E-cigarette industry should pay to establish how safe their products are.
The Issue
The purpose of this petition.
To place the onus on the e-cigarette industry to fund totally independent research, to prove that their products are not harmful to our health.
Background:
In 2010 the e-cigarette industry was launched in the UK. Sales of e-cigs have gone from zero, to over 6 million users in Europe and 2.6 Million users in the UK. The phenomenal growth of this new way of using nicotine has been made possible because the public have believed the clever marketing, which suggests that using e-cigs is a safe and sure way to quit smoking.
There is so far, no reliable evidence of the actual numbers of smokers who have completely quit using cigarettes. To do so they would also become nicotine free. We do know that 2.6 million UK smokers have switched to e-cigs and that many of them have abandoned, the government approved, Nicotine Patches in favour of e-cigs.
It is true that e-cigs prevent tobacco smokers from inhaling the range of 4,000 additional, dangerous, chemicals in combustable tobacco. BUT, they leave people still addicted to Nicotine.
Health Myths are particularly dangerous because they have the potential to cause us and our children harm. Myths if repeated often enough, become our beliefs and our beliefs are what drive our behaviour. It is a myth that users of e-cigs are becoming nicotine free.
It is also true that although e-cig users may not become nicotine free,but they do save around £40-£60 a week on their nicotine supply as the average spend by them is reduced to around £10 a week. They could reduce that to zero by being completely nicotine free.
It is surely in the interest of the e-cigarette industry and smokers, to know for sure, that it is safe to use e-cigs, and that they are successful in getting smokers free of nicotine, which had trapped them in their smoking habits.
The research suggested by this petition, should be undertaken by one of our universities, such as Stirling University, which has a long-established, record of very high quality research into health issues. Especially their research into the tobacco trade. The e-cigs industry should have no influence over how that research is done.
The petitioner - Max Cruickshank’s view:
As the creator of this petition I should make it clear that after 50 years in youth work, with a special interest in youth health issues, especially around addictions and mental health, I take the view that the e-cigs industry stands to make billions of pounds from this re-marketing of Nicotine, so must take responsibility for it’s actions.
Why, I ask, should we the taxpayers, yet again have to pay to clear up the mess of industries that profit from encouraging the use of dangerous drugs like Nicotine, which will inevitably cause harm to individuals and families. It is a public scandal that 50% of the smokers of the past generations have died from tobacco. Yet that industry denied all responsibility for the harm they have caused.
No legal controls in place:
There are no laws in place to control the quality, safety or production of these products, not even to ensure that children cannot buy or use them.
E-cig retailers, unlike those selling tobacco, they do not even have to have a license to sell these dangerous drugs. No health advice is required to advise users of e-cigs how to do so safely, because we do not know the answer to that - yet.
Is nicotine a serious problem?
Why, you might ask is nicotine such a problem? Surely those who want to use it should be allowed to, without the nanny state harassing them. The answer to that lies in understanding the nature of the drug nicotine.
Nicotine is a powerful stimulant drug,
When you use it your heart speeds up, your body gets stressed, so you get hyperactive and high. It does not relax you. After a short time, a few minutes, these effects wear off and you come back down from your high, and feel lethargic, agitated, depress and stressed. Not a place you want to be, so what do you do next? You reach for the fags, or your vaporiser to take another hit of Nicotine. When you've done this, yes, you will feel relaxed, because your have just taken something to alleviate your stressed up body and your addiction to nicotine.This traps you in what I call the addictive circle or loop, of high’s and low’s, which will continue until you stop taking the nicotine.
We have been well warned!
For decades the government’s health experts have told us that nicotine is a highly addictive and dangerous drug. However, the e-cigarette industry want us to believe that nicotine use is not a problem, “it is no worse than caffeine” is one of their myths, or “that it is a different sort of nicotine, a safer nicotine” is another”. This is utter nonsense, designed to con people into buying these products, with no regard to the consequences on our health. This is no surprise, because for around 400 years of successfully selling tobacco cigarettes, to us, this business is now under threat, because so many people have quit smoking.
There are now estimated to be only 8 million people in the uk still smoking and 10 million who have successfully quit. Believe it or not but around 90% of those who have quit did so without any form of help. No nicotine patches, no hypnosis, no smoking cessation classes, no e-cigarettes. Just the amazing power of their own minds. They changed their subconscious mindset which told them I am a smoker, to one that said I am a non-smokers, and it did not cost them one penny. If you find this hard to believe check out your friends who have quit and hear their success stories.
VOTE NOW:
It will cost you nothing, but your time, to vote in this petition, which could potentially prevent millions of people across the world form becoming addicted to the drug nicotine.
