Friday 21 September 2012

The Big Stick Is Brought Out To Beat E-Cigs With

If this blog had a motto, it would be the much-repeated refrain "it's never been about health". 'It' being the current western obsession with banning - or hugely hindering - any substance not approved of by trouser-filling health lobbyists and snobby elitists.

Nowhere is this more blatant than the recent escalation of aggression towards e-cigs.

Rather than celebrate the fact that millions of smokers have quit - and millions more cut down their consumption - thanks to e-cigs, the tobacco control industry have instead distorted facts, spread astounding lies, and corralled their largely vacant troops into doing their damnedest to get the things banned.

Michael Siegel, himself a tobacco controller, has posted many articles detailing the corrupt campaign being waged against them, for example ...

Anti-Smoking Researchers Seem to Be Losing Basic Scientific Reasoning Skills Due to Ideology

World Health Organization Needs to Change Stance on Electronic Cigarettes; Current Position is Leading to Public Health Harm

Author of Article Attacking E-Cigarettes Appears to Have Failed to Disclose Significant Financial Conflict of Interest

European Respiratory Society Hides Multiple Financial Conflicts of Interest in Statement Opposing Electronic Cigarette Use

Researcher Who is Unsure that Smoking is Any More Hazardous than Vaping has Hidden Her Big Pharma Conflict of Interest

Electronic Cigarette Opponents Fail to Disclose Relevant Conflicts of Interest to the Public

... to name but a few.

There are a few clues up there as to where this obscene nonsense is emanating from and it looks like it is only going to get worse. And, judging from the incredible pace in recent months, it is going to happen quickly. Especially once the world's biggest tobacco control troughers get together in Seoul in November.

As countries around the world either ban, or make moves to ban, something which is proving to be a gargantuan aid to health, The WHO - unelected and proud of it - are handing out free tips for regulators in their guidance for the Seoul circle jerk (emphases mine, ENDS means e-cigs).
33. It should be noted that ENDS are products resembling cigarettes and could therefore undermine the denormalization of tobacco use upheld by the WHO FCTC. Parties are therefore invited to consider that a ban of ENDS as already undertaken by some Parties would contribute to changing the social norms regarding the consumption of tobacco products. 
34. Parties may wish to consider that strong measures to prevent further spread of ENDS could be considered under a  number of provisions of the WHO FCTC, including Article 5.2(b) which requires Parties to “adopt and implement effective ... measures … for preventing and reducing … nicotine addiction …”. Most ENDS contain nicotine, and would therefore contribute to maintaining an addiction to nicotine.
35. Parties may also wish to consider whether the sale, advertising, and even the use of electronic cigarettes can be considered as promoting tobacco use, either directly or indirectly. Regardless of whether or not ENDS contain nicotine or tobacco extracts, they are used to mimic smoking, which could be considered as a (direct or indirect) promotion of tobacco use. 
38. ... regulating them rather than banning them could grant these new products a level of legitimacy in terms of market access,
The phrase "to prevent the further spread of ENDS" particularly stands out. I mean, why on Earth would the World Health Organisation wish to see a product which is - in their parlance - saving lives, spread further, eh?

When you consider that the EU is looking like entirely dismissing the results of their own public consultation in favour of a headlong rush into banning e-cigs, it has to be considered that the appalling advice above has something to do with it.

This one is a doozy too.
36. Additionally, the use of ENDS could hamper the implementation of Article 8 (Protection from exposure to tobacco smoke) as ENDS users in public places may claim that their electronic cigarette does not contain tobacco and/or does not produce second-hand tobacco smoke.
There's no "claim" about it! They don't contain tobacco, nor do they produce second-hand tobacco smoke! This is a world-respected body producing utter bollocks here, and without even the merest hint of shame.

It hasn't stopped one of their most insane cheerleaders trying desperately to promote some kind of health scare around it, mind. And when challenged, the dangerous lunatic retreats to the usual industry tactic of treating you like a mushroom (keeping you in the dark and throwing in the occasional bit of shit).


Impossible, of course, because - as is customary with these snake oil merchants - it is hidden away where no-one can see it.

In the pursuit of self-enrichment and obsessive prejudice, the attack on e-cigs is being co-ordinated from the very top, and real harm - not the imagined stuff these charlatans have been trading on since the late 70s - could be visited on people all over the world as a result.

So I'll say it again. It's never been about health. 



20 comments:

SteveW said...

They really don't like us very much, do they.
Idiots, evil, small-minded idiots.

west2 said...

It's about time F2C changed their policy on e-cigs. Maybe they have though on the forum they still maintain:

The official position of F2C with regard to all alternate methods of delivery of nicotine is as follows;

Freedom2Choose does not support alternate methods of delivery of nicotine (including e-cigs) due to the fact that they are being used as products of coercion to replace the real choices of consenting adults.




They are hardly trying to coerce people to use them by banning them. If anything the WTO/EU are coercing people back to cigs.

I realise some tobacco users do not like them. I also realise that some vapers have tried to hitch themselves to the antis in the hope that they will be spared.
How many more times does one have to say this division is unhelpful.


Attempts to ban e-cigs can be used to highlight the hypocrisy of the TCI and show that the 'science' they use is not all it seems. They also show up the conflicts of interest and incestuous nature of tobacco control. This is helpful for both vapers, smokers and dual users.


In addition Snus users face similar problems.


It would help if TICAP had a higher profile.

nisakiman said...

