Democratic Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois has said:
“We have made great progress in convincing kids not to start smoking cigarettes. They know that cigarettes kill and that, nowadays, it’s hard to find someplace where smoking cigarettes is even allowed. But, I am convinced that e-cigarettes represent the ‘re-invention of smoking,’ cooked up by Big Tobacco to hook a new generation. Unfortunately, kids don’t understand that e-cigarettes are highly addictive, harmful to their developing brains, and can lead to a lifetime of tobacco addiction. These products, especially flavors that shamelessly appeal to kids, are doing more harm than good.”
This is a quote directly from Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, it is posted on his website. Of course, these comments are very much exaggerated and entirely false. This whole conspiracy theory about the vape industry being a Big Tobacco scheme is completely erroneous and most of all disrespectful to the countless innovative minds and creative entrepreneurs who have shaped what we know today as the independent vapor industry.
Clarification For Why This Seems Conspiratorial
There have been millions of lives saved to by vaping products. In addition, there have been thousands of lives changed for the better through innovative business practices, where ordinary working class people have creatively produced contemporary products for modern consumers, essentially becoming business owners.
Therefore to dismiss this industry as being the reinvention of smoking discredits the good intentioned work of all those throughout the industry. It is so sad to see the elected officials who are put in office by the people to represent the people’s interests, simply reducing modern livelihoods to outrageous conspiracies.
At the same time, the Senator’s comments about concerns regarding the exposure from vapor products that children may come across, is not necessarily something that the vape community would disagree with.
For the most part, there are an immense amount of advocates trying to improve brands in the industry that might attract teenagers. Many brands have been specifically targeted for selling their products with labels that might be considered appealing to children and those considered as irresponsible Business practices.
Overall, everyone, from the most staunch advocates to the most successful industry professionals, in the vape community agrees this is an adult product in an adult industry. So, this is why so many brands throughout the vape industry have rebranded their labels
Industry professionals within the vaping community wish to help as much as they can to decrease any exposure to children. This is exactly why all this legislation being proposed every month to try and damage this industry is so frustrating, because the industry professionals and advocates heavily involved are more than willing to assist in anyway to find some common ground.
Instead of simply voicing such an outlandish position, why not reach out to find common ground with those you accuse? Well, of course the answer is simple in this regard and that is because the Senator is playing a different game than most of everyone else — his game is politics.
Respectfully Attempting to Understand
To fully understand these comments, it is only respectful to try and understand who exactly is making these comments. Senator Dick Durbin has championed himself and his career as being a pioneer of tobacco control, in the sense that he was one of the political officials responsible for banning smoking cigarettes on airplanes. This political achievement is without a doubt extremely noteworthy and beneficial for public health.
At the same time, that was a long time ago. Times are changing and they are changing fast. The vapor industry is not big tobacco and vaping is not smoking.
Although it is an assumption, let’s assume he knows this.
Henceforth, this is why vaping has become so controversial — we have a political system that is dependent on donor funding and if their largest donors would like certain legislation to pass then these politicians have to speak to their constituents in ways that are not necessarily truthful. Surprise surprise, more politics and more lies.
