Posted on 01/08/2015 8:32:54 AM PST by Kaslin
Leave it to a bunch of Democrats from typically liberal states to take aim at healthy alternatives to cigarette smoking. Democrats from California, Illinois, Connecticut, and Colorado have decided that because e-cigarettes vaguely resemble puffing on an actual stick of cancer, they should be the target of heavy regulation and criticism. Instead of embracing a technology that aids in smoking cessation efforts, and greatly reduces health complications associated with traditional “smoking”, these Nannycrats have decided that these non-cigarettes should be the target of ridicule and government regulation. And, of course, it’s all for the “children”.
According to the Free Beacon:
The “Protecting Children from Electronic Cigarette Advertising Act” would authorize the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “determine what constitutes marketing e-cigarettes to children, and would allow the FTC to work with state’s attorneys general to enforce the ban.”
“We cannot risk undoing decades of progress in reducing youth smoking by allowing e-cigarette makers to target our kids,” Democrat Senator from California (but I repeat myself) Barbara Boxer said in a statement. “This bill will help protect our children from an industry that profits from addiction.”
An industry that profits from addiction? What, the Democrat Party wants to keep a monopoly on the market?
Apparently, this collection of Nannycrats from the liberal corners of government-intrusion have decided that ostensibly harmless electronic cigarettes are targeting children… All in the hopes of getting these young kiddies hooked on real cigarettes that are owned by different companies. (Right. But I’m the one that wears a tin-foil hat.) Dick Durbin (D – Chicago Illinois) referenced the “candy flavors” and “glossy celebrity ads” in his charge that e-cigs are directed at youngsters. Tom Harkin (D – Iowa) even went so far as to suggest that e-cigarette companies are stooping to the level of Joe Camel.
Really? Jenny McCarthy inhaling some water vapor (in an add explicitly directed at adults who want to quit smoking) is the intellectual equivalent of Joe Camel holding a pack of unfiltered-adulthood during a commercial break on Sunday morning cartoon shows? As far as I can tell, there haven’t been any Flintstone cartoons with Barney and Fred puffing away (when they’re supposed to be mowing – those scoundrels) saying “It tastes good – Like a cigarette should!”
I know that I haven’t seen any advertisements featuring men in lab coats and stethoscopes telling me that smoking their brand of e-cig will “soothe” my “T-zone”.
I don’t see any infants explaining to a tobacco hungry consumer base that their mother is too good not to smoke their brand.
There haven’t been any ads asking “Do you inhale?” (With a clear implication that everyone’s doing it!)
The absurdity of comparing reasonably healthy e-cigarettes to a crush-proof box of Camels aside, the Nannycrats seem woefully incapable of making a legitimate case for increased government regulation. In fact, their main point seems to be that electronic alternatives to carcinogen-flavored cigarettes will drive people to smoke the real thing… They’re basically calling e-cigs the “gateway” drug for cancer. Which makes perfect sense… Because it seems pretty obvious that most people would rather stuff their mouths with painfully addictive health risks than a relatively harmless water vapor.
The truth is that most e-cigarettes are sold as an alternative to smoking “the real thing”. They are being promoted as cessation tools, and safer alternatives for people trying to kick the habit of sucking down a pack of Lucky Strikes each day. And, really, it seems like an effective tool to get smokers off their suicide instalment plans.
After all, with the exception of uber-liberal cities (cough*NewYork*cough) you can smoke e-cigarettes in places where Joe Camel’s favorite product is banned. You want a nice soothing menthol after that steak dinner? Too bad… But here’s a nifty little water vapor pen that looks and tastes kinda like a Newport.
I mean, as attractive as standing in 20 degree weather for 3-6 minutes might seem, I’m willing to bet most smokers would welcome the opportunity to indulge their Mad Men moment of Kool (get it?) indoors. The point is: More restrictions, scorn and risk are generally not reasons to take up a new (and masochistic) habit. Given e-cigarette’s obvious health benefits (when compared to the world of Marlboro Country), doesn’t this seem like a societal transition that health-centric libs should be embracing?
Of course the coalition for the ridicule of healthy smoking-alternatives (I’m not going to charge them for that suggested committee name) has an answer to such obvious criticism: Boxer’s office said there is “no way of knowing” whether e-cigarettes are harmful or not. Right… Kinda like de-regulated marijuana. (Kids: Don’t smoke cigarettes… Just smoke weed.)
