N
F
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F E AT U R E S
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A HUGE
MOUNTAIN
TO CLIMB
I now understand why so many smokers are frightened
to switch to vaping
Vapouround Editor Patrick Griffin gives a personal view
on the overwhelmingly negative message presented to the
public about vaping and discusses the potentially devastating
impact this is having on the lives of smokers.
It saddens me when I constantly come across ignorance about
vaping from amongst the general public.
One recent example was a tweet which simply said: “Vaping is the
trendy way to get cancer.” The very idea that contracting cancer
could be trendy is perverse and it is smoking tobacco which
causes cancer - not vaping nicotine.
However, as we reported in our last issue, a recent survey
conducted by a GP found that one-in-five UK healthcare
professionals wrongly believed that nicotine caused cancer.
So can we really be surprised if members of the general public are
equally ill-informed?
As we can see in America right now, misinformation about
vaping is constantly being reinforced by legislators, the media,
commentators and the general public.
Current EU advertising restrictions - where vaping is regulated in
the same way as tobacco - only serve to make the problem worse.
If we cannot get the message across to the public that vaping is
95 percent less harmful than smoking, then it is no wonder that
people are confused.
This selection of tweets is just the tip of the iceberg and it won’t
take much time to uncover many other similar examples.
One tweet read: “If I am going to die from nicotine, I would much
rather it be at age 60 from cancer than at 24 from my lungs
exploding.”
For pity sake - using legal vape products will not cause your lungs
116 VM25
to explode and dying from cancer aged 60 is really not something
to look forward to.
It is wrong to blame people for expressing these views when
they are bombarded with negative and false reporting about
vaping but it does highlight a really serious problem. Smokers are
being put off vaping because the messages they are constantly
receiving on the subject are overwhelmingly negative.
If I didn’t know anything about vaping, I too would be scared. Given
the torrent of false news and comment about the e-cigarette
industry, is it any wonder that so many people think that smoking
is the safer option?
Smokers know that smoking is bad for them and many want
to quit, but nothing they have tried so far has worked. Millions
of smokers have heard about vaping and that has successfully
moved them away from tobacco for good.
But given the recent barrage of reports from America about
vaping putting people in the intensive care unit or the morgue can
we blame smokers from concluding that sticking to cigarettes is
the preferable option?
Unless we can effectively stem the tide of misinformation about
vaping then many smokers will continue to die needlessly from
their habit.
Social media comments like the ones shown here are a symptom
of the problem but they also act to reinforce the negative message
about vaping.
It is up to each and every one of us to fi ght for vaping and help
reassure the public that it is a far better alternative to smoking
and not a worse one.
If each week we can all help just one friend or family member
understand the truth about vaping then that would be a huge
start.The time to spread the message is now.