Regulation Warning
Media reporting the calls for more thought required when drawing up legislation on vaping
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by Dave Cross
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Speaking about the Ontario Making Healthier Choices Act, Doctor Gopal Bhatnagar called for “a better vision of leadership and a prudent reconsideration of this bill, as it relates to e-cigs, before this technology is smothered by regulations that are contrary to scientific data and the intended goal.”
He has gone on record to say that the manner with which Ontarian legislators plan to treat vaping is in direct conflict with their aims to promote healthier lifestyles. “The initial concern e-cigs could be a gateway to tobacco smoking has been shown to be incorrect,” he wrote in the National Post. “Even the U.S. Centres for Disease Control’s data on youth tobacco use show an unprecedented decline in smoking as e-cig use has risen.”
Like blinkered people opposed to vaping in other parts of the world, he added: “Supporters of the bill’s restrictive e-cig provisions are wilfully ignoring a credible and established body of peer-reviewed scientific data showing the devices are a useful method of stopping smoking, with results equivalent or better than pharmaceutically produced products.”
Confirming what most vapers already believe he added: “It’s likely e-cigs are diverting young people from smoking and preventing addiction. The provision to limit flavours is without scientific merit. Surveys show adults favour fruit flavours as they promote the switch from tobacco by providing a pleasant experience.”
The libertarian Human Events group agrees. Regarding the measures facing vapers in the USA, they write: “Many elected officials are trying to undermine these [health benefits] by treating e-cigarettes the same as traditional cigarettes even though they are completely different products.”
“E-cigarettes are far safer than combustible cigarettes,” they continue. “Several studies have found e-cigarettes to be an effective way to help smokers reduce their cigarette use or quit altogether, and thus are expected to result in significant public health and financial benefits for states and the nation.”
J. Scott Moody, writing in a report for State Budget Solutions, has previously highlighted the dividend potential from the adoption of vaping as a means of harm reduction: “Forty five states and D.C. stand to gain more from potential Medicaid savings than through lost cigarette tax collections and tobacco settlement payments.”
Ecigs “could save the lives of 4 million of the 8 million current adult American smokers who will otherwise die of a tobacco-related illness over the next 20 years” determines The American Association of Public Health Physicians.
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 start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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