While defenders of vaping and e-cigarettes are quick to claim they deliver less nicotine than cigarettes, the flood of unregulated products on the market lays waste to their arguments on a population level. This story illustrates the point, with health authorities in the United States calling for people to stop using them altogether as it probes growing deaths linked to their use. In South Africa we got out of the anti-tobacco blocks 20 years ago, incrementally banning cigarette advertising, smoking in public places and sponsorships by big tobacco companies, plus permissible levels of nicotine and tar in tobacco products. Thanks, no less to Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang who, when she wasn't denying that HIV causes AIDS, was enthusiastically saying smoking causes cancer and leads to lung-related diseases. Cigarette companies pump billions into promoting alternatives to their original fatal products with, ironically enough, some of the original promoters of anti-tobacco legislation in South Africa now promoting the 'harm reduction' cause of alternatives. As measured in 2012, the provinces with the highest current tobacco smoking prevalence were the Western Cape (32.9%), Northern Cape (31.2%) and Free State (27.4%). Which begs the question; why ban cigarette alternatives when the original culprit is still ubiquitous? – Chris Bateman

Vaping-related lung illnesses rise 52%, CDC says

By Kimberly Chin

(The Wall Street Journal) – The number of confirmed or probable cases of vaping-related illness has risen to 805 across 46 states and one U.S. territory, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday, as health authorities urge people to stop using electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices while it investigates a rash of illnesses and deaths linked to the products.

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