're a far more sketchy organization interested in co-operating with big pharma & big tobacco, than they are any kind of independent health agency
[is it any wonder so many pills for this or that are given FDA approval, only for the public to find out a year or two later that those pills they've been buying are - shockingly - deadly as hell and have to be pulled?]. And isn't it a coincidence that PG, VG, and nicotine are all generic things that can't be patented. In other words, there's no way for anyone to corner the market on vaping. Ditto for e-cig technology.
So those who stand to lose money (if people stop smoking - stop purchasing ineffective NRT things - & start vaping) really, really hate it. They don't care that vaping is healthy & will save lives. They're lamenting the inevitable loss of what for decades was a sure source of moolah. And that's the crux of it - the only reason anyone argues against vaping is because vaping presents the first real, true threat to the future of tobacco cigarette smoking in human history (and all the
money that tobacco makes).
The good news is, there's no real way they can stop vaping (with or without nicotine) because there's no legitimacy to the anti-vaping position. E-cig technology, PG, VG, flavouring - no grounds. And if they try an attack on nicotine (which wouldn't have legitimate grounds either), they destroy themselves. Hence the general tactic of keeping vaping as much out of the public eye as possible, for as long as possible.
(They'd be wise to pull their money now & invest in Google or Tim Hortons or something instead.)
Vaping offers all the fun of smoking,
without smoking - and without any of the danger. If anything (as we've already stated,
with proof given) it's beneficial.
Beneficial because it keeps you away from tobacco - and because of vapourized PG's powerful germicidal, bactericidal, and even virucidal action.
The Health Canada "warning" from March 2009 is also about as weak and negligible as a "warning" could possibly be. They're basically saying
"a few people might be mildly allergic to vapourized PG & so might find it an 'irritant' - oh and if you use nicotine, it's addictive. So is caffeine, but then we're hoping you'll automatically tie 'nicotine addiction' to 'deadly smoking' and therefore ignore the fact that nicotine addiction in and of itself is as harmless as caffeine addiction. Of course, if you concentrated nicotine to deadly levels - levels many times higher than those found in tobacco, or NRT, or e-juice - you could get poisoning. But we'll neglect to mention that the same is true for just about everything on the planet."
Very few people are allergic to PG in vapourized or liquid form. That's why PG is so commonly & widely used, in foods, drinks, medicines - in the air ventilation system in many hospitals to keep the air clean for goodness' sakes - asthma inhalers, and the list goes on, you name it. Furthermore, unlike tobacco smoke (which is deadly, hangs in the air & poses a second-hand risk), PG vapour is clean, dissipates within seconds & poses no risk. So that chalks up their
"known irritant" baloney. As to
"electronic smoking products may pose risks such as nicotine poisoning and addiction" - if you were a smoker, you're
already addicted to nicotine (which isn't necessarily a bad thing - depending on your means of delivery). They didn't even say that it
does pose those risks, they just said it
may. Which was wise. Because nicotine is totally optional for vapers - one doesn't need to use nicotine in one's e-juice.
Vaping itself
is good for you, and the optional nicotine in your e-juice
is (for the average person) essentially harmless. Nicotine itself, at the levels found in tobacco, NRT, or e-juice (they all have similar, comparable levels), is no more harmful than the caffeine in your coffe, as numerous studies have shown.
Nicotine & caffeine have a lot in common; they're both addictive, they're both mild stimulants consumed for pleasure, and they're both essentially harmless in the average person's typical level of consumption. Next time someone says
"nicotine is a vasoconstrictor!" tell them
"so is caffeine - but you don't stop drinking coffe." They're both quite mild in that regard.
It's the
means of delivery that makes all the difference. Deadly tobacco cigarettes...or cleansing, healthy PG vapour.
Just about everything is deadly when you concentrate it and/or get too much of it - sunlight, water, sugar, caffeine, aspirin, vitamins - you name it. All of those things are perfectly fine & indeed, most are beneficial -
if consumed at safe levels. The same is true of nicotine. So Health Canada's "warning" is really of no consequence when it comes to vaping. And on a practical level, they've issued the warning but otherwise been content to largely let the issue drop (for reasons I explained in the second post link I gave you).
And compare if you will: if caffeine were the addictive element in cigarettes - and you quit smoking & started drinking coffe to get your caffeine - you'd rapidly see the foolishness of a comparable Health Canada warning designed to outlaw coffe:
"Consumption of coffe may pose risks such as caffeine poisoning and addiction."
.....right.
So by all means...show your friends & family that TIME article. It should considerably set them at ease about the contents of what you're vaping. You've made a positive, healthy choice & added years - decades - to your life expectancy. You might also want to read the way that I describe it to my friends & family (in the first post link I gave you).
Hope that helped!
The TIME article is a clincher, but the rest was valuable too. Let us know how things go.
P.S. For the record, I think Canada is one of the best places for vapers. Apart from a brief, weak, official "frown" from Health Canada in March 2009...practically speaking, Canada is content to allow people to vape if they want. With or without nicotine. So yay. God keep our land glorious & free.
