A common refrain from many in the tobacco control camp. They want you to stop smoking because, well kids. They also don’t want you to stop smoking by vaping because, well kids.
State funded fake charities aimed at “promoting the stop smoking message” are no different. Just recently ASH wanted the UK Government to force tobacco companies to pay a levy to “fund further tobacco control efforts” and we all know how that’s turned out in the US don’t we?
The next few days are going to be more than a little interesting. In case you weren’t aware, the BMA are holding their annual representatives meeting (ARM) at the BT Convention Centre in Liverpool. Should we be worried? Of course we should, the BMA aren’t exactly known for their openness or positivity to e-cigarettes.
There are six motions in the ARM agenda, five of which according to the full agenda document are unlikely to be reached. That then excludes motions 233-235, 239 and 240. That leaves motion 289, proposed by Waltham Forest. But, in all likelihood at least one of the shaded motions will be debated; after all the topic of e-cigarettes is such a contentious issue and we know full well the stance of some of the upper echelons of the BMA when it comes to e-cigarettes and vaping.
Settle down folks this double posting isn’t going to become a regular thing. Sometimes something happens in the world of vaping that just requires a second post.
By now you should have seen the debacle that is the article from Vox. It is, to put none to fine a point on it, dire in the extreme. Terribly one-sided, and all of it in favor of a particular US Researcher’s point of view. I’ll be honest and state that I suspect the article may have been written by that researcher with only a few changes made by the author herself. Call me cynical if you like.
Oh to be a fly on the wall in the marketing department of the California Department of Public Health these days. They must have some really interesting discussions about how to spend taxpayer money on their latest campaign that specifically targets electronic cigarettes and vaping.
$75 Million for five years
We know that the total budget for the next five years rolls in at $75 Million, thanks to Stan being so kind in posting the information on his public blog. We also know that the current campaign cost CADPH $7 Million. They have to spend even more of the taxpayers dollars in an effort to push their website up the Google Search rankings. Even went as far as buying ad placements.
Try as I might, I couldn’t ignore this subject tonight. Spurred on by the UK’s Faculty of Public Health (FPH). Just in case you didn’t know, our benevolent friends at FPH call themselves “the standard setting body for specialists in public health in the United Kingdom.” I read that as purely bureaucratic.
Oh, I forgot to mention they are a registered charity. Of course they are, why is it that only charities have anything to say these days?
It is kind of unusual for me to post anything this early in the day as I normally like to sit and think on what I’ve seen before actually writing anything. Today however, some antics on Twitter really upset me. I mean, close to tears upset.
The Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), specifically Article 20 is a God-awful piece of democratic bullshit. Don’t believe me? Read more about it, here and here. I don’t need to, nor am I willing to go into any great detail about it.
Yesterday was a normal Friday. You know, looking forward to knocking off time at work, the weekend plans etcetera etcetera. I’d placed a couple of orders for some vapemail to be delivered the following day. Life was, in general pretty good. Then late afternoon, my less than perfect little world was seemingly torn apart. First, I’d like to give you a little back story. I am a huge fan of science fiction. TV series such as Stargate, Fringe, Star Trek, X-Files and so on. I grew up to William Shatner being the Captain of the starship Enterprise (NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C or D in the immortal words of James Doohan). Yes, the show had long since been off-air, but several channels still ran the shows. I loved them, it was the highlight of my week to sit with my folks and watch a few episodes of The Original Series. Many of the lessons taught by Gene Roddenberry in those episodes still stick with me to this day. It is part of who I am.