Steve Forbes Blasts FDA Vaping Rule

To hear the FDA and other public health officials tell it, you’d think e-cigarettes are as lethal as the traditional tobacco kind. As this segment of What’s Ahead explains, the opposite is true. The only thing vaping and tobacco have in common is nicotine, which is addictive, not lethal. It’s all the other stuff in tobacco, like tar, that make cigarettes so life-threatening.

Vaping is actually very effective in helping people quit smoking—far more so than nicotine patches, gums and lozenges. This is why Britain and other countries encourage its use. Antivapors point to the rise in e-cigarette usage among teenagers over the last decade, but they ignore the dramatic drop in teen tobacco smoking.

Attacking vaping with false information and distortions does a deadly disservice to public health. Nonetheless, this emotional war against vaping will continue. It will be fueled by Juul Labs’ (a big provider of vaping products) settlement with more than 30 states over charges that it targeted underage users in its marketing.

That misconduct, however, does not detract from the truth about e-cigarettes.