Scott McKirahan
The headline in an article posted today on usatoday.com reads: “Electronic cigarettes pitched as eco-friendly.”
“At last,” I thought, “The mainstream media is finally going to say something positive about e-cigarettes!”
As usual, though, the article was a huge disappointment. Instead of a story outlining the obvious benefits to the environment that electronic cigarettes provide, the author provided a rehashing of the same old misinformation concerning cancer and electronic cigarettes.
The author did give a one line mention of the fact that Green Smoke, a Miami based e-cig company, was using the eco friendly nature of electric cigs as a selling point. Instead of elaborating on the benefits to the environment that electronic cigarettes do present, the author chose instead to sum them up as something that was carcinogenic. I’d name the reporter here but there is no byline. Apparently, even the author is so embarrassed by his/her lack of effort that they did not want their name even associated with this article.
Where is the part of the article that shows the environmental benefits? Things such as:
- No flame or burning embers means no forest fires from careless smoking
- No ashes or cigarette butts strewn about our highways, sidewalks, parks and beaches.
- No secondhand smoke
- No stinky smoke; no clothes that reek; no foul breath (definitely good for my personal environment)
- That much less waste at our landfills from cigarette packs and cigarette butts
- Less trees being destroyed to make the paper that tobacco cigarettes are rolled out of and that they are packaged in
Nope; there is none of that. Instead, the author concludes that the FDA found carcinogens in e-cigarettes and that they may be harmful. Nowhere does the author mention that only two manufacturer’s e-cigarettes were tested out of the hundreds out there. There is no mention of the fact that only some of the cartridges that they tested had a trace element of a carcinogen detected. Not once is it mentioned that the carcinogen found was the same one found in the FDA-approved patch and Nicotrol inhaler and that those approved products have more of the carcinogen in them than what was found in the electric cig cartridges. Nor is it mentioned at all that many things we eat every day – like tomatoes – have carcinogens in them.
Uncovering information like that would have actually taken ten minutes of research. Lazy people use lazy “facts” knowing that the majority of lazy America accepts them at face value.
The pharmaceutical and tobacco industry are counting on the stupid and lazy to accept articles like this as fact. They cannot allow a safer alternative to cut into their profits. The FDA cannot allow it either. This bloated, corrupt government agency counts on the money it receives from the pharmaceutical and tobacco industries for its survival. They, too, count on your stupidity. Your health and your survival are secondary to that, America.
So what is greener … electronic cigarettes or the “reporters” they use to write stories like this. Tough call!
E-Cig Express Blog Quote of the Day: “No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power. ” – P.J. O’Rourke