I find myself reading this stuff with a sense of stunned disbelief. Just who the fuck gives these people the authority to trample underfoot my right to choose? Who elected them?

"It should be noted that ENDS are products resembling cigarettes and could therefore undermine the denormalization of tobacco use..."

What the fuck? What the fucking fuck? I tell you what, boys and girls from TCI, you can stick your denormalisation up your collective arse. Wrapped in barbed wire. Connected to a high voltage supply. I damn well refuse to be "denormalised" by you or anybody else.

Someone needs to round all these cretinous twats up and lock them away where they can't do any more harm. Either that or blow the FCTC conference in Seoul to kingdom come. Gods teeth, they are just running amok now! Something really needs to be done about them before they contaminate anything else with their warped, diseased minds and their perverted cravings.

Mag01 said...

DP, this issue was being discussed on Siegel’s blog a few
years ago. The “war on tobacco” has been very lucrative for Gigantic Pharma and
its essentially useless/dangerous cessation wares. Pharmaceutical companies and
pharma-“philanthropy”, such as the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation (RWJF’s
income comes from a large stockholding in Johnson & Johnson, a primary
manufacturer of nicotine replacement products), have pumped hundreds of
millions of dollars into antismoking such as funding antismoking groups to push
for smoking bans, higher extortionate taxes, etc. These produce constant
pressure on smokers to quit who are then typically advised (by the medical
cartel) to use Pharma products. In Australia, for example, Pharma has even
managed to get its junk wares on the taxpayer-funded “Pharmaceutical Benefits
Scheme” in which case the junk is handed out like candy at taxpayer expense –
can you hear the cash registers in the background?





Pharma spent years and big dollars “cultivating the market” (i.e.,
wreaking psychological, social, economic, and political havoc) for their crappy
products. Then in waltzed the new kid on the block – e-gizmos. The new kid was
shouting, “I’m antismoking too”. The new kid was just going to come in, take
advantage of all the orchestrated denormalization work without spending a cent,
and fully expected to take a cut of the market. Well…. if you know anything
about the Pharma Cartel, that ain’t going to happen.





It was pointed out to [an unbelieving] Siegel a few years ago
that the e-gizmos were going to take a pounding. Well, here we are. The World
Health Organization is a medical organization; in fact, it’s global medical HQ.
The medical establishment is utterly dominated by the Pharma cartel; that’s who
really rakes in the dough. It calls the shots as can be seen with anti-tobacco
and anti-e-gizmos. The WHO is a collection of ideologically-warped,
power-hungry folk partnered with vested financial interests – a dangerous mix.
They primarily look after their interests. Even cancer
societies, heart foundations, lung associations are part of the medical
establishment. They are front groups with the appearance of “benevolent”
disposition that give the impression of independent support for medial policy.
They typically toe the establishment line.





On Siegel’s blog, we were even contemplating how the
fanatics could get outdoor smoking bans implemented (Godber Blueprint), which
were just beginning in the US a few years ago, when there wasn’t even the
pretense of a scientific basis for such bans. We’ve since found out (just like
e-gizmos). They lie profusely. They bamboozle councilors with the inflammatory
rhetoric and Saving The Children™ stuff and, more often than not, councils vote
– usually unanimously - for outdoor smoking bans, even at BBQ sites!!!

Mag01 said...

“The Tobacco Control Industry”





This title is far too generous. More apt is the
Tobacco Control Racket.





Glantz: ”But no one should be forced to breathe
indoor pollution because of others’ nicotine addiction”






Reply: No-one should be forced to live with the consequences
of mental pollution produced by others’ neuroses, incompetence, bigotry, and
greed (e.g., Stantonitis Glands).

Jay said...

Absolutely correct, however I prefer to say the Tobacco Control Industry is part of the Public Health Racket, which covers every imaginable and imaginary harm out there: food, alcohol, tobacco, video games, etc.

Mag01 said...




Indeed. We could even say that the Tobacco Control Racket is
part of the larger Public Health™ Racket. :)

nisakiman said...

Gosh DP, was my comment that profane that even you felt the need to delete it?

Sorry mate, but sometimes the spiteful misanthropy promulgated by the shower calling themselves "Tobacco Control" makes me a bit potty-mouthed.

And when I say "sorry", I'm apologising for using your blog to rant. I'm not apologising for what I said, because I meant every word.

Dick_Puddlecote said...

No, it was Disqus getting overzealous. Rant away. ;)

Dick_Puddlecote said...

Can't disagree with any of that.

Dick_Puddlecote said...

Ditto. I've said it before that e-cigs should be defended by all of us just as much as any other product, especially as they have such potential for exposing the lies and junk science. Doing otherwise is exactly what the dive and conquerors want to happen.

Rad Rodent said...

So, acetic acid is a carcinogen and/or toxin? Who’d have
thunk it. This is going to put a serious dampener on the enjoyment of fish and
chips...



.


..



....


You don't think...?



.


They would, would they...?







Is nothing beyond them?!!!



Radical Rodent

Elaine Keller said...

Many of us commented on Glantz's post. At first, he published comments and then responded to them. But apparently the dialog got to be too much for him and he just began censoring all of them. We were also storing a copy of these comments on e-cigarette-forum.com, so Glantz can't totally escape his critics. BTW, one of our board members, Kristin Noll-Marsh invented a term for the tobacco control-freaks that fits them to a T: ANTZ, for Anti-Nicotine and Tobacco Zealots. It even lends itself nicely to a slogan and possibly a cartoon: Stamp out ANTZ.

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