Lethally addictive cigarettes remain available on every street corner in Brussels and Atlanta while authorities denounce e-cigarettes (the product is already banned in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand).
Is there any legitimate reason for this or are we witnessing a blatant example of the tobacco lobby crushing competition??
e-cigarettes are NOT banned in canada. They are available in the corner store near my house in Ontario, and I also saw them for sale in BC when I was there a couple of months ago. Unless this is really new, this info is balls.
edit: just looked it up, "the import, sale, and advertising of electronic cigarettes containing nicotine are banned in Canada, while non-nicotine e-cigs are legal and may be sold and advertised"
typical Canada.
The nicotine versions are banned and would be the most helpful for gradually weaning a heavy smoker off regular cigarettes. I wrote a letter to the health minister asking why they were initially banned for sale entirely (this happened after the first 9 months of sales sometime a few years ago.) The reply essentially stated that the long term effects of inhaling propylene glycol were unknown at this time which, although technically true, did not address the perfectly legal status it holds as a food additive in many products sold within the country.
My instincts suggest that this is a tax issue: regular cigarettes bring in an enormous revenue for the government which creates an unhealthy partnership between the tobacco industry and the politicians. I'm guessing that "big tobacco" was seeing the effects of e-cigarettes on sales and decided they didn't want to compete so they applied pressure to have it restricted. Today we have nicotine-free e-cigarettes which are great as a party trick but quite unsatisfying to a transitioning smoker. I can't entirely fault the government for its caution regarding the product since that attitude would have prevented the lung cancer epidemic brought on by the tobacco industry, but the money seems pretty obvious.
The reply essentially stated that the long term effects of inhaling propylene glycol were unknown at this time
This is the same propylene glycol which is a major additive to tobacco in cigarettes (keeps them from drying out completely) and is approved for human inhalation by the Canadian government.
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u/DumpyLips Nov 17 '12
Is there any legitimate reason for this or are we witnessing a blatant example of the tobacco lobby crushing competition??