Overconsumption of unhealthy commodities (such as alcohol, refined sugar and cigarettes) has cost the planet millions of lives a year. Tobacco is one of the biggest culprits with smoking cigarettes killing up to 6 million people a year. Just take that in for a second. That’s almost the entire population of London dying from smoking per year.
How can we stop this?
Vaping is an industry that is providing smokers with a healthier substitute to tobacco cigarettes. E-cigarettes give smokers the nicotine hit without the hundreds of life-threatening additives that tobacco has; these chemicals and additives lead to the development of cancer and other smoking related illnesses.
So, with all this in mind, the more people that give up cigarettes and transfer to vaping, the better – right?
It gets a bit difficult to be ‘pro-vaping’ as we just don’t know the long term effects on the body vaping may have. Deciphering the health factors of vaping is tricky. This is due to the fact that vapes are still ‘the new kid on the block’ (introduced to the world in 2003) and because of that, scientists and public health experts are still umming and erring.
However, one thing that is for certain is that VAPING IS BETTER THEN CIGARETTES and are incredibly useful for helping people ween off tobacco and protect their health.
So why does the question “Isn’t vaping just as dangerous as cigarettes?” hang over an industry that has been essentially built to help save lives.
Why is the e-cigarette industry vilified by the public domain, with scare mongering stories belittling an industry that could save people? Why are people so passionate for its demise?
There is a fantastic article by David Nutt in The Guardian, which addresses the public whirl of panic surrounding vaping. He breaks down several myths and misconceptions that the public have adopted (e.g. the tobacco industry is using vaping as a weapon to get young teens hooked. Reel them in with colourful, exciting flavours, and get them addicted to nicotine in the process…) and also questions why society isn’t encouraging vaping more if it helps people stop smoking all together.
Vaping is a one of the best ways for smokers to kick the habit. If you slowly diminish the amount of nicotine you’re taking in, you could sustainably quit smoking for good. This evidence is supported by the U.K. Center for Tobacco and Alcohol studies.
Even the British government’s authority that regulates drugs has approved vaping products as a way to quit smoking.
If vaping can help smokers give up, it shouldn’t be banned or put on the same platform as smoking tobacco, drinking and drugs.
We’re not saying that vaping has no effect on your health. Not smoking at all is better than ANY kind of smoking, of course, but if it can help someone on their journey away from cigarettes, it should be celebrated in the public eye – not demonized.