This is Dubai, but it could happen to us...

[htchhikr]

I love this line from the Health guy. ANY anti would love to say this here. If you take my PV away Im going to follow you around outside with my analog cigs puffing away. YA GOT THAT?

Redha Salman, the director of public health and safety at Dubai Municipality, said that anyone caught selling the products within the Emirates should recognise they are breaking the law.

“This is settled. It’s a banned item and we don’t allow this to be sold commercially,” he said yesterday.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100122/NATIONAL/701219874/1041/OPINION

 

[420GypsyGirl]

Once the testing is done and proves these are safer than cigarettes, watch how fast these bans drop!

 

[myrtlemeva]

did you like the picture of me....????? LOL........ I tried my best but somehow didn't get the message across to the narrow-mindedness of the UAE.

This was my letter to the editor, emialed just now.....

Matt Kwong's article on the e-cig today has raised more questions than it has answered..........

Dr Wedad was quoted as saying....."....there is nicotine in the e-cigs......"
Well --- not necessarily - some e-cig users have managed to reduce thier nicotine intake to zero. They are available with zero nicotine cartridges.

If Dr Wedad is so concerned about the ill-effects of nicotine, maybe she should also look at banning coffee, which contains the drug caffeine and has similar effects to nicotine on the human body.

The whole point of the e-cig is that it is used as an alternative to smoking and should, in my opinion, be called a nicotine inhaler, as the very word "cigarette" instills some sort of manic reaction in the minds of the anti-smoking brigade. It is a harm-reduced method of satisfying ones physical addiction to nicotine (if desired) or psychological addiction to the "act" of smoking.

The vapour produced HAS in fact been tested, and nothing harmful is emitted.

A recent ruling by a Federal Court judge in the USA, Judge Leon, gave a resounding "thumbs-up" to the e-cig, and the FDA sufferred HUGE humiliation at their loss in Round One of the battle.

As I see it, the battle is for mature adults to be given the right to choose whether to inhale thousands of KNOWN chemicals, 60+ of which are KNOWN to be carcinogenic in tobacco cigarettes or to minimise the harm to their body by using an e-cig which contains just a handful of chemicals, none of which cause cancer.

The court case, which lasted an unprecedented 8 months, concluded that the FDA had no authority over e-cigs as a drug-delivery device, and that, as long as the product was marketed responsibly, should NOT be taken off the market. Judge Leon obviously took his time to investigate the product and listen to tens of thousands of American users who have seen enormous health benefits.

PLEASE can someone answer this question..................If it's known that tobacco cigarettes cause debilitating illness and premature death, why are they still available legally on every street corner? And why is the ecig, which, as Judge Leon stated in his ruling, has shown to have no harmful effects, being banned?

The "Quit or Die" attitude of non or ex-smokers is totally bewildering, in the light of products which are available to help nicotine addicts.
In my honest opinion, this attitude is based on ignorance and lack of care, not to mention the powerful influence of Big Tobacco and Big Pharmaceutical companies..............

If the UAE, as it claims, follows the lead of the FDA in the USA, it should also now lift the ban on the sale of e-cigs and allow smokers (or "vapours" ) their right to choose.

 

[NightNurse]

Isn't this the same country that just gave a 13yr old girl 90 lashes for having a cellphone in school?

 

[myrtlemeva]

no --- think that was Saudi. we don't do lashings here ---- only lashings of hypocrisy

 

[htchhikr]

Hey we have a newspaper star on the forum. Nice work myrtlemeva!

 

[myrtlemeva]

thanx htchhikr.....! can't wait for more test results.......wonder what excuses they'll come up with then....????

 

[olderthandirt]

Yes myrtle, not only a good picture but a good letter to the editor as well.

 

[Vocalek]

I am not following Redha Salman’s logic in opposing the sale of electronic cigarettes because “We don’t have proof that it’s harmless.” Numerous lab reports state that the vapor contains no harmful substances. A collection of these reports can be accessed at CASAA.org.

The more important point is that there is no proof that it’s harmful. Last June, the FDA called upon consumers to report adverse events involving electronic cigarettes to the FDA’s MedWatch monitoring system. Apparently no such reports came in, because U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon granted the injunction requested by the e-cigarette companies. “FDA cites no evidence that those electronic cigarettes have endangered anyone,” stated Judge Leon.

In fact, the opposite is true. About 100,000 U.S. users have been able to substitute the electronic cigarette for their tobacco cigarettes and, as a result, have seen many improvements in their lung health and markers of cardiovascular health. So why would the director of public health and safety be opposed to Dubai smokers being helped to set aside their tobacco cigarettes and enjoy improved health? It makes no sense.

 

[Kate51]

Well stated all!
And Vocalek, include our mental health in that paragraph. I do believe a lot of those 100,000 users are also thinking a little more clearly these days! It's amazing and wonderful.

 

[myrtlemeva]

Thanks so much, Vocalek, for your support on this one. Does anyone else want to write a letter to the editor of this paper? It's quite an important publication for the whole region..... XXX