Vape products are indeed harm reduction tools used to defend against combustible tobacco cigarettes. Therefore, since this is the case, the argument can be made that vaping is also a form of tobacco control.
Numbers Don’t Lie, People Do
In the U.S., we have been witness to some of the most outlandish attempts to demonize and discredit the wellness-improving, harm-reducing technological advancement of adult vapor products.
From the relentless attempts of equating vaping to smoking, using identity politics to pass flavor bans on eliquids or ignoring the positive research that proves vaping works are all major pieces of the unyielding propaganda directly used against the vape industry. During such times, statistics become crucial for presenting valid data.
In a recent Vaping Post article, Diane Caruana wrote how a Professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville, and endowed chair in tobacco harm reduction research Brad Rodu, discussed a recent tweet by the Anti-Tobacco Truth Initiative. The organization discussed the significant decline in smoking rates amongst 18-24 year olds, with figures obtained via the 2017 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which indicate a drop of 21% in just a year.
“Nearly 85% of young adults have never smoked, including 2.7% who currently vape, 13% who tried e-cigarettes and 69% who never used either product,” he said. The professor added that amongst the 5% who are former smokers, over 50% were current vapers or had tried vaping products. “Even more impressive, 7 out of 10 current smokers were either current vapers or had tried e-cigarettes, meaning they could eventually make the switch to smoke-free,” he concluded
Tobacco Control Industry
In this case, the tobacco control groups have been doing a lot of work. Which is what exactly? What do they do exactly? What is it? Oh yeah, that’s it! The Tobacco Control Industry has been doing their work to ultimately “control tobacco.” That is fairly broad.
So, what duties are the Tobacco Control Groups tasked with executing? This is without a doubt, a fascinating inquiry to attempt to answer.
For starters, TC crusaders were initially established to assist with reducing the harmful effects from smoking and basically to cut back the use of tobacco. Nowadays, however, with the introduction of the vaping industry, Tobacco Control has become heavily involved with misinformation campaigns, aimed at demonizing the promising public health intervention of vaping.
Altogether, Tobacco Control has been ridding American streets from harmful tobacco cigarettes for decades, understandably so. However, a new product comes along in which the potential dangers and health risks have been reduced almost 100%.
Regardless, those decades of time spent “controlling tobacco” also formed and shaped thousands of people’s legacies throughout their careers — from their perspective, they are probably thinking “why would we want to shine the light on some new consumer product?”
Not to mention, a consumer product that was not initially introduced to the market by the usual dominant corporate powers. So, why allow a product introduced by the working-class to earn all the credit? Why would they allow “Plain Janes” and “Average Joes” steal all their thunder?
Shouldn’t both sides share in this marvel? This is truly monumental achievement in the modern success for public health — why don’t both groups just work together? Those in the vapor industry and those in the tobacco control industry?
It sure seems as if the vaping industry is also controlling how tobacco is being consumed. Though a massive war is being waged. A war launched on countless fronts that the general public rarely hears about.
Regardless, could the fact that vaping seems to control the consumption of tobacco more effectively than the actual Tobacco Control Industry be the primary reason for why the anti-vape establishment has been ignited by the TC Industry to lead a mass assault on anything vape-related?
Although there are indeed a number of other factors contributing to the relentless pursuit to discredit vapor products — still, it is highly likely that this particular correlation of controlling tobacco plays a major role.
