Thursday, October 29, 2009

e cigs, advocacy, and prevention

While I appreciate the serious discussion of e-cigarettes, on a global scale it is probably fairly academic. Those most likely to become addicted to nicotine, the poor and undereducated, are unlikely to find nicotine vapor or low emission devices a real option. (if you don't like butts imagine the environmental impact of these latest delivery devices!) Individuals should decide whether they are public health advocates or tobacco prevention advocates working in the realm of public health. The relative harm from spit, low emission, or e-cigarette effluent is rather immaterial if either is not proven to reduce the prevalence of nicotine addiction.

Tobacco free spaces are not ends in themselves but tools for challenging those culpable and profiting from the leading cause of death and disease on the planet.

Recall that harm reduction involving tobacco companies originated with the mirage of the filter tip and the low tar cigarette. Arbitrarily deciding that a certain level of risk is acceptable only serves to collaborate with an industry that could care less.


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