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SEPTEMBER 20, 2019
AIKEN-AUGUSTA’S MOST SALUBRIOUS NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED IN 2006
IS VAPING GOOD? Vaping is one of the year’s biggest healthcare stories. It was the hot new thing just a few short weeks ago, but then a sudden wave of serious and mysterious vape-related respiratory illnesses erupted across the country (36 states, including Georgia and South Carolina), killing six. The jury is still out — or should we say the smoke hasn’t cleared yet — and already defenders are lining up on both sides of the battlefield. The President announced plans to seek a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, a decision the Washington Post calls “stupid.” In an editorial entitled, “Treat vaping like the crisis it is,” illustrated with a malevolent skeleton handling an e-cigarette to a baby, the Orlando Sentinel opined, “It’s past time the government got serious about the dangers of e-cigarettes.” But opinions in defense of vaping continue to come from sources as diverse as the American Council on Science and Health (“CDC Insanely Warns Smokers Against E-Cigarettes”), The Economist (“The facts have gone up in smoke”), and Britain’s National Health Service (Headline: “E-cigarettes 95% less harmful than smoking”). It seems that Aeschylus had a point when he said, “In war the first casualty is the truth.”
AUGUSTARX.COM
But what is the truth? It appears to be somewhere between the opposing lines of battle. On the one hand, there is scientific evidence that e-cigarettes are a useful aid in helping smokers quit their deadly habit. And lest we forget, “deadly” is an understatement when it comes to tobacco: An estimated 100 million deaths worldwide were attributed to tobacco during the 20th century. The tobacco death toll this year alone as of today (Sept. 20) is some 341,900. That figure is based on the CDC estimate of 1,300 deaths in the U.S. caused by tobacco-related illness every day. So far vaping has killed six. Does this remind you of our recent issue with the “Keeping in focus” cover story? It said cardiovascular disease kills 635,260 people a year, an average of 1,740 people a day, while mass shootings kill an average of less than 2 people per day. Yet which gets more headlines? Thinking calmly, rationally and humanely, there is no cause of death which should be ignored, whether it reaps a dozen victims each One difference between vaping and cigarettes: the density of vapors permits year or hundreds of thousands. The hysteria surrounding the vaping mystery tricks like this one, called a waterfall, where smoke is simultaneously exhaled and inhaled. But is it worth the risk of permanent lung damage? Please see VAPING page 3