Recently (in some threads) circular and even emotional discussions started whether vaping is a harm reduction or completely harmless thing. So, I’ll try to explain my point of view.
There is nothing completely harmless in our lives. Cars, food, and even children… And life itself is the deadliest endeavor – nobody survived it yet. Sooner or later everybody comes to a chilling realization that each hour that was lived shortens life by 60 minutes.
And let’s speak about vaping as little as possible (to reduce emotions), and make instead a thought experiment.
Suppose refined sugar was invented and went to retail just recently, so that general public has no experience in sugar consumption. Immediately pioneering scientific papers will appear. It will be found that sugar cane plantations are contaminated with GMO strands of sugar cane. It will be found that prolonged frying of sugar in a hot skillet produces foul smell and ugly chemicals which are carcinogenic in the state of California. Right away sugar will be banned in Singapore and soon thereafter it will be heavily taxed in PA. TV news anchors will patiently time and again explain to public dangers of sugar consumptions. Early adopters of sugar, so called sugareaters, will be looked upon as a fringe group in a desperate need of health education. Sugareating will be banned in public places, of course.
And of course sugareaters will discuss their problems on sugareaters’ forums.
Popular questions will be “Where to get sugar in Singapore?”, “How much sugar is too much?”, and, of course “Is sugar harmless?”
Question about Singapore will be mostly ignored – really, how many people around the world can answer it?
“How much sugar is too much?” will bring different answers of course. From “just a little bit” to “in moderation” to “As much as you can. If you do not want to through up yet, then your body wants more sugar.”
And the most debated question will be “Is sugar harmless?” Paper about sugar and a skillet will be unanimously and rightfully debunked (really, no sane sugareater will ever try to eat burnt sugar). It will be noted many times that sugar is part of all vegetables and fruits and so it should be even beneficial for health. Weak attempts to call for moderation (“but what if…”) will have some success but will not prevail.
As years passed, medical science will find out (with the help of sugareaters as volunteers for research) that sugar is bad for teeth (but good teeth brushing habits can prevent it) and excess of sugar consumption leads to obesity.
Then there will be new answers on old questions on sugareaters’ forum: “sugar is harmless if you properly brush you teeth and do not overeat it”. But by this time most of general public will be converted to sugareating and PA will be forced to remove its sin tax. Not so sure about Singapore.
There is nothing completely harmless in our lives. Cars, food, and even children… And life itself is the deadliest endeavor – nobody survived it yet. Sooner or later everybody comes to a chilling realization that each hour that was lived shortens life by 60 minutes.
And let’s speak about vaping as little as possible (to reduce emotions), and make instead a thought experiment.
Suppose refined sugar was invented and went to retail just recently, so that general public has no experience in sugar consumption. Immediately pioneering scientific papers will appear. It will be found that sugar cane plantations are contaminated with GMO strands of sugar cane. It will be found that prolonged frying of sugar in a hot skillet produces foul smell and ugly chemicals which are carcinogenic in the state of California. Right away sugar will be banned in Singapore and soon thereafter it will be heavily taxed in PA. TV news anchors will patiently time and again explain to public dangers of sugar consumptions. Early adopters of sugar, so called sugareaters, will be looked upon as a fringe group in a desperate need of health education. Sugareating will be banned in public places, of course.
And of course sugareaters will discuss their problems on sugareaters’ forums.
Popular questions will be “Where to get sugar in Singapore?”, “How much sugar is too much?”, and, of course “Is sugar harmless?”
Question about Singapore will be mostly ignored – really, how many people around the world can answer it?
“How much sugar is too much?” will bring different answers of course. From “just a little bit” to “in moderation” to “As much as you can. If you do not want to through up yet, then your body wants more sugar.”
And the most debated question will be “Is sugar harmless?” Paper about sugar and a skillet will be unanimously and rightfully debunked (really, no sane sugareater will ever try to eat burnt sugar). It will be noted many times that sugar is part of all vegetables and fruits and so it should be even beneficial for health. Weak attempts to call for moderation (“but what if…”) will have some success but will not prevail.
As years passed, medical science will find out (with the help of sugareaters as volunteers for research) that sugar is bad for teeth (but good teeth brushing habits can prevent it) and excess of sugar consumption leads to obesity.
Then there will be new answers on old questions on sugareaters’ forum: “sugar is harmless if you properly brush you teeth and do not overeat it”. But by this time most of general public will be converted to sugareating and PA will be forced to remove its sin tax. Not so sure about Singapore.
