The rumour mill has been in full swing again this week and is buzzing with talk of the government and tobacco companies plotting to ban e-cigarettes.
This shouldn’t come as any big surprise. We all know that major industries like the tobacco industry offers the government a massive tax revenue from sales. Tobacco industries are beginning to show interest in funding studies into the health risks of vaping. Again, this was a predictable move. Of course they are twitchy. We know the health issues that one can risk by smoking tobacco products, and vaping offers a much safer alternative.
So much so, in the last couple of weeks we have been able to blog about the positive findings documented by the BMJ, a leading medical journal and authority, about using vaping over smoking. This is obviously another detrimental blow to the tobacco industry who already have to plaster their packaging with health warnings and graphic images. They are feeing rather threatened, so have turned to the government for support.
Will the government comply? Who knows. They will not want to lose their tax revenues but the general consensus is that nothing will change. An article in the Guardian last week described a growing fear that the tobacco industry is suddenly showing interest in the vaping world is to try and bring about such tight regulations that it will drive companies out of business as they financially wont be able to meet compliance regulations. It is possible they are basing this move on the success of the new US food and drug administration rules, which are going to pretty much shut down smaller vaping companies with red tape and compliance issues.
However, all is not lost here. Brexit, contentious though it might still be, could actually offer a silver lining preventing the tobacco industries using their power to lock down the industry, because leaving the EU would enable the UK to reject planned EU regulations relating to vaping.
Our advice at the moment is simply keep calm and keep vaping! We think this is (if you pardon the obvious pun) smoke without fire and we are certainly still here to meet all your vaping needs. We stock all your favourite brands like Kangertech and Joyetech and we are more than happy with the safety of vaping!