Columbus Dispatch: Vaping, smoking restrictions neither necessary, fair

[LoveVanilla]

After months of Chicken Little “the sky is falling”, half-truth, and falsehoods spread by tobacco Free Kids, AHA, ALA, etc., backed by junk science from Stan Glantz with cohorts, and underwritten by billionaire prohibitionist Michael Bloomberg, it is refreshing to see the real voice of public health step to the forefront. This is an excellent read from somebody that knows.

Vaping, smoking restrictions neither necessary, fair

As public health leaders, we have been deeply troubled by an alarmist turn in the tone of the electronic cigarette debate and calls for wide-reaching bans that could keep an important tool out of the hands of smokers who want to quit.

For smokers, the best option is to quit. For those who cannot or will not, we strongly urge switching completely or remaining on less-harmful nicotine vaping products from legal sources. The yardstick against which we judge risk must be smoking traditional cigarettes.

Smoking kills 7 million people worldwide and 480,000 Americans each year.

We are concerned about across-the-board measures to restrict flavors in vape products. We have evidence that smokers who vape nicotine with flavors are two to three times more likely to quit smoking. It is critically important to find a vape that is satisfying enough to help a smoker move completely away from cigarettes.

...it is irresponsible to leave appealing, toxic tobacco such as menthol cigarettes and flavored little cigars in stores and gas stations throughout the nation while banning flavors in vapes.

Reasonable regulation can contain youth experimentation and the black market. The time has come to engage in transparent discussion of the evidence, communicate accurate information to the public and resist the prohibitionist impulse.

Amy Lauren Fairchild is dean of the College of Public Health at Ohio State University.