"Campaigners have to wean themselves off the idea that nicotine is bad"
Monday, April 28, 2014 at 9:30 Further to my previous post, the BBC has the ASH e-cig survey here:
E-cigarette users in UK have 'tripled' since 2010
My comments are reported as follows:
Simon Clark, director of Forest, a group that supports smokers, said it welcomed the rise of e-cigarettes and was glad people had a choice of what to smoke.
But he suggested that most smokers using e-cigarettes were experimenting with them rather than using them to give up smoking altogether.
"We haven't seen a significant fall in smokers. Most smokers still find electronic cigarettes quite basic and it will take a few more years for the technology to improve."
The Scotsman covers the poll (from a Scottish angle) here:
It also includes a short quote from me. My full response was:
"The increasing popularity of e-cigarettes is not surprising because for the first time we have a nicotine delivery system that mimics the act of smoking.
"They are a useful aid for smokers who wish to cut down or quit but they also provide an alternative to cigarettes in places where smoking is forbidden.
"There has been a lot of scaremongering about e-cigarettes but campaigners have to wean themselves off the idea that nicotine is bad. It can be addictive but it's no more harmful than caffeine.
"Government must resist the temptation to over-regulate e-cigarettes because there is no evidence they are harmful to the user or anyone else.
"Banning e-cigarettes in non-smoking environments makes no sense because the product is very different to a real cigarette. There's no combustion, no smoke, and no evidence that vaping encourages anyone to start smoking."
Charles Hamshaw-Thomas, legal and corporate affairs director of E-Lites, is also quoted in one or two newspapers, including the Guardian, but let's not be in any doubt who's driving this story, and why.
I'll return to this subject later.
Reader Comments (4)
I smoke I vote and I'm not quitting. If ASH thinks it can force us by getting all jiggy with Vapers, it can think again.
There is only one point to e-cigs (for me) and that is as an alternative when I'm forced not to smoke - and then only in very rare circumstances.
I already do long journeys without smoking - and have done for years - so why would I want to suck on a plastic stick now?
I don't care that some pubs, restaurants and cafes welcome their use inside. As long as I'm forced not to smoke while paying through the nose for a pint or a meal then I'll continue to avoid all indoor public places until freedom of choice, tolerance and consideration return to this country and I am no longer discriminated against.
Meanwhile, I do think it funny that Robert West says e-cigs won't "Renormalise" smoking. Only in the heads of these psychotic smokerphobics is smoking abnormal. The rest of us know cigs have been around for centuries and they're not going anywhere.
It's a shame that ecigs have become such a forced bone of contention. They could have been the natural evolution of smoking but for the bitter taste left in the mouth by years and years and years of bullying from these anti-smoker, anti-social freaks, and the abusive and insulting nature of ecig companies in trying to advertise their product. I spend my Smoker's Pound where I'm treated with respect - neither Njoy nor Elites will get it due to the abusive nature of their promotions.
As I said, I also smoke and I vote. The party that fails to listen to me and millions more like me, who also smoke and vote, will see UKIP rise even more.
Is the death of the three main parties really worth snuggling up to bigots in ASH and other fake charities and quangos over the ordinary man or woman in the street?
Cameron should seriously consider this question if he ever wants to win another election again. Vapers, like smokers, have no reason to vote Labour or LibDems ever again as these two parties hate us enough to commit political suicide - Stephen Williams take note. His hysterics and downright abuse of legitimate adult consumers has chased his party back to the fringes.
Well said Pat. Fully agree
I see this latest turnaround from Ash as a classic case of ' divide and conquer '
You only have to look at the comments on this recent Daily Mail article on e-cigs to see the almost abusive claims from enthusiastic vapers. Talk of cancer sticks, dying from cancer, smokers killing themselves and others around them, no smell, no chemicals, big Tobacco, ect,ect, and all from people who until recently were very happy smokers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2614596/Two-million-puff-e-cigarettes-Number-using-devices-trebles-two-years.html.
I might add that I,ve got four assorted E-Cigs. They,re only of any use to me when I,m stuck away from home in some dreary, unwelcoming hotel in which I,d much prefer to relax with a normal cigarette, in the bedroom, and elsewhere. The fact that I,ve bought them does,nt in any way make me a vaper and I,m afraid I deplore the desperate attacks on smokers from the very people who should know better.
Sheila, as Simon said before, and I agree, only a tiny minority of "vapers" are pathetic nicotine addicts who are trying to make themselves feel better by attacking those who remind them of who they used to be. The bullied tend to become bullies after a while.
Thank God it's a minority but as you say, more haters targeted by ASH to beat up smokers. ASH loves people who hate smokers. Yes, divide and rule is the game. Smokerphobic thug Sandford is on record publicly saying that tobacco consumers "are the last people vapers should be mixing with."
The question is, will the majority of vapers shun and avoid those vaper bigots in the name of the greater good of freedom of legitimate choice for both - or will they join the bullies and join in with the kicking in bid to gain favour?
If the well balanced and tolerant vapers don't think like the vile minority then they should distance themselves from it so their fellow vapers learn that they are the ones who will be avoided until they learn some good manners and stop being so anti-social.