You see, ASH produced a press release which declared that not only are there now over 2 million vapers in the UK, but also that it seems e-cigs are not much of a big deal to anyone at all, really. The 'gateway theory' was trashed; the 'renormalisation of smoking' theory was not supported; and the public - despite acres of media coverage designed to scare them - are generally of the opinion that e-cigs are a good thing (as I've mentioned before is inevitable).
This prompted the BBC to pick up the story and run with it on their website and also on TV.
But where were the usual scaremongers? The pharma-enthralled cavalry rushing in to stuff the toothpaste back in the tube by mounting a desperate defence of outdated ideology?
The BMA were mentioned but Vivienne 'proven liar' Nathanson was not featured, nor was born-again 'expert' Martin McKee, nor the astonishingly gullible Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies. The best the BBC could muster in rebuttal was some geezer no-one has ever heard of from the Christie Foundation ... but even he was a bit limp and very easily rubbished by the BBC Breakfast presenter.
It's not like this was a get-someone-quick-as-it's-short-notice kinda thing. ASH's press release was embargoed until yesterday so the media had a few days to get their line-up organised.
So were the usual propagandists all on holiday? Off sick? Or just starting to realise that their campaign against vaping is making them look like pathetic stick-in-the-muds and actively harming their integrity? Maybe, just maybe, they've finally recognised that there is a date of guilty knowledge which has long since passed, and they'd prefer not to leave themselves open to being sued into abject poverty.
Who knows? But it was nice to see the public being properly informed for a change, without a bunch of ignorant dinosaurs butting in to inject their childish anti-industry prejudice into a debate that is, you know, quite important.
Let's hope this is not just an isolated outbreak of sanity, eh?
