Ecigs have been gaining popularity, but this has been met with questions from groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Lung Association. Skeptics insist there is not enough evidence to show that e-cigs are not harmful, and to this date the FDA has not given its seal of approval for this new invention. Moreover, there is the call from some doctors to look at the possibility that e-cigs may cause harm in the long term, therefore more studies should be conducted to establish if e-cigs pose significant harm. There is also the opinion that e-cigs should be subject to regulation of e-cigs as a drug-delivery device.
Steve Forbes, two-time candidate for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, gave a firm statement in support of the vaping industry. Forbes is no stranger to the venue that public opinion offers when controversies arise; he was head of Forbes magazine for 20 years.
In defiance of the members of the scientific community’s criticisms of e-cigarettes, Forbes made an unequivocal statement that e-cigs are a lifesaver. He also said that it was something “health fascists” wanted to kill. This reference was evidently aimed at health organizations that were in consonance with the FDA stand that manufacturers of this product would have to get their approval if they wanted to stay on the market.
Lack of Understanding
Forbes said that lack of understanding about e-cigs was not a justification for the government’s Imposition of regulations that would hinder the development of e-cigs. If e-cigs could be a healthier alternative than cigarettes, these regulations can be deemed as doubly harmful in view of the mortality and morbidity attributed to smoking.
How Forbes Sees E-cigs
Forbes believes that ecigs are a breakthrough, but sadly they are getting a raw deal. He has made it known that this invention should be treated better. However, both reporters and regulators are looking at it with hostility when in fact they are allowing smokers to feel as if they are smoking without generating any harmful smoke.
Forbes believes Ecigs have been condemned as an opening for smoking even before evidence has been provided regarding its harmful effects. In fact, Forbes points out that when e-cigs came into the scene, teenage smoking has decreased by 50 percent.
A government report admits that in the past five years, government records show that opoid abuse, cigarette use and alcohol use have all gone down. Then it simply adds that a survey shows high rates of e-cigarette use and fewer concerns about the risks of marijuana. As a totally “objective” report, it fails to point out that there is a missing piece in the body of facts that they present: the possibility of a cause-and-effect relationship between the use of e-cigs and the decline in cigarette smoking.
Detractors of vaping are quick to point to the possibility (not the reality) that e-cigs might be the gateway to smoking, ignoring the possibility that these have been used by some smokers to put an end to their cigarette habit.
E-cigs as a Tool to Break the Smoking Habit
Apart from Steve Forbes’ defense of e-cigs, most detractors also conveniently neglect to take into account the results of a survey conducted by the University of North Carolina. This study explored physicians attitudes about the use of e-cigarettes and came up with the pronouncement that 67 percent of the 128 physicians in the survey said they viewed e-cigs as a helpful aid for people who want to stop smoking and a third are actually recommending that their patients use e-cigs to help kick their smoking habit.
Apparently, Steve Forbes is not alone in thinking e-cigs can do smokers a lot of good.