The ups and downs of a turbulent year
Let me be totally honest with you, if 2019 was to be classed using the hurricane scale, it would be a category 5. It’s been a turbulent year for vaping, and this year in review will take a look at some of the headline stories of 2019, and the continuing fight to stop misleading, sensationalist articles from polluting our media.
It isn’t all bad news though, as this year has seen the release of numerous studies which have helped to paint vaping in a much more positive light, which I will also take a look at in more detail.
E-liquid Flavour Ban (USA)
This story really started in 2018, when San Francisco took the strange decision to ban all flavoured e-liquid. This anti-vaping attitude has seemingly only increased in the USA, much to the dismay of vaping advocates all over the world.
Following on from this, a spate of deaths across the USA in late summer which unfairly blamed vaping, prompted US President Donald Trump to announce a total ban on e-liquid flavours across the country. This announcement had many people worrying whether this spelt the beginning of the end for vaping in the USA.
This announcement resulted in a backlash from vapers, many of whom joined in with the #IVapeIVote movement, which threatened to withdraw support for the Trump administration should it carry through with the ban.
As luck would have it, it seems Trump listened to the voices of reason. After numerous protesters and vaping allies warned such a ban would cost him their support, Trump effectively reversed his decision.
He is now seeking advice from representatives of the vaping industry and medical professionals to find what he called ‘an acceptable solution’ to this ‘dilemma’.
It seems that, for now at least, vaping will not be going the way of San Francisco, which regrettably ended up being the first US city to ban vaping outright this year…
India Bans Vaping
In yet another shockingly ill informed decision, it was announced in September by India’s Finance Minister, that the country will be banning the production, import and sale of electronic cigarettes, claiming they pose a risk to health.
This flies in the face of many health experts advice, including The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), who all agree that vaping is at least 95% safer than smoking.
Despite protests and court challenges arising from this announcement, the Indian government has stood firm with its plans to ban vaping.
Hope does rest in two court cases currently in progress, which will determine whether the ban can continue. The argument states that the ban will allow big tobacco to flourish, whilst e-cigarette businesses will be forced to close down.
Lets remind ourselves that roughly 900,000 people die from smoking related illness in India EVERY year. Can you guess how many people die in India each year from vaping? You guessed it, none.
Vaping ‘Related’ Deaths
One of the real ‘root’ causes of what would become a tirade of misleading headlines and ‘fake news’ across the globe.
At some point around late August/early September, headlines emerged showing a teen holding up a piece of paper which read ‘I want to start a no vaping campaign’ to the camera.
What followed would prove to be an uphill battle for vaping and its advocates as the misinformed media sank their teeth in and wouldn’t let go.
Shortly afterwards, people started dying from an illness called Lipoid pneumonia, which the media and other misinformed citizens blamed on vaping.
As more and more people were struck down by this illness in a short space of time, everything started to reach fever pitch, with stores like Wal-Mart pulling e-cigs from their stores and talks of outright bans on vaping.
Luckily for vapers everywhere, health experts came to the rescue, highlighting that it wasn’t vaping that was to blame. Indeed it wasn’t vaping that caused all this, rather the fact that people had been vaping bootlegged THC liquid, which was filled with Vitamin E Acetate.
Vitamin E Acetate was used in these illicit e-liquids, and thus formed an oily, sticky residue inside the lungs of those who had vaped this liquid. It was this, not vaping which caused the deaths of these people.
Despite all the facts being presented, the issue has still lingered for a couple of months, and is a prime example of the frustrating battle for truth that we all should stand up for as vapers.
Indoor Vaping Should Be Encouraged
Despite some negative news, there is always a positive to help counter some of the misinformation around vaping.
At a Science Media Centre briefing a few months back, Professor John Britton defended indoor vaping. He suggested that ‘by sending vapers out to vape with the smokers you are putting them in direct contact with the product they are trying to quit.’
He described vaping indoors as a “courtesy issue”, as he informed us that unlike smoking, ‘there is no evidence of harm to other people’. In other words, John Britton was suggesting that if establishments are to ban vaping indoors, then the reason should not be down to health concerns.
Here in the UK, it is currently up to the business owner, whether or not to allow vaping inside their premises. As vaping is increasingly endorsed by experts across the UK, more and more organisations are beginning to provide positive solutions for vapers.
Vaping Helps More Than 50,000 Smokers Quit Each Year
In another positive piece of news, a recently released study helped shed light on how vaping can make a real difference to peoples lives.
The researchers analysed data on 50,598 smokers between 2006 and 2017. The end result showed that in 2017, vaping helped between 50,700 and 69,930 smokers quit, who would probably still be smoking if it wasn’t for the help of an e-cigarette.
They arrived at this conclusion by taking into consideration important criteria relating to previous quit attempts. This included the association between current use of e-cigarettes and use of e-cigarettes during a quit attempt with quit attempts, overall quit rate, quit success rate and average cigarette consumption.
This milestone study heralded great news for the vaping industry as it confirms the effectiveness of e-cigarettes within the group of more stubborn smokers who have previously failed to quit using alternative quitting methods.
Switching To Vaping Has A Positive Effect On The Heart
In yet another informative and positive study, Scientists at the University of Dundee assessed how switching from smoking to vaping affects the heart. The research showed that blood vessel health ‘significantly improved’ when smokers made the switch to vaping, even within just a month.
This study release was particularly important as it rightly compares the effects of vaping with smoking. A vast majority of vaping research, particularly that which comes out of the USA is arguably irrelevant as it only compares vapers with non-smokers.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said,
“This study suggests that vaping may be less harmful to your blood vessels than smoking cigarettes. Within just one month of ditching tobacco for electronic cigarettes, people’s blood vessel health had started to recover.”
The Road Ahead For 2020
Whilst 2019 has been tougher than usual, one thing we are certain of is that vaping is not going anywhere. Millions worldwide have stopped smoking thanks to vaping, and many of these people would not have been able to do so if it were not around.
2020 will undoubtedly see a more focused effort to highlight the advantages vaping brings. Yes there will be more sensationalist articles, of that much we can be sure, but we are confident that as more and more people become educated around vaping, the road will be become clearer.
As we enter into a new decade, this comes with a renewed sense of hope that whilst vaping will always have its critics, if we can rely on common sense to prevail, the 2020s should allow vaping to mature and take the lead in smoking cessation the world over.
From myself, the team and everyone here at The Electronic Cigarette Company, have a Happy New Year!
