Dr. Michael Siegel of Boston University writes eloquently and convincingly about the absurdity of most allegedly anti-smoking groups’ position on electronic cigarettes. Dr. Siegel points out that nearly all of them claim or imply that they recommend that smokers KEEP SMOKING CIGARETTES than migrate their nicotine usage to other less
harmful means. This flies in the face of good common sense.

These ostensibly neutral, science-based organizations chartered for the

alleviation of tobacco-related illness are essentially RECOMMENDING that American keep smoking than try less harmful alternatives. We at SmokeShopTalk believe what many others have alleged for years, that these groups are simply answering to their higher minders, namely Big Tobacco when they negate electronic cigarettes huge potential as a public health stop gap.

Let’s be clear – nicotine is NOT a carcinogen in and of itself. In fact, nicotine is not even unhealthy. The mechanism for injection of nicotine in the form of tobacco combustion, however, is DEADLY. Particularly b/c tobacco today is laced with 4,000 toxins, many of which are known carcinogens such as Polonium, Arsenic and Lead.

The Rest of the Story

What kind of absurdity is this? The major anti-smoking groups would much rather that smokers smoke tobacco cigarettes than that they quit smoking and use electronic cigarettes, even though the tobacco cigarettes have been shown to contain at least 57 known carcinogens at significant levels while the electronic cigarettes have not been shown to contain any carcinogens at more than trace levels.

Are the anti-smoking groups actually telling smokers that they would be better off smoking a product which is known to expose them to 57 carcinogens than to smoke a product which exposes them to 0 identified carcinogens?

Actually, that’s exactly what they are telling smokers.

The anti-smoking groups have thick ideological blinders on which are unfortunately precluding these groups from having any sense of public health perspective. They are living in a fantasy land in which they have convinced themselves that electronic cigarettes pose a greater threat to the public’s health than conventional cigarettes.

The rest of the story is that electronic cigarettes are not what are killing people. It’s the damn real ones.

And it’s a tragedy that these anti-smoking groups would rather condemn smokers to the most toxic known consumer product, rather than tolerate the fact that the use of this much safer product involves a smoking-like behavior. It is that smoking-like behavior which is driving the anti-smoking groups nuts. They simply cannot tolerate that. No matter how many lives it might save.

Dr. Siegel’s full article is here:

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