The harms of smoking

For millions of people who have been affected by the harms of smoking, most of whom are current or former smokers or their close associates, less harmful nicotine products, such as snus, vapes and heat not burn, have proven to be an invaluable aid for quitting smoking completely. This method of replacing a harmful product with a less harmful one is known as tobacco harm reduction (THR).

Smoking and smoking habits (for example, having something in your hands such as a cigarette or a lighter) are notoriously difficult to escape. The advent of less harmful nicotine products has provided an effective avenue for millions of smokers desperate to quit. In many heavy smoking countries, such as the UK, the introduction of these less harmful products has led to an unprecedented drop in smoking rates as millions of smokers, most of whom are well aware of the harms of tobacco,  have switched to far less harmful nicotine products.

Smoking in the US, for example, particularly amongst youth, has seen a dramatic decline, and this is clearly linked to the uptake of vapes by former young smokers. Tobacco use is declining across the board in every country that has adopted a pragmatic approach to regulating less harmful nicotine products.

Unfortunately, not every country has understood or accepted the benefits of these products.

Australia remains a holdout amongst ‘Western’ countries with its repressive prescription-only model. The decline in smoking rates has flatlined for several years despite eye-watering taxes on conventional cigarettes. As a consequence, smoking and smoking health issues remain problematic for a country that, despite its vocal opposition to the harms of smoking, refuses to accept the abundance of independent, peer-reviewed scientific research supporting the benefits of vaping and other THR strategies.

Australia prefers instead to rely on biased rhetoric, moral outrage and corrupted ‘research’ funded by billionaire ‘philanthropists’ with a mission to inflict their moralistic viewpoint on smokers regardless of the evidence that shows them to be on the wrong side of human rights, informed adult choices … and history.

But if we step away from the often dry and confusing world of scientific research, vested interests and billionaire sanctimony and look at the real-world experiences of former smokers who have switched to less harmful products, the evidence is overwhelming.

‘Vaping saved my life’

One place to read the stories of the many thousands of former smokers who have discovered a pathway to permanently quit smoking can be found on the website of Right To Vape.

“… Vaping saved my life,” says Wendy from the United States. “I was a cigarette smoker for over 25 years and during that time I was having problems doing everyday tasks because I couldn’t breathe.” Wendy’s is one of thousands of testimonials posted at Right To Vape. “I tried all variations of stop smoking aids that never worked,” Wendy lamented. “Since vaping my lungs are clear, I can breathe and even exercise now, which was hard for me to do prior to switching to vaping. Vaping saved my life so I could be here for my kids.”

There are literally tens f thousands of similar testimonials posted online at various consumer groups’ websites from all corners of the globe, including desperate pleas from former smokers who have switched to less harmful products in countries that have adopted a restrictive approach to this game-changing technology.

‘Vaping is better than smoking tobacco cigarettes

Posting on caphraorg.net (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates), Sahib from India, a country that has banned these life-saving products, writes that: “Vaping saves lives, no running from that. If not the best, it’s still way better than smoking tobacco cigarettes. Please don’t abandon us from our rights to choose a healthier alternative.”

Such plaintiff appeals are common amongst millions of former smokers whose choices to lead healthier, smoke-free lives are being put a risk by moralistic, evidence-free billionaire bullies (See here: Billionaire donors distort WHO tobacco control policy) and a handful of willing and well-paid accomplices in so-called ‘Tobacco Control’

If these tobacco health dinosaurs won’t listen to the scientific evidence, is there any hope they, and particularly the elected representatives of the people whose ears and actions they control, will listen to us, the people whose lives are actually being impacted by their flawed rhetoric and nanny-state tendencies?

Want to stop smoking? Visit this page for more information on how to stop smoking.