Officials report biggest fall in adult smoking in decades

[GrouchyOldGuy]

The way I see it is its more of a power struggle. BT,BP, and the gov are seeing $$$ which equals power slipping from their grasp. I think this FDA crap is just a way to raise the price of playing the game for mod and juice makers. If they cant afford to get all their products approved(which is out of their price range), then they will end up selling the business to someone who can afford it.(ie BT). So in the end the FDA regs end up lessened but BT ends up buying all US producers and then we can continue to vape but BT still gets the profit. Just my opinion but I'd love to be wrong.

 

[SammyS]

In listening to MPR they were interviewing an analyst from the Minnesota health organization responsible for this study. When they asked about e-cigs, the analyst said "The reduction is not from people switching to e-cigs, it is directly due to tobacco tax increases and very aggressive campaigns, if anything we are seeing more troubling evidence of kids starting to use e-cigs and then change to cigarettes." I'm moving to the UK! This is just crazy, I take part in as much advocacy as I am able to and I feel as if I am trying to feed a kid brussel sprouts for the first time. They look yucky therefore they are yucky... Flippn' politicians and ignorant people in control of my future. NOW THAT IS SCARY!

 

[Buster282]

I'm sick of all these so called health "experts" spouting all of their nonsense to put vaping in a bad light! I'd like to see a non-profit started whose sole purpose would be to advertise /advocate the truth about vaping on a NATIONAL LEVEL! Like, "New study shows smoking rates at an all time low. XXX thousand people have stopped smoking using vaping products in the past X years." Both statements together in USA Today or Time Mag. or ... On billoard in major cities! FDA couldn't say kwap! A way to change peoples perceptions. Companies and consumers coild support it. Try to find some wealthy individuals to help the cause! J Depp comes to mind other truths like Vaping ( e-cigs ) save lives! Royal C of Phsycians - 95%safer... We need to fight this dastardly naritive!

 

[Robino1]

All of this has me wondering what if. What if vapers do go back to smoking due to these regs? That would definitely show up in studies of the smoking population and it would be difficult to prove it wasn't because of the deeming regs. This scenario is likely. There has to be something that can be done if this does happen. I don't know what exactly, maybe something equal to a class action lawsuit by formers vapers against the FDA? I don't know but I do feel that the rates will be going back up and that will have to mean something in terms of justice for those who went back to smoking because they had no other alternative that worked for them.

It makes me sad that this could actually happen.

 

[Katmar]

Thanks Katmar! I also sent a note thanking them and telling them my story.

Here's a contact link for the committee in case anyone needs it: Contact | Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee

You're more than welcome, Sonic. I hope people will take advantage of this and contact them, as they seem to HEAR what people and businesses are saying. That's what we need, and they seem like they are NOT going to let the FDA off the hook.

 

[Von Vape]

Thanks for posting the contact link, sonicdsl.

The Front Porch would be a good place for it too.
The more Sen. Johnson hears from us, the more fuel it will add to his fire. At least that's the way it "sounds". I sure hope so!

Thanks Again!
Von Vape

 

[VNeil]

These are the brilliant observations all of us who claim to strive for reason should acknowledge. Bureaucrats in ivory towers are insulated from reality.

Good luck.

They aren't insulated. They know exactly what they are doing. They are corrupt and money hungry.

 

[GBalkam]

Ya know what guys? Lets be totally real here. Fact.. I am a big guy, as in packing more than "a few extra pounds". Before I switched to vapes, I would get out of breath just getting into bed, sometimes to the point of wondering if i would suffocate if i fell asleep. Usually after 5 minutes, things would settle down though. Now, the fact is, if i am huffing an puffing from getting into bed, my lungs clearly are not getting 100% of the o2 they want. Meaning my heart has to beat a lot faster to compensate and get the O2 that is there, to where it needs to go. From a strictly realistic point of view, switching to vapes may have already saved my life! If switching to vapes gave me an extra year or two, to hell with the long term effects! I'm already ahead of the game! I just had a comical, but morbid thought... 2 doctors doing an autopsy... "It's a good thing this guy died from a heart attack, those vapes he was doing might have killed him in 30 or 40 years!"

 

[livelysocks]

The FDA is more of a political organization than a scientific one. Their policies are ruled by lobbyists and mass belief, and less by true scientific results.

Right On.....Spot On....If they were not, they would require BT to reveal and label all of the ingredients in a cigarette. ALL other consumer products require labeling....but NOT BT. Kids know how to read labels these days. If they knew what was in a cig, would they start smoking?? Every bottle of ejuice I have ever used has a declaration of ingredients. And that makes me proud that I know.

 

[GBalkam]

From what I've been reading, regardless of each persons view on the addiction properties of nicotine, one thing is abundantly clear, and all seem to be in agreement. Vaping is NOT smoking! So yes, if i switched to vapes about 3 months ago and haven't had a cigarette in 2 1/2 months, then I HAVE QUIT SMOKING! There is (usually) no tobacco in e-juice (except maybe distilled in tobacco flavored juice... but that still isn't tobacco imo) and there is no smoke. Nothing burns. (except dry hits, but cotton isn't regulated.. lol.. "Hey, man.. im jonesin.. front me a few cotton balls.. you can date my sister.. she luv you long time.." *full metal jacket ref*). I mean, jebuz.. are people that eat tofu burgers still vegetarian if they don't eat any meat? If I eat egg plant, does that make me a smoker? What Im saying is, using nicotine may be addictive, but that makes you a nicotine addict, not a smoker. Caffeine is also addictive, and anyone that disputes that fact needs to spend a day with me when i run out. Im unbearable. lol.

