Rolygate kicks .... in the Guardian

[b3ast1e]

Sorry if this is old news here guys, sure it probably is, in which case please delete. But in case none of you saw this:

Try Smokeless Cigarettes Says Governement

As Rolygate succinctly and expertly pointed out, it's time the British press stopped pushing this idea that e-cigs have just this minute popped into existence, as though it's exotic alien technology.

Even when we get vaguely positive reporting in a generally responsible newspaper like the Guardian, the spin put on it is that it's all a great big fat question mark. The information is out there, even a cursory bit of investigation by the most deadline harassed noob hack can unearth a veritable gold mine of data on the web about this whole thing. It took me about a day of reading to get a very good grasp of it all, thanks to the work done here and elsewhere. Not so the British press apparently.

Anyway, here's to you Rolygate, job well done

 

[bruiser]

Rolygate is not the only ecf member posting there. EKeller is also a member and posting. Her name here is Vocalek.

 

[b3ast1e]

Ah ok, no offense meant to her, fair play to them both for sticking up for us in the face of a lot of ignorance.

The fact that these newspaper reports carry anything positive at all is due in part to the work communities like this are doing. David Cameron's "Nudge" unit ought to be enough to give us Brits sleepless nights, but at least on this issue they're on our side.

 

[StotheK]

The National Review did a pro e-cig analysis piece on the UK story as well: The War on E-Cigarettes - Jeff Stier & Gregory Conley - National Review Online

 

[RippleInStillWater]

Roly acquits himself well whenever interviewed, I wonder why he is not the UK go-to guy for comments on ecigs (he has been great on VPLive!)......unless there is an agenda pushed by the powers-that-be against them mitigated by their donors......

 

[b3ast1e]

The National Review did a pro e-cig analysis piece on the UK story as well: The War on E-Cigarettes - Jeff Stier & Gregory Conley - National Review Online

"The so-called public-health community simply strives for more control over our lives, even at the expense of shortening them."

Amen to that. I don't have too much experience with the FDA's doings being a resident of the UK, but that's how it's gone with our Foods Standards Agency, and I bet the FDA are no different at all; perpetually swinging back and forth, telling us what's good for us, then changing their minds, then changing it back again. Of course, it's the nature of the beast, things move fast, test evaluation methods improve, Karl Popper's principle of falsifiable science comes into play as cumulative knowledge causes the picture to be tweaked. Most of us can grasp that.

All the more reason surely then, to keep the discussion open ended and stop reaching for blanket prohibition as the only blunt tool in the box. I don't like our "Nudge" unit at all, a shadowy think tank who have been given the remit of tinkering with culture, it just stinks of Orwellian nightmares to me *reaches for tin foil hat*. But at least they're recognising that this whole vaping thing might just be another of several potential ways of empowering a section of society that knows what it's been doing is bad for it, desperately wants to do something about it, but has thus far been given three stark and largely ineffective choices: trust in big pharma, abstain, or die.

Roly acquits himself well whenever interviewed, I wonder why he is not the UK go-to guy for comments on ecigs (he has been great on VPLive!)......unless there is an agenda pushed by the powers-that-be against them mitigated by their donors......

They always seem to get the vendor owners in. Of course, those guys talk a good game, but they're motivated primarily by profit, so not very reliable witnesses as far as nay sayers are concerned. Those responsible for ECF really ought to be the go to guys as you say, but it's not working that way here right now. I think that will change.

 

[StotheK]

I don't think there's a US equivalent to the nudge unit. I was totally baffled by it until a commenter on my blog explained it for me. It's an interesting concept no matter how it shakes out politically.