Local news Fear-Mongering electronic cigarettes...

[DC2]

The news stories involving electronic cigarettes always seem to emphasize the "unknown dangers". In the stories I've read, these kinds of "unknown danger" statements usually seem linked to quotes or interviews with people who are against electronic cigarettes who also like to emphasize the unknown dangers. Most of these people are either either actual members of non-smoking groups or academics with some kind of anti-smoking pedigree. I don't think these people are reacting out of pure financial cynicism, the idea that if analogs grow unpopular they will lose funding or jobs, I just think they're so rabidly anti-smoking that anything that looks like smoking must be smoking.

I find more than a little good old-fashioned American puritanism in the fear mongering about "unknown dangers" -- if they're enjoyable, they must somehow be bad for you, and since we don't really know if they are bad for you we should just assume that they are bad for you, because, they, something enjoyable is supposed to be bad for you. There is no redemption without suffering.

I don't know, but I'm sure they will find something "bad" about e-cigs. It just stands to reason that mass-produced parts from China which are used to create an inhalable vapor will produce traces of SOMETHING bad, whether its trace heavy metals or some other chemical which is "bad" for you. The same is true of various juices -- there's a lot of mom and pop kitchen chemistry going on and production processes for flavorings and extracts which probably aren't at FDA-regulated standards.

Of course none of this says anything about the relative risk levels next to actual analogs or even relative to spending quality time in front of a smokey bonfire, but I'm sure whatever these risks turn out to be will be used to bludgeon e-cigs as dangerous.

As for the local media and accuracy, I don't put a lot of stock in local journalism. Local TV journalism really isn't very good; print journalism is probably better but given the nature of deadlines and the withering print news business, even good journalists lack the time relative to deadlines and expanded workloads to do anything relative to actual research or critical thinking. A couple of quotes from people opposed to it and some semi-factual statements reiterating that and you have an article.

Congratulations, you have just summarized the last four years in a couple of paragraphs.

They have already found quite a few "bad" things about electronic cigarettes...
Although each one required stretching the truth beyond recognition.

 

[AgentAnia]

So, I don't care for watching the news.
Not a big fan.
But tonight they had a little teaser talking about the dangers of electronic cigarettes "Film at 11!"

Hyped it up during a few commercial breaks, and then (as I reluctantly waited to hear the "breaking news") the segment comes on:

They said - very simply, and matter-of-factly - that the "dangers from these new electronic cigarette devices and the unknown ingredients in their liquids are raising concern, due to a recent trend in high call volume at Poison Control Centers throughout the country for people becoming very sick after using them."

End of story.

Onto the local rapists, murderers and burglars.

Admittedly my phrasing is not 100% word-for-word... but SOOOOO close to EXACTLY what was stated.

Does this bother anyone else as much as it bothers me???

I just did several searches for "e-cigarettes" in combination with "poison control center" and came up with two mentions (no time limit set).

One was from Oregon (No date on the document, but the latest date mentioned was a ref. to a pub. dates 2013):

Since 2011, the Oregon Poison Control Center has responded to 12 calls regarding unintentional nicotine poisoning in children that consumed e-cigarette solutions. Five of these cases included visits to the emergency room.

*All* the rest referenced the article from Kentucky, which evidently has been taken up by several news services. More info and discussion here: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ing-increase-calls-poison-control-center.html

Since very likely your local news picked up the Kentucky thing, SmokieTreats, it looks to me like they're guilty of shoddy journalism and some news writer simply changed "one poison control center" to "poison control centers throughout the country."

Do check out the thread I linked to; much more relevant data there.