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Are the public winning the ecig battle with politicians?
Only a few months ago it seemed that politicians were determined to regulate electronic cigarettes out of existence. Great barriers were put them in front of smaller operators, the large tobacco companies flexed their muscles and regulators in Europe and the US began to lay the groundwork. It seemed inevitable that extremely strict regulations would come into play, that the industry would come under enormous pressure and the voice of the vaping community would be smothered. However, the situation today is very different to what many had expected, the future is brighter than many had hoped and it seems as though the public and the vaping community are winning the
battle with politicians.
Are politicians really starting to listen?
While the life of a politician is not necessarily an easy one, let's not forget that they are voted into power to represent their constituencies. Even though they often have access to more in-depth data and research than the general public this is most certainly not the case with regards to electronic cigarettes with a mass of research data publicly available. So why are politicians now starting to
listen to voters? Since the political movement decided that electronic cigarettes were too popular, the industry was too powerful and they were impacting tobacco tax income there has been a constant stream of rumours, counter rumours and in some cases blatant untruths. However, in many ways governments around the world reacted far too slowly to the threat from electronic cigarettes and now the genie is
out of the bottle there is no way to put it back in. As a consequence it seems as though governments and politicians are now looking to work with the electronic cigarette industry as opposed to against it.
Online debating has helped
The basic fact is that the online arena has assisted the vaping community in pulling together supporters, organising petitions and increasing resistance to what many perceive to be over bearing regulations. If you look back 20 or 30 years ago there is no way that the vaping community could have come together in such a way and the likelihood would be that electronic cigarettes would be
regulated out of existence.
It is also interesting to see the array of facts and figures emerging in the online arena which very often conflict with the official political line. The likelihood is that the truth is somewhere between these extremes but the fact remains that the more information in the hands of the general public the easier they can make a balanced decision on their own. As we mentioned above, politicians are voted in by their constituents and if their constituents are looking for support for a particular subject, in this instance electronic cigarettes, then eventually if the argument is strong enough they will have to follow.
Conclusion
In years gone by it would have been nigh on impossible to bring together the worldwide vaping community in the fight against overregulation of the industry. We would likely have been fed the official political line in mainstream newspapers and taken this as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth when some of the "facts and figures" are not necessarily as accurate as we would expect. The tide is most certainly turning in favour of the vaping community and politicians and regulators now appreciate the size and strength of the industry. We now await the final outcome of this battle royal between the vaping community, politicians, tobacco companies and
worldwide regulators. Surely now we can find some middle ground for all parties?
Article brought to you by OK Ecigs:
It is also interesting to see the array of facts and figures emerging in the online arena which very often conflict with the official political line. The likelihood is that the truth is somewhere between these extremes but the fact remains that the more information in the hands of the general public the easier they can make a balanced decision on their own. As we mentioned above, politicians are voted in by their constituents and if their constituents are looking for support for a particular subject, in this instance electronic cigarettes, then eventually if the argument is strong enough they will have to follow.
Conclusion
In years gone by it would have been nigh on impossible to bring together the worldwide vaping community in the fight against overregulation of the industry. We would likely have been fed the official political line in mainstream newspapers and taken this as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth when some of the "facts and figures" are not necessarily as accurate as we would expect. The tide is most certainly turning in favour of the vaping community and politicians and regulators now appreciate the size and strength of the industry. We now await the final outcome of this battle royal between the vaping community, politicians, tobacco companies and
worldwide regulators. Surely now we can find some middle ground for all parties?
Article brought to you by OK Ecigs:
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