Dear Editor:
Response to 鈥淭hinking Critically 鈥� Vaping: The new face of addiction.
Kudos on being able to quit smoking cold turkey, for many of us that is not a reality.
Mr Barker I find it insulting the聽 you rant off about something you鈥檝e spent 15 minutes researching and pass it off as fact. I am the owner of the Vapeshack (or as in your column a pusher hooking new nicotine addicts)聽 First I鈥檇 like to tell you a little of my story because I believe it is similar to just about every one of our customers.聽聽 I started smoking around the age of 15 and smoked heavily for the next 38 years. I was once able to quit around twenty years ago by going to a hypnotist, that lasted a while but I eventually went back to smoking, I tried unsuccessfully with nicotine gum and Champix, The problem being that like most smokers I really enjoyed the habit, without the habit I couldn鈥檛 work on my addiction.聽 I knew smoking wasn鈥檛 healthy but I couldn鈥檛 quit, I could hear the wheezing in my lungs at night and woke up coughing but as soon as I got up I鈥檇 have my coffee and cigarettes, I knew I was most likely going to die with a smoke firmly clenched in my fist.
One day a friend who was also hopelessly addicted got a vaporizer, I thought might as well try it as well, it鈥檚 been over 2 years since that day and neither of us have touched a cigarette since, in fact my whole crowd are now non smokers. My nicotine intake has gone almost to 0 I don鈥檛 wheez anymore, I don鈥檛 cough anymore. !!聽聽 I might suggest there have been more health related issues from the lead inside ink used to print newspapers and flyers.聽 Perhaps we should ban vaporizers in hospitals, or asthma inhalers, essential oil machines and no longer allow bands to have smoke machines, all of which have the same output (Vapor).
聽According to the CDC worldwide聽 there are 6 million Cigarette related deaths every year, to this date there have been zero from vaping. big tobacco processed cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemicals. 69 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer. Nicotine is not one of these chemicals. The scientific community has not even identified all of these 4000 chemicals nor can they tell you what effect they have on the human body !!聽 聽
From Sky News - A new report from the Royal Society for Public Health has found one myth about the dangers of smoking has endured for decades.
The research suggests nine out of 10 people falsely believe nicotine is very harmful to their heath, when in fact it is no more dangerous than the caffeine in a cup of coffee.
Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the RSPH, said: 鈥淕etting people on to nicotine rather than using tobacco would make a big difference to the public鈥檚 health. 鈥淐learly there are issues in terms of having smokers addicted to nicotine but this would move us on from having a serious and costly public health issue from smoking-related disease to instead address the issue of addiction to a substance which in and of itself is not too dissimilar to caffeine addiction.鈥�
The worst damage to health is caused by the tobacco in cigarettes, which - when burning - exposes users to chemicals such as tar and arsenic. Tobacco also contains some nicotine, but according to the new report, nicotine itself isn鈥檛 harmful.
Take the time to read the whole article:聽聽聽 http://news.sky.com/story/1534821/nicotine-no-worse-than-cup-of-coffee-report
Or Here is a story from today:
First e-cigarettes to be prescribed on the NHS in the New Year but ministers 鈥榳anted to keep it quiet in case GPs are overrun鈥�
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3348012/First-e-cigarettes-prescribed-NHS-New-Year.html#ixzz3ucBBQslT
You mentioned the flavor Bubblegum and how there is no way this could not be marketing to children, candy flavors appeal to children, but that doesn鈥檛 mean they are not appealing to adults and assist in an attempt to switch from smoking to vaping, Thom you yourself probably like the odd cheesecake, or cappuccino why must vaping taste as awful as smoking, Attempts to child-proof the world do not necessarily make kids any safer, but they always make adults less free
The Vaporizers you choose to demonize have the potential to save millions of lives, have a huge impact on lung cancer with the loss of carcinogens, tar and dangerous chemicals, are not dangerous to the people around you, do not stink and have the ability to help you slowly reduce your nicotine intake to beat your addiction.聽 In my mind these should be applauded as the most important smoking cessation device in the history of smoking.
I could go on and on with studies that have been done, but instead I invite you down to our store to hear first hand what vaping has meant to our customers lives.
Geoff Auckland
Vape Shack
366m Broadway St.W.
Yorkton, SK.
