Too good to be true?

[Spazmelda]

This phrase has been going through my head regarding e-cigs. We've all had it drilled into our heads that if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn't true. I think a lot of the people opposed to e-cigs, and harm reduction in general, have this somewhere lurking in the back of their minds.

But are things that sound too good to be true always not true? That just can't be possible. Sometimes things really are amazingly good ideas. I was trying to think of some other things that must have sounded too good to be true before they became commonplace.

Indoor plumbing? You mean we don't have to go out to the well or stream or pump to get our water? We can wash the dishes right in the kitchen and the dirty water will just go down the drain? We can 'do our business' right here in this porcelain contraption and it will be flushed right away? Don't have to use a chamber pot or an outhouse? Sounds too good to be true, there must be a catch!

Automobiles? We don't have to keep horses, carriages? It won't take us an entire day to go a few miles? This has to be a scam!

Airplanes, electricity, birth control?

To be fair most of these technologies had growing pains and all probably had their detractors as well. Few would argue these days though that these things were "too good to be true". It will be interesting to see if e-cigs someday fall unequivocally in this category.

Thanks for reading, just some idle rumblings from my brain. LOL!

 

[DaveP]

Every new technology has drawbacks. Electricity produces greenhouse gases as does transportation. Indoor plumbing produces concentrations of waste that must be processed instead of allowing nature to process those a little here and a little there in a septic tank, which feeds the surrounding flora and provides rich environments for plant life in the vicinity.

Ecigs produce much less in the way of pollution, far less than burning tobacco. The health aspects haven't been fully explored since it's a new technology, but early testing says that we only get 10% to 30% of the nicotine that we got from smoking. The components of PV vapor consist mainly of water vapor. Much of the PG or VG remains in our system and is eliminated normally. PG is listed in the ingredients labels of hundreds of products we eat, drink, apply to our skin, brush our teeth with, and it's in the air we breathe in buildings and hospitals. It's a germicide that captures germs by absorbing them into airborne droplets that float down to the floor where they can be mopped up.

Compared to tobacco, vaping is a relatively safe activity according to the tests we have available to read and study. Of course, anything we add to our diets or inhaled gases can have side effects, but vaping seems to be about the safest way to simulate an activity that was killing us with greatly significant harm reduction over cigarettes.

 

[Mac]

Tesla was developing wireless internet at around the same time the telegraph was invented. (this was well before there were even computers.) Hell the telegraph used like a half dozen of his patents. Still, all of his funding dried up at around the same time because his ideas seemed so fantastical and what was perceived as a more practical way of sending messages had surfaced.

 

[jch419]

I will take the 3-4 ingredients in E-Liquid to the 500 in Smokies any day.

I mean for example, they say everything causes cancer-I've heard diet soda and even hair gel can cause 'cancer' ..just some examples here.

At some point, people (if presented with the opportunity) need to decide to choose the road that makes more sense when it comes to taking part in a habit. Perhaps a person knows their-self and they know they do not or will not ever give up their addiction to nicotine. So why not go with the better alternative?

To sum it up, all that matters at the end of the day is that we live our lives, it's ok to have fun and have some imperfect habits! Our time is short! Vape on!

 

[Spazmelda]

That's really interesting about Tesla. I don't know much about him except that he was supposedly pretty brilliant.

Sometimes I play a game in my head. It goes like this... If I could go back in time and invent something what would it be? When would I invent it? Would there be enough technology in that time to invent it? And would I have enough knowledge to do so? Like, the printing press. Could you go back to pre Gutenberg times and invent it? How far back could you go and be able to invent it? How would you build it? Would it be successful in that time?

Or antibiotics? The cotton gin?

 

[Ratchet]

Is it 100% safe???? I don't have the faintest idea and neither does anyone else.... Is it safer than cigis? IMO - that's a wholehearted YES regardless of what my own brother tries to tell me (he's in Germany and is believing the scare tactics of some of the politicians)............ I believe it's better for me and I LOVE it so I will continue to vape unless someone comes up with solid proof that it will kill me sooner than tar/CO2 and the 3998 other chemicals/carcinogens in burning tobacco... LOL!

 

[budsalinger]

That's really interesting about Tesla. I don't know much about him except that he was supposedly pretty brilliant.

rotfl - that cracked me up for some reason

yes I suppose he was pretty brilliant

 

[jamentertainment]

This phrase has been going through my head regarding e-cigs. We've all had it drilled into our heads that if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn't true. I think a lot of the people opposed to e-cigs, and harm reduction in general, have this somewhere lurking in the back of their minds.

But are things that sound too good to be true always not true? That just can't be possible. Sometimes things really are amazingly good ideas. I was trying to think of some other things that must have sounded too good to be true before they became commonplace.

Indoor plumbing? You mean we don't have to go out to the well or stream or pump to get our water? We can wash the dishes right in the kitchen and the dirty water will just go down the drain? We can 'do our business' right here in this porcelain contraption and it will be flushed right away? Don't have to use a chamber pot or an outhouse? Sounds too good to be true, there must be a catch!

Automobiles? We don't have to keep horses, carriages? It won't take us an entire day to go a few miles? This has to be a scam!

Airplanes, electricity, birth control?

To be fair most of these technologies had growing pains and all probably had their detractors as well. Few would argue these days though that these things were "too good to be true". It will be interesting to see if e-cigs someday fall unequivocally in this category.

Thanks for reading, just some idle rumblings from my brain. LOL!

Glad you let it out...give urself a hug!!!

 

[Spazmelda]

Glad you let it out...give urself a hug!!!

Okay. I did.

 

[DC2]

It's a germicide that captures germs by absorbing them into airborne droplets that float down to the floor where they can be mopped up.

Do you have a link to where you got that information?
Because everything I have ever found says that propylene glycol acts directly.


For example this is from the well-known Time Magazine article from way back...

“A powerful preventive against pneumonia, influenza and other respiratory diseases may be promised by a brilliant series of experiments conducted during the last three years at the University of Chicago’s Billings Hospital. Dr. Oswald Hope Robertson last week was making final tests with a new germicidal vapor — propylene glycol — to sterilize air. If the results so far obtained are confirmed, one of the age-old searches of man will finally achieve its goal…

“…the researchers found that the propylene glycol itself was a potent germicide. One part of glycol in 2,000,000 parts of air would — within a few seconds — kill concentrations of air-suspended pneumococci, streptococci and other bacteria numbering millions to the cubic foot.

“How did it work? Respiratory disease bacteria float about in tiny droplets of water breathed, sneezed and coughed from human beings. The germicidal glycol also floats in infinitesimally small particles. Calculations showed that if droplet had to hit droplet, it would take two to 200 hours for sterilization of sprayed air to take place. Since sterilization took place in seconds, Dr. Robertson concluded that the glycol droplets must give off gas molecules which dissolve in the water droplets and kill the germs within them.