Oklahoma City- area to watch

[Spazmelda]

http://watchdog.org/116999/oklahoma-city-council-member-wants-consider-e-cigarette-ban/

Corrected to proper link!

 

[AgentAnia]

This article is actually about the "public health ecig debate" in the UK, and well worth the read, if only for the comments section.

I was going to comment about this, from the article by Jim McManus, director of public health at the Hertfordshire county council:

It's time we elucidated some principles for a debate. We need to establish whether we want people to be tobacco or nicotine free, and we should ask ourselves how we identity what will and won't work. We need to ask ourselves whether regulation should always be in favour of using products such as e-cigarettes and how true it is that these products can lead people on to smoking.

It's in the nature of public health that we come across challenges where we end up in less well-charted territory. This is precisely where we need to discuss and think together, and disagree respectfully.

My comment was about the "we," which doesn't seem to include actual users of ecigs. However, one of the commenters, Johnd2000, says it better than I would have:

Personally, as a vaper, I would welcome a debate about how best to regulate Ecigs. I don't know anyone who would strongly object to age-restrictions on sales, or better (clearer) labelling requirements. However, the MHRA insistence on full medicines regulation will be disastrous for public health as it will take all existing products off the market overnight. Existing users, who have been completely ignored by the MHRA, the tobacco-control industry and politicians so far, will have no choice but to return to smoking lit tobacco, or take other (unknown) risks on the black market.

So yes, let's have a proper debate about ecig regulation, but please....can we leave the propaganda at the door and....just once....can we please include Vapers? We are the stakeholders who stand to lose the most, if our politicians and PH experts get it wrong, so please...NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US.

 

[AgentAnia]

Another incisive comment, from "olddodderer (whose hand I would love to shake!):

It is one of life's little ironies (or God's little jokes) that all non-smokers know how to stop smoking, but no smokers do. Ecigs change that game - we now know how to stop but the non-smokers don't understand them and distrust them. Unfortunately the non-smokers hold all the levers of power and those in power never admit they were wrong.

If you accept that smoking kills, you must also accept that stopping people stop smoking is equally fatal.

 

[Spazmelda]

Oops, I posted the wrong article! I was going to post the guardian article in news. I will change the link here to the Oklahoma article! My apologies!

Thanks Ania!