I also think, anybody saying vaping leads to smoking, should be forced to smoke a cigarette. BIG difference between a cherry flavored e-juice and a mouthful of burnt tobacco. Even when i smoked, i found the taste revolting. Now, since i started vaping, I no longer even miss the throat hit. I use 20/80 juice for flavor and fog. I'll use my mod while watching tv, which is healthier than stuffing my face with potato chips, and use my vplum when i crave a REAL cigarette, (since it provides "the ritual" of smoking)

To be blatantly honest here, I figure that anyone claiming vaping is smoking, or is a gateway to smoking, is just plain A) Stupid, B) uninformed, C) being paid to say so. I mean, good lord, if you want more nicotine, you just buy stronger juice!

It also seems highly suspicious that the FDA is so concerned with what might happen from using vapes, yet they still haven't banned cigarettes, knowing full well what the effects of smoking are.

 

[GBalkam]

This is kind of funny... Im posting in a vaping forum, but not vaping while Im doing it. Yet, if i was still smoking, I would have a cigarette hanging out of my mouth while i typed. LOL.

 

[MyMagicMist]

Try over 6 Grand per person per year. That is the math I did. But keep in mind cigarettes are expensive here in Mass

Alright. I was figuring an average of $6 per pack for Marlboro Reds, without any taxes just a basic $6 per pack. Chose Marlboro Reds as they seem to be a sales leader. The $6 per pack makes a carton $60, I figured two cartons a month. That was what got me through usually, course, I was a moderate smoker. That gives me the figures I used.

Your suggestion of 6K though does not sound unrealistic either. Let's meet midway and call it 3.5K per person. That gives us $3,500,000,000 per million people, per year. Yes, it may be exactly as you say 6K per person. I don't want to see those numbers though. Already getting sick looking at these.

9 million people @ $3.5K per year = $31,500,000,000 This is 31 and 1 half billion.

$31,500,000,000 * 5 years = 1.575e+11 I would figure that is a little over 1 trillion and a half.

Still say that is Money which is enough for motive. Do not think anyone could convince me that banning vaping was about offering me better health, especially not a lobbyist for Big Tobacco.

 

[VNeil]

Alright. I was figuring an average of $6 per pack for Marlboro Reds, without any taxes just a basic $6 per pack. Chose Marlboro Reds as they seem to be a sales leader. The $6 per pack makes a carton $60, I figured two cartons a month. That was what got me through usually, course, I was a moderate smoker. That gives me the figures I used.

Your suggestion of 6K though does not sound unrealistic either. Let's meet midway and call it 3.5K per person. That gives us $3,500,000,000 per million people, per year. Yes, it may be exactly as you say 6K per person. I don't want to see those numbers though. Already getting sick looking at these.

9 million people @ $3.5K per year = $31,500,000,000 This is 31 and 1 half billion.

$31,500,000,000 * 5 years = 1.575e+11 I would figure that is a little over 1 trillion and a half.

Still say that is Money which is enough for motive. Do not think anyone could convince me that banning vaping was about offering me better health, especially not a lobbyist for Big Tobacco.

Easily googled numbers indicate the total annual tobacco tax revenue in the USA alone is about $32 bi!lion, including about $8 billion in MSA payments. No need to extrapolate out from personal anecdotal consumption. Since there are about 32 mi!lion smokers that is an even $1,000 per smoker. Just taxes.

 

[MyMagicMist]

Easily googled numbers indicate the total annual tobacco tax revenue in the USA alone is about $32 bi!lion, including about $8 billion in MSA payments. No need to extrapolate out from personal anecdotal consumption. Since there are about 32 mi!lion smokers that is an even $1,000 per smoker. Just taxes.

And that was what I had suggested before, $1,000 a year per each smoker. At 9 million that's 9 billion a year lost. Multiply that for five years & you get 45 billion lost in 5 years.

@Dave M suggested the $6,000 a year figure. I met in the middle at $3,500 a year. Either way I still see it as a metric poop ton of money that fits as a clear motive.

 

[VNeil]

And that was what I had suggested before, $1,000 a year per each smoker. At 9 million that's 9 billion a year lost. Multiply that for five years & you get 45 billion lost in 5 years.

@Dave M suggested the $6,000 a year figure. I met in the middle at $3,500 a year. Either way I still see it as a metric poop ton of money that fits as a clear motive.

The rise in high school vaping has coincided with an unprecedented decline in high school smoking of 31% in the past two years (from 15.7% to 10.8%). That is a decline of almost 5% of about 15 million students or about 750,000 lost customers of tobacco revenue. Just in two years.

No wonder Tobacco Control is so worried about teenage vaping. They need to keep American youth smoking. But it isn't working...

 

[VNeil]

...The premise being.. why would 1 person require 200 bottles of whiskey if they were not selling it illegally?

When Prohibition is imminent?

 

[MacTechVpr]

…I think a lot of people lose sight of the fact that it was the 2009 Congress that [unlawfully] empowered the FDA to effectively ban any new product (introduced after Feb 2007) that contained nicotine. So congress effectively…created this mess and it is congress that must fix it, unless someone convinces the courts to overturn it for some legal reason.

There now. Good summary of the situation. Congrats.

Let's get vaping out of tobacco legislation.

Good luck.

 

[LV_VAPE_LIFE]

Its simple its about cash. This is the Hijacking of an industry. First time I've seen this in my lifetime (30 years old)

 

[SammyS]

Saving grace in all this is that they cannot stop vaping because of the ingredients and parts these devices are made from. They would have to regulate Food, Beverage, and Flashlight companies. ;P

 

[cookiebun]

If and when big tobacco is the only remaining player in the ecig industry, they will quickly...
1.) Phase out production of ecigarettes because profit margain from regular tobacco cigs is higher.
2.) Figure out how to make ecigarettes more addictive (and toxic) through additives.

This is why I will never, ever buy an ecig product that BT has had a hand in.