Opinion of eCigs (vaping)

[Ban my account ffs!]

Well, as a smoker who'd like to quit, I don't care for their taste or the sensation.  From a public health perspective, as they carry many of the same risks (and potentially others) as traditional cigarettes, it's probably not a viable alternative and should be scrutinised to the same regulatory extent that tobacco is.  Not to say that I'd discourage anyone from using it; my brother used one to avoid cigarettes and it seemed to work for him.  But I don't see any indication that it is some sort of cure for rampant nicotine addiction.  Secondhand smoke is just one problem, and admittedly a major one, presented by smoking.  The costs associated with ailments that smokers experience still ultimately affect all of us.

How so?  There is no tobacco in them.  Nicotine in and of itself is not what kills the smoker.  I know these are very obvious to you but how can inhaling tobacco smoke and flavored water vapor carry the same risks?  None of this has been proven, and most anti-eCig propaganda is funded by

1. Pharmaceutical and insurance industry, who want you to chill out with their poison.

2. Tobacco companies, obviously.

The enemy of thy enemy is thy friend, yes?  This is why the common man should be so fed up with the system in which we live. You MAY NOT have your cake and eat it, too, unless someone more powerful than you is profiting.  And the eCig manufacturers are pipsqueaks compared to Pharm Inc. and their collection of monsters.

To be honest, links to the tobacco industry are of great concern because any claims they make about health are obviously inherently dubious.  My understanding is that any product with nicotine, even if not containing tobacco, still carries health risks as nicotine itself is one of the thousands of carcinogens in tobacco smoke.  If smoking is to be addressed from a public health perspective, it seems imperative to discourage nicotine use.  Anyone still addicted to nicotine but attempting to abstain from cigarettes would seem far more likely to end up smoking than someone who neither smokes nor vapes.  It is true that some alternatives like Swedish snus might be healthier than smoking, but it's already illegal (at least in Australia) for cigarettes to be branded as 'low-tar' or 'low-nicotine' because to do so would imply a 'safer' or 'healthier' cigarette, and the medical community agrees that there is no such thing.  As for snus and other smokeless tobacco, it's illegal here, although I have tried it.  I didn't care for it either (or indeed, cigars, pipe tobacco, or any variety other than plain old regular flavoured cigarettes).  And indeed, it wouldn't be my prerogative to try to dissuade anyone from using whatever method of replacement therapy they felt might work for them.  There are disposable eCigs sold here that don't contain nicotine, and they are absolutely pointless, and I haven't seen very many people using them at all (they are available virtually anywhere that sells cigarettes).

Ever eaten bread? Cancer.  Ever eaten cooked tomatoes?  Lycopene and....cancer.  Ever eaten charred bits on food?  Holy sh**t cancer.  Gotten a tan?  Cancer.  Drank liquor? Cancer.  Breathed air in a city? Cancer.

Ebowed...your hang ups about what you put in your body are....your problems.  Vaping is safer than smoking.  Period.

Take the risk of cancer out and you will starve and asphyxiate yourself.  You have an argument with dirty air or spoiled food or second hand smoke.  Beyond that, physician heal THYSELF.

BALANCE

[Ban my account ffs!]

Ebowed...your hang ups about what you put in your body are....your problems.  Vaping is safer than smoking.  Period.

Absolutely; I agree.  It's just that I support regulating it in the same way as tobacco (which it largely seems to be, over here - i.e. must be 18 to purchase, I haven't seen it advertised outside of the Internet, etc.).  I think anything that gets less people smoking cigarettes is a good thing.

Oh, okay.  I think it should be allowed in public establishments.  But limited advertising (nicotine advertises itself quite well) and no children... Except when appropriate to treat acute medical issues.  Nicotine helps schizophrenics immensely because it calms anxiety and paranoia.  Vaping is literally a Godsend to them.  The benefits of Nicotine and few of the drawbacks.

But nicotine alone doesn't cure it.  But it helps anxious people calm down.  The smoke/coffee break drives a lot of production in this world.  How dare I take that away?