This story came to my attention recently which, as I’m sure you’ll agree, is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg. Y’see, the Scottish Green MSP mentioned in the last bout of reporting (Gillian Mackay MSP) is just but the last in a long line of antagonists seeking to effectively ban the humble disposable vape.
Join me as we discover just how deep this rabbit-hole goes.
Back in September, the Scottish Government - specifically the Health & Social Care department - published the results of a public consultation, snappily entitled “Vaping products - tightening rules on advertising and promoting: consultation analysis”.
It is well-known that within the UK, each of the devolved areas have completely different priorities when it comes to “running” their little piece of the country. Wales tried, and spectacularly failed last year to bring in a new “Public Health (Wales) Bill” which would, in effect have severe negative consequences for Welsh vapers. That Bill, the demented offspring of one Mark Drakeford, was defeated at the final hurdle, not by the weight of evidence as it should have been long before it got to the final vote, but by the “cheap date” comment.
In an all-too-familiar refrain, the Daily Fail has once again thrown journalistic integrity out of the window (as if they had any to begin with) to boldly tell the world that “e-cigs are bad mmkay”. Regular readers will of course remember a similar “study” - these things seem to come out at regular intervals - that claimed e-cigs have the potential to have severe adverse effects on the heart. It was a festering pile of fetid dingo kidneys then and, guess what, it still is.
We all know that attitudes towards e-cigarettes are slowly being eroded in the UK by the near constant barrage of churnalism. That’s right The Sun I’m looking squarely at you, crass fuckwits that you are. I might even look towards The Telegraph too. Not for the usual reason of their “science” editor this time, though that could be considered one big reason.
Now we have an actual study, funded by the National Cancer Institute and the FDA CTP, and performed by some researchers deep in the bowels of Stanford.
We had some forewarning of this dropping in the Medical Journal of Australia and frankly I wasn’t at all surprised by the authors of the opinion piece. Rest assured it is an opinion piece there is zero new evidence being bought forward. You could almost call it a review, if you are feeling incredibly generous. But I’m long past feeling generous to the three authors. We all know who they are.
OK, so not the most inspiring title ever conceived but I normally only post once every few days. Or try to at least. For once, you lovely folks are getting a double post out of me today.
No, this is not about the plain packs debacle. That one is just full of stupid for me to even contemplate right now. Besides, it has already been covered very nicely by Dick Puddlecote here.
