“You guys have probably all seen the news – these things are apparently exploding all around the world! And today I am going to be telling you guys why that is complete b******t,” says teen Youtuber Hazey on his channel. Not another ecig tale of woe, surely? Nope. News editors have a brand new object of evil to focus on: the hoverboard.
Fire
“Today I’m going to be telling you why you guys don’t need to be worried,” Hazey continues. Mirroring what vapers have been saying for ages, “lithium-ion batteries are in everything! The media is taking this thing way too far...”
He lists out the simple precautions hoverboard owners should follow:
- Do not charge overnight.
- Do not overcharge.
- Do not use damaged batteries.
It is precisely the same advice we’ve been telling new vapers. And the hoverboard users have received the identical bias coverage: “The news is taking this way too far, they’re not telling the truth. Hundreds of thousands of people own these and yet only three explosions have occurred.”
Over two and a half million UK vapers have heard all the same stories, irrational fears and similar baseless bans. Airlines have refused to carry the boards, importations have been seized “for people’s safety” and (despite the fact that other priests had far more serious offenses ignored) a Catholic priest was suspended for riding one!
But the fear drives people to websites and into purchasing preventative measures. Nick Green is a member of the HMO Group, a collection of people with vested interests in the area of houses for multiple occupancy. Mr Green has words of warning about ecigs for landlords, stating (in a confidential article we were given access to): “the fire risk surrounding e-cigarettes is significant” and that “E-cig fire hazard that must be addressed as soon as possible”.
He warns landlords that even if a fire doesn’t break out, other failure can result that “the device will heat up and spurt harmful acid out of one end when the battery fails.” For those of you currently renting in a multiple occupancy residence this means he is calling for either a ban on vaping or for the landlord to purchase a stack of fire prevention equipment (and pass the cost onto you through rent rises). It just so happens that Green sells fire prevention equipment! He makes no mention of laptop computers, cellphones or any other li-ion powered device although he may soon jump on the hoverboard bandwagon.
For as long as there is advertising revenue or sales to be made from spreading misplaced concern and over-hyped fear, we will continue to see exploding ecig article. But, as the following video demonstrates, a li-ion cell is probably not the greatest danger you could face.
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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