The man who ‘invented’ the e-cigarette, Dr Hon Lik (see more below) has said many times that his only mistake was the name. Because e-cigarettes are NOT cigarettes.
E-cigarettes do not burn — therefore they produce no smoke, no particulates and none of the dangerous carcinogens that the combustion process produces in smoking.
E-cigarettes are “at least 95 percent safer than smoking” — even if they contain nicotine.
Nicotine is addictive, in almost the same way as caffeine, and public health experts agree it is no more dangerous — if you don’t burn it, it is no more harmful than a cup of coffee.
factasia.org’s opinion polls (found under the Surveys & Data link in the main menu & conducted by Ipsos) have shown consistently that adult smokers throughout Asia-Pacific are calling on authorities to allow them to switch to less harmful products.
Yet governments in this region are ignoring the clear public health implication of vastly reduced risk of death and disease if smokers switch to e-cigarettes – as long as they are properly regulated like any other consumer product for safety and quality.
Why do authorities in this region ignore the evidence that the European Union, Japan and the US have accepted?
factasia believes the harm reduction case has been convincingly made and that anyone in the public health sphere across Asia-Pacific who opposes vaping does so on ideological (not medical or scientific) grounds – or worse.
In some countries there are deliberate campaigns to obscure the message of harm reduction and in others the outright refusal to regulate e-cigarettes only exposes citizens and voters to further – avoidable – risks.
factasia calls for an end to misinformation, lies and hypocrisy, and for public health authorities to recognise the clear message that less harmful alternatives to smoking represent the best way to reduce death and disease associated with smoking.
More on Hon Lik:
