I have a lot to say on this subject but not a lot of time to edit my diary, so this is going to be a bit of a long, winding piece. I apologize in advance. If you missed the link above and aren't aware of the issue, take a moment to read my last diary on the subject: Democrats: Stop the War on Vaping!

Attacking with fallacies

Although on its face this bill looks like just an advertising ban, make no mistake, it would reach throughout the industry due to its attack on flavors. This is a big turning point in the tobacco debate, as flavors have been demonized as "targeting children" when appearing in conjunction with tobacco. However e-cigarettes have no inherent tobacco flavor, or an inherent flavor at all, so almost every liquid is flavored, including tobacco-flavored liquids. Thus the entire industry, which by and large takes pains to keep sales to adults only (and is highly successful in doing it), traffics in flavors. Legislation and/or regulations will have to reckon with flavor on a level I don't think the introducers understand or appreciate.

Thing is, attacking e-cigarette manufacturers is a strawman. Attacking tobacco companies for their ecigarette activities is doubly so. That's because most e-cigarette manufacturers are overseas, and tobacco companies are late entrants into the e-cigarette game.

The vaping industry in the US, by number of companies, is largely importer/retailers and eliquid manufacturers. There are quite a few boutique hardware manufacturers as well. The vast majority of these businesses are small. Big tobacco is competing on the low end of the market, using its wide distribution networks to its advantage, but that is the extent of their activity to date. They have not adulterated the products, nor can they (see below regarding industry self-regulation).

To attack the entire industry as if it were as consolidated and powerful as the tobacco industry, shows a complete lack of understanding of the industry's dynamics and as a result will end up hurting primarily consumers and small businesses.

We're not like the others, we're your friends (literally)

The ecigarette industry is a very decentralized, consumer-driven industry. The great majority of vapor companies are not large enough to have significant advertising footprints, let alone are able to effect any kind of social engineering like the early tobacco company efforts. The ecigarette industry is exploding because of its product -- simply put ecigarettes are the best smoking replacement tool ever invented, allowing users to use nicotine in a minimally damaging way. This has the side effect of ending tobacco use and reducing or eliminating dependence.

The industry is driven by humongous demand for a better alternative to tobacco for people who at some point choose to use nicotine, a legal recreational substance. What makes the alternative better is also what makes the industry largely self-regulating -- it has to be less harmful than tobacco, the safer the better. Consumers seek out safety information on devices and liquids, and companies as a result put safety high on the priority list. Safety is a competitive advantage in the industry!

Evidence clear, data abused

The Democrats' campaign hinges on claims of harm, for which there is no scientific support. All current studies find ecigarettes to be less harmful than tobacco cigarettes by a massive degree. The potential for myriad health consequences is all but eliminated with the elimination of toxins and carcinogens.

The campaign also hinges on statistics showing an increase in use among children. These statistics have been woefully misused. Childhood use rates have increased at a time when general prevalence has skyrocketed, in many jurisdictions outpacing age restriction regulations. So as a baseline, increased childhood use is a foregone conclusion, there's just no way any product like this that is exploding in popularity won't find its way into more kids' hands. But in addition, sometimes it was perfectly legal for the children to acquire and use it (most agree that age restricting regulation is appropriate).

Yet over this period when use rose among children, smoking among children decreased. So there is not only no correlation, there is a negative correlation with smoking. The Senators tried to spin the 76% of teens trying ecigarettes being smokers as ecigarettes being the gateway. But the negative correlation tells the real story -- just like among adults, the vast majority of people who try ecigarettes were already smokers, likely looking for a better alternative.

Teen smoking is on the decline but experimentation with adult recreational substances among teens cannot possibly be completely eliminated. If some of those teens are experimenting with nicotine using ecigarettes rather than tobacco cigarettes -- even if it's their first time -- it's a win for society on balance.

Bad moves may create others

The EU has gone all-in on ecig regulation, making a whole slew of complete nonsense regulations (gigantic health warnings on a product that is shown not to harm health?) There was a huge grass-roots effort to reach out to EU representatives, but in the end the power of big business triumphed. All that is left is taking the issue to European courts.

The rhetoric in Europe shows a troubling dynamic where the presence of tobacco companies in the market is taken as a problem in and of itself, in the face of all evidence, and ignoring the history of the market.

Unfortunately, US legislators and regulators won't be able to help themselves and will likely seize upon this bad move by the EU to confirm their own biases.

There will be consequences

By staking out bad positions like this and then going on the offensive from them, Democrats have put themselves in a lose-lose situation. They stand to lose voters directly on the issue AND damage the brand by seemingly embodying the imperious "nanny state."

For people who have turned to vaping to escape tobacco harm, their friends and their families, this issue is literally one of life and death. Democrats would do well to take a step back and understand that they are playing political games with peoples' lives. Treating ecigarettes like tobacco is incredibly galling and insulting to people who have done the research and decided for themselves to use ecigarettes, and have witnessed firsthand health improvements. The science is rolling in, and it's overwhelming: Ecigarettes are a revolutionary, disruptive product that have the potential to save millions of lives and end society's tobacco problem.

All this leaves the Democratic Party's actions on the issue seeming terribly Machiavellian; the party has traditionally been the stronger of the two on the concept of harm reduction. This also alienates a lot of Democratic supporters, this diarist included -- this is not a partisan issue, many on the left are affected. We progressives don't need such a serious self-inflicted wound.

So again I call for Democrats to End the War on Vaping.