Opinion of eCigs (vaping)

[Ebowed]

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.

[Ebowed]

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).

[Ebowed]

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.