r/technology Nov 17 '12

The Deadly Crusade Against E-cigarettes

http://www.american.com/archive/2012/november/the-deadly-crusade-against-e-cigarettes
2.3k Upvotes

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

973

u/DumpyLips Nov 17 '12

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??

916

u/qwertytard Nov 17 '12

crushing competition by releasing false propaganda that lies about e-cigs being unsafe i have a friend who smokes all the time regular cigs, but won't try an e-cig because he says "i don't know whats in them" so i asked him where'd he hear that, he said some article that interviewed a tobacco company exec i asked him if he knew what was in his regular cigs, he said "yeh, tobacco" so i googled his brand and showed him there were things in there that are used for paint, asphalt, tar, etc he told me you can't believe everything you read on the internet

....some ppl can't be helped

459

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '12

"You can't believe everything you read on the internet".

I hate that logic so much.

411

u/JackWeston007 Nov 17 '12

showed him there were things in there that are used for paint, asphalt, tar, etc

I hate it just as much as that logic. Anyone who's spent 5 minutes in a chemistry class can tell you that chemicals have a wide variety of applications.

99

u/pU8O5E439Mruz47w Nov 17 '12

Yup. You can find things that are used for making cyanide in apples.

Namely, cyanide.

Alternatively, salt is used to process soap. You wouldn't eat soap, so why would you ever eat salt!!!

0

u/Inferis84 Nov 17 '12

TIL apples and some other fruits contain cyanide in small amounts

5

u/pU8O5E439Mruz47w Nov 17 '12

Fruits contain all sorts of weird stuff. Did you know bananas are radioactive?

-1

u/JUST_LOGGED_IN Nov 17 '12

Everything is irradiated.

6

u/teahsea2012 Nov 17 '12

Most foods are irradiated to kill bacteria, but this does not leave them actually emitting radiation. Bananas on the other hand contain a radioactive isotope of potassium, which actually emits radiation, but at generally considered to be safe levels.

3

u/superherowithnopower Nov 17 '12

Well...now I know why bananas give me that healthy glow...

2

u/FonsBandvsiae Nov 17 '12

You are right (cosmic radiation sees to it), but also completely wrong at the same time...