Don’t succumb to anti-vaping hysteria

On the heels of a stubborn rise in youth vaping, officials in multiple states and the federal government are warning Americans about a small but troubling wave of seemingly vaping-related illnesses and even warning of federal crackdowns.

While prudence is always wise, a counterproductive hysteria has been unleashed, one that ignores the positive effects vapes have had in adult smokers’ lives and rushes to judgment in the absence of the facts.

The first issue to confront is that all vapes are not created equal. As the vape industry has noted, the partial legalization of marijuana appears to have only strengthened the black market for illegal pot vapes. These so-called “street vapes” and their vaporized liquids are wholly unregulated. “If you’re don’t want to die or end up in a hospital, stop vaping illegal THC oils immediately,” the head of the American Vaping Association agreed.

The wide variety of potentially dangerous concoctions available has nothing to do with mainstream vapes, and so far there’s no evidence that victims got into trouble smoking typical vaping products.

That’s important because of how huge a positive difference mainstream nicotine vaping products—which have been federally regulated since 2017–have made in the lives of adult smokers. Simply by eliminating the smoke of tobaccobased cigarettes from their lives, nicotine vapers have wiped out a massive and conclusively documented threat to their lives.

As the American Cancer Society notes, “e-cigarette use is likely to be significantly less harmful for adults than smoking regular cigarettes,” given that “e-cigarettes do not contain or burn tobacco — a process that produces an estimated 7,000 chemicals, including at least 70 chemicals that cause cancer.”

A reasonable response to the vape scare would do three things: first, proceed with the current investigation; second, impose clear and enforceable regulations on all kinds of vape cartridges and liquids; and, third, do more to prevent underage vaping without overbroad bans that penalize responsible adult vapers making the switch from cigarettes.

That means rejecting the hysteria against all forms of vaping, which activists are using to mobilize sweeping bans against the whole technology.

The bottom line is that officials should not ignore how well-regulated vaping has dramatically reduced sickness and death from cigarette smoking. As alarming as today’s health scare is, a puritanical approach to vapes is very unlikely to serve the public interest. — Los Angeles Daily News, MediaNews Group