2015/07

There is a whole secondary approach being deployed by those in various sockpuppet tobacco control charities across the pond with our dear American friends, all intent on reducing tobacco prevalence and protecting youth. Their grandiose plan is to *ahem* raise the legal age of sale from 18 to 21. That’s it. They completely ignore the fact that there are age restrictions already in place, albeit terribly enforced by the local authorities (as is the case everywhere else).

Why is it that whenever we get media attention on vaping from anywhere in the world, a quick dive around into the “study” behind it generally doesn’t match up to the headlines? Or should it be, why on earth are media outlets and the journo hacks not asking the right questions whenever they get their grubby little mitts on a story?

The cool factor: Teens report positive feedback to using e-cigarettes

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?

Let’s face it, there’s a whole world of industries out there that run quite happily on its own without interference from any kind of trade union, and even if they had a union they still don’t have a huge amount of power or influence. With some exceptions, most notably the British Medical Association.

You will of course remember that the Bloody Meddling Association held their Annual Representatives Meeting recently spread over the course of four and a half days, seriously how many times do you think someone said “any other business” only to have some cockweasel cough irritatingly with a “yes, there is just one more thing”.. Of course that’s a major exaggeration, as the entire ARM was scheduled with quite a lot of the schedule being specified as “if we have time”.

In the grand scheme of things much is said about how giant monolithic entities control and distort everything even when those entities have absolutely nothing to do with the subject. If that is the case, why then do many “public health” faux charities insist on blaming “Big Tobacco” for every fopar they have ever made?

Three completely different media outlets, with three very similar and completely inaccurate headlines. So what exactly has these media buffoons so worked up? Well of course it is the defeat of SB140 where Senator Mark Leno “disassociated” himself from the Bill all because the committee voted to amend the definition of electronic cigarettes to not being tobacco products. Such a shame.

It is rare that I feel the need to blog when angry, I usually like to let my thoughts cool off so I can put them in some semblance of order to articulate exactly why I am angry. Though in this case anger doesn’t factor in to it, more like total disappointment.

Before I begin I need to be 200% clear and state an aspect of my past in black and white:

I’ve resisted writing about this for several reasons, not least of which I’m still somewhat concerned about my relationship with tobacco, but I’m also one of those that likes to try to see both sides of the argument then make up my own damn mind.

On the one hand we have an ardent supporter of smokers rights who occasionally supports vaping, or at least doesn’t support bans. On the other we have prominent figures in vaping advocacy. Both sides can be viewed as being both angels & demons.

To be honest I wasn’t going to write about my trip to Birmingham and the Vaper Expo, but having now had a chance to reflect and sleep on the occasion I’ve changed my mind. There are few things I want to go over, most of it good and some of it not so good, all my opinion of course!

When my alarm went off at ridiculous o’clock in the morning, I wasn’t quite sure what to feel. Nervous, excited, dread, a combination of all? Whilst I had made the effort to get to Harrogate a few weeks ago, Vaper Expo had far more publicity in comparison and many folks on all social media platforms had been discussing the event for weeks.

It has definitely been an interesting few days all said and done. A televised debate took place over the weekend on vaping which kicked off the usual shenanigans with many folks sending the usual tweets to the person on the negative side of the debate. Of course, this was aired on Fox which has a certain reputation for being a little unusual, to put it mildly.

Who was involved in this debate? Well Greg Gutfield obviously who, as it transpires is a former smoker through vaping, and one Doctor Nina Radcliff. Being in the UK I missed out on the show itself so I had to play catch-up on Monday after it had aired in the US (really beginning to loathe these time differences) and frankly I was stunned. If you haven’t seen it the video is below.

Another day and yet another “study” that has been totally skewed to the rafters in order to push a regulatory agenda. It really can be depressing, what makes it even worse is when organisations that state “Our vision is to eliminate the use of nicotine and tobacco products by youth and young adults.” get it so badly wrong. You could be forgiven for thinking that the stats were only slightly misinterpreted, but no. These wonderful folks deliberately co-joined two completely different sets of statistics to get the results they were looking for.