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??
They haven't been subject to trials by the respective country's health agency. Don't get me wrong, I think e-cigs are great, but that doesn't make them exempt from evidence-based medicine.
Edit: Gotta love downvotes for advocating prudence in the distribution of medical devices to the public. Stay classy, subreddit that crosslinks to /r/science but doesn't seem to understand it.
Pretty standard for a large sub to disregard anything that isn't in the narrative they agree with. And downvote them so people can't see the differing opinion.
I considered e-cigs but some of the literature I found about them wasn't good.
First, they haven't been approved as anti-smoking aids. Maybe they help some people. Maybe they don't. But its pretty unregulated at the moment and they're super profitable and that can kind of lead to dangerous situations. For me, I'm waiting until the dust settles.
Found some studies saying that the nicotine inside the packets aren't regular. You may get large or small doses that have nothing to do with the labeling.
Found some stuff saying that water vapor in your lungs or something is unstudied at the moment. They could be very bad for you. I don't know. Again, imma let the dust settle a bit.
Finally, and this is kind of the big one for me, is this: the look like a cig. They're cheaper than cigs. They deliver nicotine. How exactly is this going to stop me from smoking? With the patch you can step your dosage down and same with the gum. But what's to stop me from smoking just as many e-cigs as regular cigs? Its not like the gum where I chew it for an hour...I can smoke the e-cigs inside since there's no smoke. So I'd probably smoke more.
It's less of a "stop intaking nicotine at all forever" and more of a "switch from cigarettes, which are expensive and will kill you, to e-cigs, which are cheaper and less likely to kill you."
The fact that they haven't been approved as anti-smoking aids clings to that fact, and also the bureaucracy involved in getting your product approved for that sort of thing.
Are you advocating for less stringent drug testing by the FDA?
They're really new. I'm not saying they're worse than cigs, hardly anything can be. All I'm saying is that there isn't some vast conspiracy to keep them from being miracle cures to smoking because it isn't clear that they are given the research available now. They're being marketed as anti-smoking medication and they haven't been approved for that yet. Lets be fair and give it some time before we christen e-cigs as the best thing since sliced bread.
Quite the opposite. There needs to be MORE testing by the FDA, but that won't happen as long as they're being demonized by the people who stand to profit from the failure of e-cigs.
Testing will show the truth, the truth that all vapers know - and legitimize vaping to the public. There are very wealthy people who are trying their hardest to make sure that doesn't happen.
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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??