Dark forces attack WHO while a vape cloud hangs over the UK
Many members of the British public have been left scratching their heads trying to understand how vaping has got such a hold on youngsters (& adults who have never smoked).
More than ten years ago, on behalf of Allen Carr’s Easyway, I warned about the dangers of vaping’s appeal to kids, former smokers, and even those who have never smoked. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to see that position entirely vindicated.
While e-cigarettes were fast-tracked onto the UK’s smoking cessation landscape I highlighted the need for the industry and its products to be tightly regulated.
All this was in the face of intense pressure from almost the entire UK tobacco control community who were determined to have e-cigarettes excluded from existing tobacco control regulations.
The idea was that in doing so it would be easier for vaping manufacturers and retailers to market, advertise and sell e-cigarettes and therefore easier for smokers to switch to them and use them in public places.
Predictably though, it also exposed prospective new addicts (non-smoking kids and non-smoking adults) to the advertising, marketing, and promotion of e-cigarettes which quickly became easily available to purchase…easy prey.
The end result is clear for everyone to see. It can be seen in our school playgrounds, outside the school gates, and outside pubs, bars, and clubs frequented by young people.
Big Tobacco has a long history of lying, deceit, suppression of evidence, and international drug smuggling and it would surprise absolutely no-one to learn that they are behind pseudo-grassroots movements working to block attempts to regulate the e-cigarette industry. The fact that Big Tobacco appear to be behind attacks on the World Health Organisation is a wakeup call for everyone.
No organisation, WHO included, is above criticism, but surely it throws up a huge red flag when the UK anti-tobacco establishment’s direction of travel seems to be on the exact same trajectory as opaque, sinister movements funded by Big Tobacco
Teen vaping
The grip that nicotine addiction, in the form of vaping, has now exerted on our young people, so speedily and so emphatically, is the direct result of 10 years of inadequate regulation and the blame (& shame) for it lies squarely at the feet of those who gave the e-cigarette industry a “free pass” into the hands of our non-smoking children and non-smoking adults.
The incredible growth in teen vaping year on year is a tragic state of affairs and bi-product of a UK-wide social experiment in harm reduction: encouraging smokers to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes.
It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions but quite aside from whether that experiment ever had the consent of the British public, and aside from whether it achieves a positive outcome or not, the impact it has had on our children was entirely predictable and those responsible for it at every level should be held accountable.
It is easy for those people to blame the government now but as architects of ‘the great e-cigarette experiment’ their disregard for the non-smoking population is unforgiveable.
No-one is taking responsibility and the deafening silence is only interrupted by the sound of the stable door being locked after the horse has bolted.
