Wednesday 29 January 2014

'Zealotry plain and simple': e-cigarettes to be banned from Glasgow's Commonwealth Games

So says the Scotsman leader today. The games organisers, after taking advice from the public health community, announced their intention to ban e-cigarettes at the games, having last year announced their intention to ban tobacco.

Public health illuminary Sheila Duffy said:
“The Commonwealth Games will showcase excellence and aim to build a healthy legacy for the next generation. Providing smoke-free environments during events will help deliver on that commitment, and the decision to exclude e-cigarette use should make enforcement more straightforward and also help put the appearance of smoking cigarettes out of fashion.”
And from Health Minister Michael Matheson:
“I welcome this, as e-cigarettes are not regulated, nor have they been proven to be safe and effective.”
This is nonsensical: Matheson's doubts about the 'effectiveness' of smoking are based on the assumption that they are designed as a smoking cessation tool. As an alternative to smoking there is no doubt of their effectiveness. You just put down a roll-up and pick up an e-cig: job done. As to the appearance of smoking cigarettes, these devices appear more like inhalers than cigarettes these days.

These people, especially Duffy, have made a career choice out of the desire to stop people smoking. You would have thought that an anti-smoking sports event would be a lifetime's opportunity to encourage people to quit smoking because 'the single best thing you can do for your health is to stop smoking'. But that's not good enough, because it's not actually enough to stop smoking – you must do so in the approved way.

A Scotsman reader also remarks:
Clever of them to wait until all the tickets have been sold before imposing this ban - and whatever others will be announced before the summer.
For the avoidance of doubt, I don't approve of a smoking ban at the Commonwealth Games either. The public health community only seems to count as public health hazards things that they can blame on the general public: habits, including eating, drinking and smoking. The biggest offender in public health terms is multiple deprivation, and the Commonwealth Games stirred up controversy by accepting sponsorship from ATOS, the company notorious for declaring people of all shades of invalidity fit to work. Clearly there is more to this event than a friendly opportunity to compete internationally in sports, and even the public health community is set on laying unhelpful conditions to participation.

7 comments:

Belinda said...

I haven't noticed these hideous links before. Please don't think I have authorised them or that I'm making money out of them!

Xopher said...

Is Bradley Wiggins due to race there? He enjoys a ciggie and glass of wine - maybe he'll find something else to do this Summer.

Anonymous said...

It seems likely that the first medicines licence will be awarded to an ecig before Easter.The organisers will need to state their policy on the use of all NRT products specifically and the use of medicines generally.

Do they really want to exclude those trying to quit with an ecig?What message does this send to Scotland's smokers?

Anonymous said...

As it's now common belief amongst scientists around the world that high sugar foods have serious long term health risks, at least as serious as those posted by smoking, and that there's not actually any reliable scientific evidence that passive smoking is harmful, do we think the Commonwealth Games organisers are going to ban the drinking of high sugar drinks such as Coca Cola, and especially ban the sale of such toxic foods to children?

Me thinks not.
These people are brainwashed.

Junican said...

“I welcome this, as e-cigarettes are not regulated, nor have they been proven to be safe and effective.”
And this guy is a minister?

Try as they might, the Tobacco Control Industry has been unable to find anything harmful in cigs. The minister therefore has no evidence to say that they possibly be dangerous in the future.
He must be afraid of the dark since he is clearly very superstitious.

Junican said...

Correction - "in E cigs"

Anonymous said...

this is just down to the cigarette tax being lost by people moving onto e-cigs.
ban e-cigs and people will just think 'what the hell' and go back to smoking.
the pc brigade will win again.
we are nothing but sheep in this country, just do as we are told and keep our mouths shut