Healthy or not, they are certainly less toxic than a package of full-flavored tar-filled Lucky Strikes. (And let’s face it… How will any e-cig company be able to concoct a slogan better than “It’s Toasted!”?) Oh… And we actually do have a rough idea that cigarette smoke is more toxic than water vapor infused with nicotine. (Um, duh!) A Federal Drug Administration study pointed out that there are roughly nine contaminants in the water vapor of electronic cigarettes. The average tobacco cigarette has around 11,000 contaminants.
With so many smokers making the conversion to e-cigarettes for the obvious health benefit (not to mention the nostalgic ability to “light up” almost anywhere) one would think that the scientific and Nannycratic elements of government would be happy. So why, exactly, aren’t we welcoming a decidedly healthier alternative to Lucky Strikes, Camel Menthols and American Spirits? Shouldn’t such migration into healthier lifestyles be welcomed?
To the big government liberals of DC, it doesn’t seem to matter that an innovative electronic contraption might lead to healthier living… Because it isn’t sanctioned by the Nannycrats who hope to control your life.
So… Vape ‘em if you got ‘em. Before long, you might have to write off another perk of adulthood thanks to big government.
Democrats: Peter Puffers Good, Nicotine Puffers Bad
“The “Protecting Children from Electronic Cigarette Advertising Act” would authorize the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “determine what constitutes marketing e-cigarettes to children, and would allow the FTC to work with state’s attorneys general to enforce the ban.””
Maybe they should start with The “Protecting Children from Marijuana Smoking Act”.
That’s because it has never been about reducing smoking, aiding health benefits or “the children”, but rather it is about controlling people’s lives and increasing tax revenue. I suspect that e-cigarettes have dramatically reduced the amount of revenue the state receives in tobacco taxes and thus the state needs to find another “boogieman” to keep the tax train rolling. Government at all levels have has become addicted to taxation.
Tobacco is a legal product. If our elected officials sincerely believed that tobacco smoke was killing little babies in their beds and filling our hospitals,the only moral choice would be a prohibition of the sale, manufacture and importation of tobacco products. However that will never happen because tobacco taxes are a huge source of revenue for the government ...consider tobacco taxes ta hypocritical death tax. Of course the government tried the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s and 1930s as a remedy for all of society’s ills with little success. Prohibition just turned most of the country into bootleggers and caused the rise of organized crime. It’s about time government nannies just left us alone to make our own decisions and stopped being hypocrites about tobacco.
Years ago we lived in Venezuela... the waiters came to the table with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, the bank tellers were smoking while counting out the money, people smoked everywhere openly. My wife says, finally... a free country!
Control freaks are never happy.
Watch some classic movies from the 1940s and 1950s - back before the USA became a wussified Nanny State run by liberal martinets.
Everyone smokes everywhere - doctors, nurses, Marines, admirals, senators, police, taxi drivers, airplane pilots, glamour girls and and prostitutes.
They smoke in restaurants, hospitals, offices, cars, trains, planes, prison cells, beds and bathtubs.
The liberal’s message is very clear—we are supposed to believe they are royalty and the rest of us are stupid peons that need to be told what to do for our own good.
DING! DING! DING!
We have a winner!!
The states are worried about the loss of those tobacco taxes on which they have come to rely and are scared that too many people will switch to the steam pipes and quit smoking real revenue producing cigarettes.It has become necessary to discourage people from actually quitting smoking. The logic of that was explained by many when the big settlements with the tobacco companies were happening and the taxes on cigs were skyrocketing. Governments put themselves in the position where they would have to actually prevent folks from quitting cigarettes..
Add a bit of thc to it and they would fight for the universal right to smoke it
“Homosexual anal sex is wonderful, hook up with countless partners, empower yourself doing porn shoots, get free abortions so you’re not punished with a baby, BUT DON’T YOU DARE PUFF ON AN E-CIG. We really care about you.”
I say America needs a ‘Stupid Legislation’ law. Any enacted law can be put before the people for a vote. If it is voted bad, it is repealed and the enactor is barred from making any law for a year. A second, and he’s gone—permanently banned from all government. I like it, I’m tired of these idiots getting a bug up their ass and making everybody suffer in a vain attempt to ‘feel good’ about themselves while doing us all a great disservice! They think they’re so smart, but hardly any of them have any real-world business experience—or common sense.
Early 70s, I was in NC covering the courthouse. One of our most successful defense attorneys had taken a case we all expected him to lose. As the DA began the core of the case Carl fired up a cigarette. Wondered me, I knew Carl didn’t smoke.
He set the cig in the ashtray at his table; never touched it again. I found out later he had run a very thin wire down the length. Within a couple minutes no one on the jury was paying any attention to the DA, they were all focused on Carl’s cigarrete, wondering when the slowly growing ash was going to fall.
Carl gave his usual eloquent closing and his thoroughly guilty client walked.
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