As part of the UK campaign against smoking, two UK hospitals have opened electronic cigarette outlets.
City Hospital in Birmingham and Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich have opened e-cigarette retail stores respectively.
This is mainly for the implementation of the comprehensive anti-smoking regulations in hospitals, replacing cigarettes with electronic cigarettes, giving smokers a way of transition and substitution.
“Smoking is no longer allowed in our places, even in cars in shelters or parking lots. The shift from smoking to complete vaping is of great health benefits. This measure aims at the long-term effect and ultimately eradicates smoking and vaping altogether.”
“No Smoking”, Britain is serious
Meanwhile, the British government has issued a new plan to ban smoking throughout the UK within 11 years.
An article in the Daily Mail reported that a leaked government plan indicated that as part of the plan, tobacco companies would have to pay for smoking cessation services for smokers, and local health services would no longer bear the cost. In addition, every pack of cigarettes must be included in a brochure on how to quit smoking.
Matt Hancock, the health minister, also plans to crack down on cheap cigarettes found on the black market and announce the plan next week, along with a green paper on prevention over treatment.
The United States has always been cautious about e-cigarettes. Unlike Britain, which vigorously promotes e-cigarettes, the United States is imposing various restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes.
Last March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a highly anticipated and concerned “guidelines” banning the sale of most pods and e-liquid in retail outlets accessible to minors.
Convenience store group CEO suggested that the ban is worsening the situation of teenagers who vape.
The proposal would ban all flavor products other than tobacco and mint-flavored e-cigarettes from retail stores that are accessible to minors, such as convenience stores and gas stations.
However, in an article on CNBC, Henry O. Armour, CEO of the National Association of Convenience Stores, points out that research shows that only 31.1% of minors who buy e-cigarettes from retailers.
A study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion in 2018 entitled “How do teenagers get their e-cigarettes and other vaping devices?” points out that most of the sources of e-cigarettes purchased by minors are adults.
Research also shows that many e-cigarettes are purchased by adults, resold or supplied to minors, more than half of the minors who use e-cigarettes are obtained through this way.
When these retail data are examined, the side effects of FDA policy become evident. Nearly one third of minors buy online, 22.3% buy in vape stores and 16.4% buy in tobacco stores. Overall, these three types of outlets account for nearly 70% of the total retail sales of electronic cigarettes purchased by minors.
There is a similar situation in Taiwan, China. Because of the ban on nicotine-containing products, sales of electronic cigarettes in Taiwan have shifted to “underground”. Only acquaintances can buy nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes from sellers. Although local police have been constantly cracking down on such sales, they often close down electronic cigarette retailers’ shops, even use force, but sales bans have made the market demand more vigorous and underground sales more common.
Through comparison, it is not difficult to see that reasonable dredging is far better than “blocking”.
E-cigarettes have been fully supported by the government in the UK, not only giving correct guidance in propaganda, but also taking relaxed measures in actual sales. This has also made the UK achieve remarkable achievements in smoking control. From the country with the highest smoking rate to the country with the lowest smoking rate in the EU, it is expected to take the lead for a comprehensive smoke-free society.
Of course, these are based on systematic research, from “Miracles or Threats” to “E-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than cigarettes”, which shows that the whole society of Britain has conducted relevant research and evaluation.
As early as 2014, the British Ministry of Public Health (PHE) began to study the health effects of e-cigarettes and concluded that “e-cigarettes do contain toxic substances, not completely safe, including a small amount of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, but the content of these substances is far lower than that of traditional cigarettes”.
The ban on electronic cigarettes in the United States and Taiwan not only increases the risk of teenagers’access to electronic cigarettes, but also makes it more difficult to track and control transactions. Many people have to turn back to smoking and even legalized “drugs” locally, because compared with other illegal channels, such as underground electronic cigarettes trading has increased the risk of teenagers’ access to electronic cigarettes. Compared to electronic cigarettes, those products are easier to obtain.
It is totally unbelievable to set up e-cigarette outlets in hospitals in Britain to other countries, but the British media has not criticized them, the public has not questioned them, and the imaginary chaos has not occurred. This also shows that it is not e-cigarettes that really let people regain their cigarettes, leading to various so-called social problems. It’s the people themselves.
