Holland Attacks Evil Ecigs
The home of recreational soft drugs clamps down on 95% safer ecigs.
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by Dave Cross
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Prior to the formulation of the Tobacco Products Directive, the Dutch government attempted to implement an all-out ban on vaping products. It took a civil case in 2012 to overturn their blanket ban and the importation and sale of products continued.
At the time, the words coming out of the Health Ministry were that there were health risks associated with electronic cigarettes despite the fact that their own agency, the National Institute for Public Health, was stating there was a lack of evidence. The approach is identical to that being prosecuted by Mark Drakeford in Wales – he calls it the “precautionary principle” but it is and was nothing more than an evidence-free ideological crusade.
Martin Van Rijn, deputy health minister, has been pushing for restrictive steps ever since and justifying them with tales of fears he can’t support. In April, he spoke about second-hand vape dangers, the tedious concept of a gateway effect and the dangers of flavourings in enticing children to vape. Mirroring Drakeford, he wrote: “There is insufficient scientific evidence to be able to say whether the quantities of toxins in the exhaled air are dangerous for bystanders” – as if this justified a ban on them.
RTLnieuws reports that a ban on sales to under-18s will be enacted. Vapers may agree with this to a certain extent, but the justification is that it is being done to stop children from being lured into smoking will leave mouths open. It is a verbatim reproduction of the pharma-funded slogans coming from California.
The government’s own public health institute, the Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu, supports the stance by saying that vaping: “can irritate and damage the airways, cause palpitations and increase the risk of cancers.” It has produced research totally at odds with our Public Health England and says e-cigs are far more dangerous than previously thought! Given that there is no evidence to support claims of increased cancer risk, many will wonder how they can draw such a conclusion.
According to Reuters, Van Rijn said: “With this ban I want to protect young people from the damage e-cigarettes cause. I also want to avoid young people thinking that these e-cigarettes in hip colors are normal.”
With a ban on advertising set to come in during 2016 when they implement the Tobacco Products Directive, Dutch vapers are facing a future as bleak as the one in the UK. It is disappointing that the Netherlands, a country renown for its enlightened approach in other areas of harm reduction, is dancing to the tune of ignorance on this matter.
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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