The US government has made it clear that, when it comes to vaping, the only things that matter to them are the potential dangers and risks. But ever since the FDA released their new regulations for e cigarettes earlier this year, a very vocal group of pro-vaping activists and supporters has emerged to challenge them.

As we have talked about before on our blog, a huge number of scientists, health organizations, small businesses, and prominent politicians all across the country have begun speaking out in support of e cigarettes since the FDA’s regulations threatened to all but shut the industry down.

Vaping Matters for Everyone

Even with a growing number of supporters, the vaping and e cigarette industry is still under threat by the FDA, and many people still don’t realize that it’s a big deal. For some, it’s easy to brush off criticisms of the FDA’s rules as “Big Tobacco” just trying to weasel out of government regulation. For those who have never vaped or smoked, it might even be easy to celebrate the collapse of the e cigarette industry as one less bad habit Americans have access to.

But those people don’t realize what is truly at stake and how much we stand to lose if the vaping industry is crippled. The truth is, the pro-vaping movement isn’t about vaping. It’s about health, it’s about truth, and it’s about the freedom to choose. It’s about, quite literally, saving lives.

Many newspapers, websites, and other publications have recognized the importance and legitimacy of the vaping movement. Unfortunately, these bits of positive press are usually published alongside speculative reports on e cigarette risks and government-sponsored anti-vaping misinformation campaigns. That’s why it’s important to share the positive messages and give credit to the people sticking up for vapers.

In Passionate Defense of Vaping

A recent editorial published in the Guardian, Vaping saves lives: It’d be madness to ban it, recently brought attention to this issue. In the article, David Nutt passionately laid out the case for vaping and why he believes limiting people’s access to vapor products is a huge hindrance to public health efforts.

First, he addresses a common line of reasoning that has often muddled the debate about vaping safety: distrust of the tobacco industry. Many people have a tendency to be suspicious of vapor products and the e cigarette industry because they remind people of Big Tobacco and the unethical practices tobacco companies were notorious for in the past.

But the thing is, the vaping industry is not the same as Big Tobacco, and vapor products are not the same as cigarettes. The vaping industry is full of small businesses, startups, and independent manufacturers, not monopolies. It has a very different landscape than the cigarette and tobacco industry.

Moreover, many in the vapor industry are there because e cigarettes have truly made a difference in their lives. Many, if not most, in the vapor industry have personal experience with cigarettes and vaping and decided to enter the vaping community because they genuinely wanted to help people. Even before government regulations mandated it, most vapor shops refused to sell to minors. It is certainly not the unethical, sinister market that the government and anti-vaping activists try to make it seem like.

Nobody benefits from ignoring all the ways individuals and society could benefit from vaping. And since the vaping industry is mainly full of small businesses, working against the e cigarette industry will, if anything, only benefit big tobacco and hurt everyone else.

Misguided Fears About the Vapor Industry

According to the Guardian article, the staunch play-it-safe approach to vaping that we see so often from the government and media is rooted in old fears and suspicions. In particular, anti-vaping activists tend to worry that e cigarette companies will lie about product safety and attempt to addict children to nicotine for profit. But these fears are greatly exaggerated; there’s not as much reason to fear for the children as anti-vaping activists would have you think. Not only did all but two states already ban sales of vapor products to minors before the FDA banned it nationwide, but most youth e cigarette users vape 0% nicotine e-liquids and teen smoking rates are at a record low.

There are other, much better ways to safeguard children and adults from potential danger that don’t involve removing 99% of vapor products from the market as the FDA regulations do. Fair regulations could ensure transparency in e cigarette research and product claims without the need for the overburdening approval process the FDA will require. But distrusting and excluding tobacco and vapor companies from efforts to make products safer is the wrong approach to take.

What’s Behind America’s War on E Cigarettes?

“we must not let hypothetical concerns about vaping limit its use, or we shall never gain adequate evidence of its true value in our fight against the clear and present danger of cigarettes.”

So, if the alarmist fears are unfounded, why do US government agencies seem so intent on restricting access to e cigarettes? There have been many competing theories as to why, but it’s probably a combination of many reasons. First, government agencies that are responsible for public health and “protecting people from themselves” tend to take a restrictive, cautionary approach to new things. Like paranoid parents fussing over their children, they tend to see only the risks and dangers, and none of the benefits.

On the other hand, a less innocent explanation is that the big tobacco companies have a stronger hold on the FDA and US government than they will admit. Some think that Big Tobacco supported and helped craft the FDA’s new rules because the regulations would give them a more powerful position in the vaping industry. It is true that the regulations are almost certain to give Big Tobacco nearly exclusive control over the e cigarette industry by putting all but a few small vapor businesses and manufacturers out of business.



What would the big tobacco companies do with the power the new regulations would give them? Some think that if they sieze control they will remove e cigarette and vapor products from the market in order to boost traditional cigarette sales. Other say they simply want to profit from having a monopoly in the vapor industry. If nothing in the FDA changes, we are bound to find out soon.

The truth is, vaping matters and e cigarettes can change lives. As David Nutts concludes in the Guardian article, “we must not let hypothetical concerns about vaping limit its use, or we shall never gain adequate evidence of its true value in our fight against the clear and present danger of cigarettes.”

Spreading the Truth About Vaping

With pro-vaping activists outraged by too-strict regulations and anti-vaping activists insisting that such regulation is necessary to protect the public, it can be easy to write off the issue as just another government-industry squabble that has nothing to do with you. But this is an issue that effects everyone.

In the past, it might have been possible to ignore tobacco and e cigarette politics, but right now the vapor industry is entangled in a political and regulatory mess that puts everyone’s health and freedom at stake. If you care about anyone who smokes, anyone who vapes, or anyone who might one day vape or smoke, then this is an issue that matters to you and the health of your loved ones.

Today is the day to stand up for the truth about vaping. Not tomorrow, not next week, and certainly not next year, because the longer we wait, the longer that real, living human being’s lives are wasting away. These extra months and years that the US public is forced to spend fighting to save the vaping industry are months and years during which mothers, fathers, and teens will develop lifelong addictions and fatal diseases from cigarettes.

Especially with the next phase of FDA regulations looming on the horizon, there’s no time to waste. You can help by learning the truth, sharing your knowledge with others, and encouraging your state representatives to do the same. If vapers continue to work together, share the truth, and petition the government, we can build a future where we are sure to always have the right to vape on.