For several years, the federal government has toyed with the idea of banning e-cigs and vaping devices. With recent bans on flavored e-juices, the tool meant to help smokers quit cigarettes could be outlawed outright with potential executive orders. However, the unintended consequences of the current actions by state and federal regulators are proving that maybe the state’s actions are more harmful than beneficial for American smokers.
According to FreedomWorks researcher Luke Hogg, new polls show the outright danger of banning e-cigs. Hogg cites a Gallup poll from last July showing that an estimated 8 percent of the population (or around 26 million Americans) “say they have vaped within the past week.” More recent polls from the Vapor Technology Association also show that a larger percentage of the population may be vaping than the federal government predicted.
Hogg states that on November 19, 2019, “the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) rolled back its previous assertion that e-cigarettes were linked to a series of lung illnesses throughout the country. After laboratory testing, the CDC has concluded that the primary cause of the mysterious vaping related illnesses was the inclusion of vitamin E acetate in THC-containing vapes. Vitamin E acetate, a thickening agent used in marijuana vapes, is not allowed in regulated vaping products and has primarily entered the United States through black market sales. The chemical is not found in nicotine e-cigarettes and none of the illnesses reported resulted from vaping nicotine.”
With outcomes like these, the foundation for the war against vaping seems is crumbling. The facts are clear, Americans are quitting cigarettes for safer vaping alternatives such as e-cigs. Unregulated e-juices such as the THC-containing vapes are to blame instead of the products tested by professional labs and businesses, all this points to the undeniable truth that this whole war on vaping has less to do with protecting children and saving lives and more about big tobacco lobbyists running out of clout within regulatory agencies and other groups like the American Medical Association (AMA).
The AMA just this week ironically issued a statement asking for a complete ban on all vapor products, and as Hogg puts it bluntly, “despite the evidence.”
While most American voters agree that there should be logical steps to prevent young people from illegally obtaining nicotine products, the concept of banning vaping devices shouldn’t be considered a logical option at all.
“Americans should never be forced to give up their liberties,” Hogg states, “especially when doing so would likely result in more public harm than the status quo.
While the current administration has backed down from banning e-cigs, for the time being, many state governments and even members of Congress are still desperately fighting to take away the freedom to choose another way of ending nicotine use.
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