Morning news reporter Debra Alfarone over at NBC Connecticut published a story on Tuesday titled "Call it E-Puffing, But Don't Do it Indoors" which has caused a bit of outrage on some electronic cigarette forums. Vapers , the term e-cigarette users prefer to call themselves, seem to disagree very strongly with some of the "experts" quoted in this story and question why NBC would bury the opinions of truly impartial e-cigarette experts in favor of those people heavily dependent to the pharmaceutical industry for their funding.

First up is Michelle Marichal of the American Cancer Society, listed on ct.gov as the contact person for their helpline, who was asked "if e-cigs are safer than old fashioned cigs" and was quoted as saying:

State legislatures considering banning electronic cigarettes have now heard the advice of their doctors, namely the Tobacco Control Task Force of the American Association of Public Health Physicians, an organization of physician directors of state and local health departments, who say bans are going too far and that this new product may actually be of great benefit in their fight against cancer and smoking related deaths.

The AAPHP is recognized by the American Medical Association as a medical specialty society and even has formal representation in the AMA House of Delegates. These are just the people one might think politicians should be turning to for recommendations on proposed legislation affecting the public health.

However, prompted by a strong lobbying effort from groups like the American Cancer Society, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association and the non smokers rights group Action on Smoking and Health, which critics claim is largely funded by drug companies out to protect their profits, many states like New York, Utah, Illinois and New Jersey have recently introduced legislation that would ban or restrict the sale of E-cigarettes or their use in public spaces.

Goucher College in Baltimore Maryland recently took a survey of faculty, staff and students to decide if electronic cigarettes should be included in their smoking ban. What the survey said tells a lot about the public perception of ecigs and vapers.

First off, I commend Goucher’s President Sanford J. Ungar for doing the survey rather than just taking it upon himself to ban ecigs. That shows good leadership and a true community spirit in the college. Democracy in action!

The survey received good response as well. 470 respondents broke down into 64 faculty, 97 staff and 309 students. The question they were asked was "Should the use of e-cigarettes be covered by the college smoking policy?" 

160 responded NO (12 Faculty, 23 staff, 125 students)  and 310 responded YES (52 Faculty, 74 Staff, 184 students), resulting in ecigarettes being included in their smoking policy. The really great thing about this survey though is that they actually published the comments people made and for me, that's very valuable insight into what people are thinking about ecigs.

The Monitor recently published an article titled "Are e-cigarettes really safer?" and while I do have to say they are one of the few i've seen recently who tried to get both sides of the story, I did have a few comments to share about some of the quotes. I thought I'd post them here as well.

Over all it is a good article, they actually talk to some e-cig supporters and manufacturers, something the main stream media doesn't seem to see the need to do. But, of course, the anti smoking groups have their talking points well rehearsed and a few statements made it into the article which, in my opinion, were not fully accurate.

Here are my thoughts:

There is a press release today: ASH Stops E-Cigarette Bullies; Mid-East Moves Against E-Cigarettes that I just had to stop and comment on. The more I read the propaganda John Banzhaf puts out the less respect I have for him and his organization. But this one is some of his finest spin yet. Let's tear it down.

It seems that E Cigarette Direct wrote a letter to the editor of the Peninsula, a news publication in Qatar that had written an article critical of electronic cigarettes when reporting the new ban the kingdom had placed on their import. The company wished them to correct some of the inaccuracies contained within that article.

You'd think the guy who sues companies like McDonald's and Big Tobacco for false advertising would support such an action, after all if the press is going to write about it, it should be true, right? But, Mr. Banzhaf chose instead to write the publication and encourage them not to retract the story and sent out a press release with a few of his own half truths to let the world know he'd done it.

Let's take some points one by one. 

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