Ill Wind Blowing In Santa Ana
Myths and lies are still being used in America to promote a ban on the sale of all vape products
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by Dave Cross
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Councilwoman Mendoza typified the attack on tobacco harm reduction when she said: “We are in the midst of a youth tobacco use epidemic in which tobacco companies are luring kids into a lifetime of nicotine addiction with the sale and targeted marketing of candy-flavoured tobacco products.
“For too long, tobacco companies have preyed upon our youth, targeting our communities with misleading advertisements and candy flavours.”
Her blinkered stupidity was echoed by Councilman Bacerra: “The fact of the matter is, whether it’s a hookah, whether it’s an old pipe ... regardless of what the apparatus is, regardless of where it is, does it cause harm? Yes or no. I feel it’s our obligation on this dais to try to protect those in our community when we can. I believe that this ban would do that.”
Without a single vote against, the motion was passed and businesses left facing a 45 day period within which to clear their stocks, leaving ex-smokers who have successfully switched to hunt for alternative sources for vape kits and e-liquid.
The ridiculousness of the measure was amplified with the news that smoking in the United States has now declined to a record low thanks to the intervention of electronic cigarettes.
The latest figures show the smoking rate is now down to 12.5%, equating to 30 million people.
The category Tobacco Products in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the section that refers to e-cig products, also shows a decline in use – now down to 19% - meaning there are now 2 million fewer adult vapers.
The CDC (Centres for Disease Control) claims that it needs to work on “barrier-free access to cessation services”, but this lies at odds with the poor messaging coming out of the CDC and the actions of places like Santa Ana City Council.
The drop in the number of vapers is troubling as many of those will have been scared back to tobacco use due to the CDC’s poor performance during the EVALI/vitamin E acetate lung outbreak and the constant barrage of lies about vaping in the American media.
The Food and Drug Administration is still to authorise most of the premarket tobacco product applications from vape companies. With the intransigence and acceptance of myths, it raises the question: will America’s stance on vaping eventually lead to increases in smoking rates?
Photo Credit:
Photo by Samuel Branch on Unsplash
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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