Petition Closed
The Issue
The purpose of this petition.
To place the onus on the e-cigarette industry to fund totally independent research, to prove that their products are not harmful to our health.
Background:
In 2010 the e-cigarette industry was launched in the UK. Sales of e-cigs have gone from zero, to over 6 million users in Europe and 2.6 Million users in the UK. The phenomenal growth of this new way of using nicotine has been made possible because the public have believed the clever marketing, which suggests that using e-cigs is a safe and sure way to quit smoking.
There is so far, no reliable evidence of the actual numbers of smokers who have completely quit using cigarettes. To do so they would also become nicotine free. We do know that 2.6 million UK smokers have switched to e-cigs and that many of them have abandoned, the government approved, Nicotine Patches in favour of e-cigs.
It is true that e-cigs prevent tobacco smokers from inhaling the range of 4,000 additional, dangerous, chemicals in combustable tobacco. BUT, they leave people still addicted to Nicotine.
Health Myths are particularly dangerous because they have the potential to cause us and our children harm. Myths if repeated often enough, become our beliefs and our beliefs are what drive our behaviour. It is a myth that users of e-cigs are becoming nicotine free.
It is also true that although e-cig users may not become nicotine free,but they do save around £40-£60 a week on their nicotine supply as the average spend by them is reduced to around £10 a week. They could reduce that to zero by being completely nicotine free.
It is surely in the interest of the e-cigarette industry and smokers, to know for sure, that it is safe to use e-cigs, and that they are successful in getting smokers free of nicotine, which had trapped them in their smoking habits.
The research suggested by this petition, should be undertaken by one of our universities, such as Stirling University, which has a long-established, record of very high quality research into health issues. Especially their research into the tobacco trade. The e-cigs industry should have no influence over how that research is done.
The petitioner - Max Cruickshank’s view:
As the creator of this petition I should make it clear that after 50 years in youth work, with a special interest in youth health issues, especially around addictions and mental health, I take the view that the e-cigs industry stands to make billions of pounds from this re-marketing of Nicotine, so must take responsibility for it’s actions.
Why, I ask, should we the taxpayers, yet again have to pay to clear up the mess of industries that profit from encouraging the use of dangerous drugs like Nicotine, which will inevitably cause harm to individuals and families. It is a public scandal that 50% of the smokers of the past generations have died from tobacco. Yet that industry denied all responsibility for the harm they have caused.
No legal controls in place:
There are no laws in place to control the quality, safety or production of these products, not even to ensure that children cannot buy or use them.
E-cig retailers, unlike those selling tobacco, they do not even have to have a license to sell these dangerous drugs. No health advice is required to advise users of e-cigs how to do so safely, because we do not know the answer to that - yet.
Is nicotine a serious problem?
Why, you might ask is nicotine such a problem? Surely those who want to use it should be allowed to, without the nanny state harassing them. The answer to that lies in understanding the nature of the drug nicotine.
Nicotine is a powerful stimulant drug,
When you use it your heart speeds up, your body gets stressed, so you get hyperactive and high. It does not relax you. After a short time, a few minutes, these effects wear off and you come back down from your high, and feel lethargic, agitated, depress and stressed. Not a place you want to be, so what do you do next? You reach for the fags, or your vaporiser to take another hit of Nicotine. When you've done this, yes, you will feel relaxed, because your have just taken something to alleviate your stressed up body and your addiction to nicotine.This traps you in what I call the addictive circle or loop, of high’s and low’s, which will continue until you stop taking the nicotine.
We have been well warned!
For decades the government’s health experts have told us that nicotine is a highly addictive and dangerous drug. However, the e-cigarette industry want us to believe that nicotine use is not a problem, “it is no worse than caffeine” is one of their myths, or “that it is a different sort of nicotine, a safer nicotine” is another”. This is utter nonsense, designed to con people into buying these products, with no regard to the consequences on our health. This is no surprise, because for around 400 years of successfully selling tobacco cigarettes, to us, this business is now under threat, because so many people have quit smoking.
There are now estimated to be only 8 million people in the uk still smoking and 10 million who have successfully quit. Believe it or not but around 90% of those who have quit did so without any form of help. No nicotine patches, no hypnosis, no smoking cessation classes, no e-cigarettes. Just the amazing power of their own minds. They changed their subconscious mindset which told them I am a smoker, to one that said I am a non-smokers, and it did not cost them one penny. If you find this hard to believe check out your friends who have quit and hear their success stories.
VOTE NOW:
It will cost you nothing, but your time, to vote in this petition, which could potentially prevent millions of people across the world form becoming addicted to the drug nicotine.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on 12 September 2015