Vaping News

Iowa's Attorney General Speaks About Vaping

General Tom Miller supports fact, data and the harm reduction potential of vaping.

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The state attorney general is the leading figure for legal advice to the state government. In Iowa it’s Harvard educated General Tom Miller, currently serving his ninth four-year term in office. Clive Bates has recently uploaded a copy of his lunchtime address to the FDLI Tobacco Conference in Washington DC.

Almost a year ago, Miller kicked a hornet’s nest when he released a statement saying: “The harm of the combustible cigarette is dramatically greater than the harm of the e-cigarette. The combustible cigarette is by far the most harmful consumer product known to mankind, killing 480,000 people each year in the United States alone. This is largely due to the many deadly toxins created and released by the combustion. A panel of experts estimates that the e-cigarette is 95 percent less harmful. Some push back on this study, in part questioning the ability to put an exact number on it. Another estimate is 90-98 percent less harmful. But whatever number is correct, e-cigarettes are dramatically less harmful than combustible cigarettes.”

He continued: “There has been an effort to say that combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes are equally harmful, that their companies are equally evil, and that they should be strongly regulated the same way. This view is incorrect, but it has gotten significant traction.”

Ecig advocate Clive Bates was clearly impressed by the speech: “Quite simply the best speech I have ever heard on tobacco and nicotine policy, science and ethics. From Tom Miller one of the architects or the United States Master Settlement Agreement and Chair of the Truth Initiative.  A model of decency, humility and rigorous scientific reflection, in my opinion.”

Dave Cross avatar

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV
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Dave 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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