In the wake of a string of lung injuries linked to e-cigarettes and vaping, health authorities around the world are springing into action. China and India are talking about bans, many US states are taking regulatory action, and SA is reportedly looking to get its own ban in place.
I admit, I’m a bit puzzled as to why we are working so hard to ban e-cigarettes given relatively small evidence of harm while we allow regular cigarettes to be sold despite widespread and compelling evidence that they are killing millions of people every year. If we want to save lives, banning cigarettes worldwide would surely be a better place to start.
Cigarette smoking is the world’s number one cause of preventable death (hypertension is deadlier, but harder to prevent than smoking, which can simply be discontinued with no downside). While e-cigarettes have been tentatively linked to a handful of deaths, regular cigarettes have been definitively linked to a hundred million deaths in the 20th century.
Cigarettes kill up to half of their users. They kill an estimated 8 million people a year. If vaping is dangerous, it should be banned, especially since it seems to disproportionately affect children. But we know cigarettes are dangerous. Why not ban them?
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